>> independently locally owned business. and so with that, we will conclude that the staff and presentation, if you have any questions, we will be happy to answer, thank you. >> thank you. >> yeah. >> thanks. >> thank you commissioners. good afternoon, with the law firm, and here on behalf of the project sponsor, and we are excited to bring you this project today which will be the last step in the city process for this major renovation of a restaurant that is part of the castro fabric for decades. less is the owner of the cafe which was established in the 1960. he has spent many years in investing and improving the space, the project before you

today will authorize major work that was done pursuant to a building permit and was approved improperly by planning and we need conditional use authorization to finalize the project. as you can you can tell there is a storied hiflt here and so i want to go through the time line of the cafe and the project for you. >> so, the patio cafe opened in the 1960s and, in 1989 les purchased the restaurant and in 1992 he obtained approval to inclose that area with a retractable roof and if we can get the projector for sfgovtv. and as you can see here at the time, here is the rear portion and the so-called patio area of the cafe, that is where the main dining area is. and as you move to the central area and this is where the

kitchen and some other seating was located at the time. and then, as you approach the front, this is the castro street frontage right here and you can see that it was a unique situation that there were a few three small retail spaces and it was not the patio cafe these were the spaces for retailers and if you go down the street you can see 541 castro street which at the time was a separate building and so, it was a little bit unique because the main dining area was actually located behind 541 castro street. so, that was where the project was in 1992. and in 1998, les began the work on renovations of the kitchen as well as some structural work. and initially it began, they conducted work during non-business hours but as the construction work progressed it started growing and triggering other requirements and at a certain point in the early 2000s they needed to shut down the restaurant to be able to complete the project and some of the things that came up was

that they needed to provide new emergency access to the premises and the lots, 541 and 531 actually needed to be merged in order to deal with the fire code issues and structural beams had to be installed to support the floors the entire foundation needed to be redone and the electrical service needed to be done and centralized between two, and there were rest room upgrade and this triggered ada upgrades as well and as a result, both buildings are now 100 percent wheelchair accessible and so that brings us to about 2005 when this work was going on in dbi asked us or asked les to pull a permit that would basically be an, umbrella permit of what is going on and

what is authorized. this is the permit and i have the 11 x 17 paper and you have it in the packet as well. and what you will see here is that... in 2005 the work had not yet been done but was pulled in 2005 to incorporate all of the work that was going on at the building and as mr. wang had mentioned this was a permit that was approved by planning and issued by dbi and over the next course of the next few years, les continued through the work and completed it in 2012. and he received a certificate of final completion from dbi and filed if a health permit application in order to reopen the restaurant and at that time

it was referred to planning and they had identified that the 2005 permit had been approved in there and that in fact we needed the conditional use, the reason being, again as mr. wang explained due to the size of the restaurant it was illegal non-conforming use and to expand we needed to get authorization. what you will see is the area at the front of the restaurant and it is pretty much ready to go. this is the seating area and you can see that the work is pretty much done. this is looking back from the rear area towards the front bar area, and those are the steps between and because there is a grade shift and as you can see,

that side, that is a wheelchair lift that was installed as part of the process. and then we get to the rear portion, this is the main dining area. and just another shot of the main dining area now. so it is just to emphasize the work has all been completed at this point. with one exception. and in 2000, this is the current plan for the project and they are all identical with the exception of that one last retail space that has been removed and seating and we intended to leave it in but they asked that it it is difficult to see where the retail and the restaurant separation was and they felt that it would be east tore see to have the whole thing be restaurant use and easier for enforcement and etc. and that is the only difference between now and what was approved in 2005. so, understandable les is anxious to get the patio opened and he has invested years in

reopening the space and it is ready to open very soon and potentially as soon as 30 days after this hearing. and les has been a member of the castro community for many years and wanted to insure that the neighborhood was informed about the hearing and planned. and he has received a support of the valley association and the merchants of upper market and castro and the castro community benefit district and he sent out a letter to the neighborhood notifying them of the hearing and also received the written support of more than 25 local merchants and the valley association did express the concern about the noise coming from the rear patio area and that gave us the opportunity to work closely to come up with operating conditions that would make it comfortable with the operation and as a result, this is part of the motion now and we have agreed to them and eba has given us their support and so we are going to move in the back is going to close at 9:00 p.m. at the latest every night

