>> if you care to, please do state your name for the record. commissioners, you are on your regular calendar, item 14 for case no. 2013.0291c for 1233 - 1239 noriega street, request for conditional use authorization. >> president fong and fellow commissioners, kasey noel, department staff. the item before you is for a conditional use authorization to establish financial service at 1239 noriega street doing

business as sterling bank and trust. sterling bank and trust is a community bank with approximately 12 san francisco locations and two others in the bay area. the project will divide the existing retail space occupying 1237 and 1239 noriega street into two retail spaces. the proposed use for the occupied 1239 noriega street. the existing spe measures approximately 18 34 square feet and will be split into 9 26 square feet at 1237 noriega street ~ and approximately 9 08 square feet at the proposed subject space ~. the proposed use size would not exceed the use size limitation. the project includes interior tenant improvements and minor alterations to the existing store front. to date the department has not received communications in opposition to or in support of the project. the planning department is recommending approval with

conditions. this concludes my presentation. i will be available for questions. thank you. >> thank you. project sponsor, please. commissioner fong, commissioners, director ram, my name is steve adams, i'm with sterling bank and trust. and this is my first cu under formula retail. i guess i'm getting big enough now for this. this project is unique. it's a win/win situation. the current tenant in there is a chinese language bookstore and she takes up both spots. and when i heard of her plight, i at the time was looking for a location on noriega avenue. and at the time there had been a rash of i don't want to say frivolous lo*s lawsuits, but a-d-a issues going on on noriega avenue if you're familiar with that. i met the landlord and i met the current tenant in there and she is a chinese language

bookstore and she didn't need the space, but she's doing enough business that she wants to stay in business. and then there was the a-d-a aspect of it. so, i proposed to her since i was looking for a space, i would split the space with them, renovate her space, the bookstore space, make them a-d-a compliant with a ramp and a better a-d-a compliant bathroom, then i would take the space next door and upgrade that space, a-d-a compliant and it's a win/win on both sides and she can stay with her bookstore and thrive and keep people employed, and i can hire some more people from the neighborhood. that is it in a nutshell. i ask for your approval on this project. thank you. >> thank you. >> good afternoon, jeremy

schaub, [speaker not understood], i'm one of the architects on this. previous two speakers have said the most things important. i want to mention specifically about the a-d-a because noriega street is so sloped coming up to 19th avenue that the adjacent space, the modifications will include firming up the entire floor plate there and providing two new a-d-a bathrooms, one for each space. and that will include some site mod if i equations to the store front and our space will have an atm vestibule, but will retain the existing aluminum store front windows and will have a new [speaker not understood] directly illuminated not to exceed 28 square feet, which is the limitation for this frontage. ~ wall sign thank you. >> is there any public comment on this item? okay, seeing none, public comment is closed. commissioner antonini. >> yeah, i think this is a good proposal.

as was pointed out, it serves two purposes. it makes two stores a-d-a compliant that were not previously such. sufficient use of bank space, which is something sterling does -- i've seen a few of their branches, and, you know, you don't need a lot of space. banks are realizing that in most instances they don't need as much space as they've had, and this is a good use. and they're a local bank and they're a bank that you can work with, unlike some of the larger banks unfortunately that send everything you do to some other state and you talk to somebody who doesn't know where you are. these are people that actually know who you are and they'll work with you locally. so, i think it's going to be an improvement for noriega street. i'm in support. >> commissioner sugaya. >> yeah, i would just like to get one clarification from the bank. this is prompted by a previous

case we had with la blanch, which subsequently got bought out by starbucks. there's a recent report in the paper that there's a merger going on between [speaker not understood] and sterling and i'd like to get clarification as to -- >> yeah, that's sterling financial and they're based out of spoke cain washington. we're sterling bank and trust based out of san francisco. we're two different institutions. >> so you're not the same. thank you. >> commissioner moore. ~ >> i'm actually interested in seeing that this bank really deals with the type of space and the kind of dimensions of space which we prefer for small banks. instead of the occupying corner properties, overwhelming people with signage and night lighting, which is not as desirable. i think this bank takes a very interesting approach, putting a customer area with seating light in front, keeping the atm actually away so there is not

unnecessary night lighting for an atm. it has many positive moves which i would hope we will find language for one starting to tighten up our signage guidelines and how we deal with lighting as well. so, i am in support of this project and would like for us to make a note of some of the positive attributes of how certain critical areas are resolved. >> move to approve. >> second. >> on that motion to approve, commissioner antonini? >> aye. >> commissioner borden? >> aye. >> commissioner hillis? >> aye. >> commissioner moore? >> aye. >> commissioner sugaya? >> aye. >> commissioner wu? >> aye. >> and commission president fong? >> aye. >> so moved, commissioners, that motion passes unanimously to 7 to 0 and places you on item 15, case no. 2013.0535cer for 3301 - 3601 lyon street. request for conditional use authorization. >> good afternoon, commissioners. mary woods of department staff.