and the dining will close at 12 midnight at the latest every night and the front dining is able to stay open until 2 a.m. and this worked out and it was a part of the condition on their support. just to give you a background, the patio section was operated for 30 to 40 years before les had to shut it down and between just to give you an idea, 1989 to 1984 is when les purchased the property and when the roof structure was installed there were two noise complaints and they were to do with special events and he never received a noise complaint again and as a point of comparison there are other dining operations located in the mid blocks in the castro so this is not a unique situation. and just to be absolutely sure that there is a condition of approval attached to the project that emphasizes that it must comply with the san

francisco noise ordinance, which of course it will need to comply with any way and it is made clear in the motion. this block is a vibrant treat and retail scene and the delayed reopening of the cafe has been felt by the community and this will reactivate the space and this has put the investment into improving the cafe and all of the work is completed and the restaurant is ready to open in the future, he has completed the work with a permit and approval today will be a equitable improvement. thank you and we are here if you have any questions. >> public comment, i have two cards, niekol jackson and kristine haulings.

>> good afternoon commissioners my name is haulings and i am here to speak in favor of this project. and essentially the reasons for my being in favor of it are those listed by the planning staff and in particular what the project will contribute to the economic vitality of the neighborhood. and i live just about a block away from this spot and that is a great interest to me. and i am also very supportive of this because les has been very supportive and does a lot of good work with the neighborhood community groups, which also adds to i think the associate vitality of the neighborhood. and so, for obvious reasons i am speak ng favor today, thank you. >> thank you. >> good afternoon, could you hear me? >> my name is niekol jackson and i am a partner with the catering and events and i am a

former employee of the patio cafe and i worked there from 1986 to 1990. and my experience there i was in high school at the time informed my career path i still have you know strong friendships that i developed during my time there and i am here to support the reopening of the patio cafe and it has been profound on my life and also the community that i grew up in and i am a native san franciscan and i grew up in the castro and i really think that it will benefit the community at large, thank you. >> thank you. >> mr. johnson, alen beach. >> hi my name is dejohnson, resident and on calling wood street and i got the personal letter in regards to this project, and i thought that i would take the time to come down and at least show some support. because for the community, and

in the castro we have seen a lot of closed restaurants and a lot of closed storefronts, especially in the last year. and as finding out through this letter and learnings and a little bit of the story it is really a shame of how much revenue the city has lost through just the red tape that this project has had to go through. not that it is intentional, but sometimes we can't get passed ourselves to really look at how we can expediate things and what that means to the community and not only the revenue but what it will do to the remainer of the street and i thought that we will come and show the support and hopefully you will approve. thank you. >> good afternoon commissioners, my name is allen beach net son and i am the president of the valley association and i have spoken

with them a lot of times and castro neighborhood association is the oldest continuously operating neighborhood association in san francisco. and it was founded in 1878 and over 100 35 years we have been looking to make the neighborhood a place to live work and place and today one of the biggest focuses is on creating a strong balance between businesses and residential concerns. and so when les came and spoke to us, the big concerns that we had about the space was notice containment, further containment, and if this should be in the entertainment that it be appropriate to the space. and adhere to the noise containment issues. we talked to les about it and we feel very strongly that this would be a wonderful addition back to the neighborhood. we believe that it is returned to the castro after a long time.

we will return this historic 50-year-old icon back to the neighborhood and also, my mom will be really happy, she loves that place when we moved here, she is 83 years old and she can't wait for it to open on sunday. >> so we are very happy that les is a wonderful supporter of the neighborhood and very engaged and this is a type of business that we should want to have open in the neighborhood, a side note, the castro ntd has a currently a 6 percent vacantcy rate. if this space opens up again it will lower our vacantcy rate to 4 percent which has a significant impact on the neighborhood and the vibrantcy of the neighborhood and you can read these statistics in the next newsletter, thank you. >> is there any additional public comment? >> okay, public comment is closed. commissioner moore? >> i have a question for you,

during 813 whthe restaurant ready for opening still indicates four tables outdoors. and i understand that there might be a carry over from the previous life as a patio restaurant but there are apparently, and there are four tables,; is that correct?? >> at the bottom right-hand corner of the diagram is that what you are looking at? >> it is... >> yes. >> so they are actually just on the far top right corner. >> got you. >> you see? >> i see that right now. >> if those exhibit and i am not quite sure why because they would add very long for asserting them they will fall under the same restrictions of the roof closing at night and i would like that to be properly expressed at this moment i do not see on this and i have not properly looked at the roof closure and it is expressed in the motion. >> it is. >> yes. >> >> the property and it looked,

and i am generally in support of this. the letters that we have received makes me feel that the neighborhood has a larger collective entity who wants this project and so i am in support. >> commissioner syracuse? commissioner sugaya? >> i need to clarify that. i don't see the closing times for the roof here. >> it is on in the draft motion, number 1 7 the very last page and the condition number 1 1. hours of operation? in the seating area of the restaurant shall be closed by 9 p.m., seven days a week >> how is that different than the conditions that are on page 7?

>> or is the observation? >> i guess that is not a condition, right? >> no, it is not. the real condition is through this and on the very last page. >> okay. >> okay. >> and for clarification, does the roof cover the entire dining area? >> that is a good point commissioner sugaya, it does not, it is actually a smaller area, so when it is opened, the entire patio area is not open to the sky it is only a portion of that. >> and to clarify commissioner moore's point that there is a rectangle that is lowered up and that will be or that is under the roof and it is closed. >> and how could that be?

>> commissioner sugaya? >> the roof does not go over here. >> yes. you are correct and when the retractable roof is closed that is still open to the air but we are comfortable with the hours of operation limited to 9:00 p.m. if that makes you comfortable. >> that would make me more comfortable. okay. >> and so if the maker of the motion will accept the amendment to include the outdoor dining area to be restricted to 9:00 p.m. >> i will make a motion to approve with the conditions as stated and with the additional condition that the outdoor seating area also be limited to 9:00 p.m. closing. >> second. >> and commissioner antonini? >> yes.

>> and acceptable to the project's sponsor? >> yes. >> okay, thank you. >> and i am very supportive of this project and actually very nicely renovated situation. and we should be encouraging them when people take the properties and improve them lately, it is always a benefit for the city and all of the things that have been doing with the accessible bathrooms and the elevator and the seismic and the electrical. and i know that there are retail spaces that have been eliminated and it is problem and the only time that it works and it is only marginal when you are going to the garage and there is a stream of people that are coming through and it is always tough, that has not been an issue any way and it creates 30 new jobs and has widespread support of the neighborhood groups and so, i'm supportive of it. >> commissioner borden?

>> i know this is going to pass but i cannot support this applicant. >> commissioner moore? >> i would like you to confirm with the zone administrator, which areas we are talking about at 9:00, it is a little bit ambiguous. this is a motion and a second to approve with conditions and adding a condition that the outdoor seating area hours of operation be restricted to 9:00 p.m. on that motion, commissioner antonini? >> aye. >> commissioner borden? >> no. >> hillis? >> aye. >> moore. >> aye. >> sugaya. >> aye. >> wu. >> aye. >> fong. >> aye. >> six to one, with commissioner borden voting against. >> commissioners it will place you on item 17 for case number

2013.0659 c. 531 castro street - on the east side of castro street between 18th and 19th streets; lot 093 in assessor's block 3583 request for conditional use authorization pursuant to planning code sections 179, 186.1 and 303, to allow the patio restaurant and café, a nonconforming use, for the expansion into three vacant retail spaces within the same building the restaurant is located, in the castro street neighborhood commercial district and a 40-x height and bulk district >> please silence any devices that may go off during these proceedings, thank you very much. >> my name is omar and the request for a conditional use authorization for a macro garage facility. and the project site is located in the block of the park merced residential neighborhood and it features two identical apartment towers and it is part of the master plan development

in the park in the lake shore neighborhood and otherwise tell me that the project site and the neighborhood apartment building. and but the proposal will place the maximum of... the top of each antenna will be flush with the top of the wall with 143 feet above grade. the project type as is located in the park merced and subject to the design guidelines and determined to be compliant and i would note that the featured tenants that are flush to the walls to paint to match the

building color with a cable tray running below to hide the electronic cabling associated with the panel antennas. the location preferences in the guidelines do not specifically refer to the pmr zoning as this site is zoned however based on the location and the type of development, the high-rise residential structure, this development is considered according to a development in the arm four zoning district or the high density mix and therefore it is considered to be a location 6 site or a limited preference site. holding a meet at the university and the staff received some concerns from the residents regarding the location of that meeting however i had a chance to enter face with the management at san francisco state and they affirmed that they were able to direct the folks to the right room by placing the noticing and having two staff members outside of the roof to direct the people to the right conference room and in addition

i received a petition from 160 residents and also phone calls and e-mails regarding their opposition of the project based on the health concerns which are regulated by the fcc, and the project has been approved by the department of public health with regard to the rf studies provided by the applicant and in the alternative site analysis was provided and that was not able to identify the feasible locations for the alternative site including the publicly held spaces regarding parts of the west and san francisco state university. the project as designed does comply with the guidelines and therefore the staff recommends approval. >> thank you. >> project sponsor? >> good afternoon commissioners, staff, my name

is peter hillard of llc representing verizon wireless and thank you for the opening presentation and he did touch on a couple of things that i will also touch on, but we will start with to give you a little bit of background of the site. and in the fall of 2010, verizon wireless began a search to address the call failure and to support the sites in the area and by adding a facility in the mark merced and off load the neighboring sites at 100 armory drive which is on the west shore of lake merced at 599 buckingham way which is just in stones town, chopping mall and then at 552 isactually

the park itself and on the south east side and with the expected growth of the san francisco state university campus, and the final build out of the new park merced division to 8900 units, this location on tower 40 is ideal for our service design and fits in the network quite readily. as omar mentioned in the service area here we have the park merced tower being zoned tm, although, we are going to address it as if pursuant to the wts facility site and guidelines as if it was still an rm four building. and we did take a look initially at the san francisco state university buildings specifically with the psychology building and the

student services building and thorton hall and by the facilities director we were steered towards the psychology hall because they were, their department would rather see a development thereof this type than at the other two buildings thorton and the student services so we went down the road with them for quite a while and ended up being told that they were implementing a new solar program and they were not going to dedicate any roof top space to a verizon wireless lease. subsequently, we also reviewed harding park and as you know, harding park is zoned public. and it is a difficult choice to consider from all stand points. it is 163-acre golf course, quite beautiful, scenic, and lush vegetation and trees and upon reviewing the park it was

determined that the structure of the height necessary to serve the intended area especially in the interior of san francisco state university and the interior of park merced as it gets developed in the future would require quite a large structure of harding park. and the applicant, myself, and verizon believe and have a firm conviction that building a wireless facility at harding park is not an option or an acceptable alternative to man the antennas to an existing 150 foot building, adjacent to the park. on to the in the area just outside of what we have as our service area, definition, is there are no industrial commercial structures. there are some neighborhood

commercial shopping centers ncs located between camon drive and 19th avenue on the east side of the park merced but that is currently and very close to the 55 two, site and the same is with the location at the stone's town shopping center. and boughts just north of there, we have a site at 599 buckingham way. and that provides coverage to that area. and not only that, but our site at or on the armory over on 100 armory, provides great signal across harding park as it exists currently. so our site design here is a pretty simple and comprised of radio equipment and it is located in the exclusive area of the