the cu before you is a request by the town group of boys to occupy the talented fine arts for a one-year term while its permanent main campus at 27.50 jackson street is being renovated. ~ the school has an enrollment cap on students. this will not change. the school will relocate about 200 kids from k through 4 to the towers of fine arts site. the cu is required because for the elementary school in a public zone, the department's recommendation is approve with conditions. this concludes my summary of the project. if you have any questions, i'm happy to answer. thank you. >> thank you. project sponsor, please. thank you.

i'm mark miller. i'm on the board of [speaker not understood]. i'm a san francisco resident and i've met many of you before when we took the jackson street project through planning commission approval about a year ago. so, thank you, commissioners, for considering our conditional use application for the palace fine arts. that's all, if i may. the town school for boys is an independent boys school. as you may know, the school is a k through 8 school located at 27 57 jackson street and continues to operate at [speaker not understood]. we just have a big hole in the middle. we're a a nonprofit organization. our mission is to provide a rich, challenging, rick russ educational experience that addressesedth distinctive energy level of boys. throughout the course of the -- of 2013 and 14, town school is undergoing a series of improvements at our jackson

street campus. we started construction in june. due to the nature and extent of the construction, we can't accommodate all the grades at the jackson street campus. the town school for poise our goal is to relocate k through 4 is what it looks like it's going to be now which is approximately 200 students, 200 and change students and supporting staff members to the palace of fine arts. and occasionally and for special events, k through 8 may be in the space. fortunately when we made the application, we thought we might have to have k through 8 there. fortunately we were able to keep that going in the jackson street campus and that seems [speaker not understood]. no changes will be made to the existing passive art, the fine arts building or structure. this is not an architectural building project. [speaker not understood] use of the property is effective from august 1st -- our lease is august 1st, 2013. actually before that, through end of june, 2014.

there is an option to extend only through september 30th, 2014. the lease is with the department of rec and park. just want to hit on a couple key points. this is absolutely a temporary relocation, a wonderful facility, neighborhood it is. we don't intend to or want to be there very long. we're only there because we have to. the project as i said is no new construction. we are using the building as-is, as provided by the exploratorium use. academy of arts i think painted it and did a few things. our lease is for 11 months as we said. we are using the exploratorium classrooms as they are in their currents condition. the building has been inspected extensively by the fire marshal before our occupancy. as we know, the house of fine arts for over 30 years ha provided educational and other enrichment opportunities focused on children.

through the exploratorium. the building has a legal capacity of about -- in the space of the town school for boys has in our lease with rec and park, that capacity is for about 1200 people. the use as i said is primarily children, but the capacity is 1200 people. while we would have liked to have kept jackson street and as you may know from both our hearings here before and conversations along the way and working with the department of planning, there is no means to keep the students in jackson street site and to get that building up to code let alone renovate it. fortunately, we can keep half the students in jackson street. finding temporary facilities for an education use in san francisco is very difficult. i certificatedctionv on the school board's committee to search for three years for a site. in that period of time, to find a site, there was zero capabilities.

we talked to the private market, san francisco board of education, the union school district, we worked with the presidio. not that there weren't spaces we didn't like. there were no spaces to occupy. during the period of time there was only one space that appeared, and that was in the fall of 2012 and that was the palace of fine arts. not the ymca, not the presidio or any other youth oriented private or nonprofit institution or public institution. this was the only option that appeared. the term sheet was signed by the school on december -- for park and rec site on december 20th of 2012, and by the city of san francisco's department of rec and park on [speaker not understood]. we had public hearings through the rec and park commission on february 7th and february 21st, 2013 with the lease approved [speaker not understood] by resolution public hearing february 21st.

fortunately with the lease secured and the confirmation for the school, the school was able to commence its construction and require the relocation. i want to touch on our primary concern which is number one, safety for the students and the neighbors. and our number two concern are consideration of our neighbors during our temporary stay. safety, number one concern on both sites. i want to focus on we've been working very closely with the fire department on all safety issues. and particularly we've worked closely with terry [speaker not understood], officer terry fogarty who is our local fire inspector for schools and don who is the lieutenant at the fire department who has been working on plan check. they came and inspected the facility before the school operated just last week, and wrote a glowing safety review on that [speaker not understood] approving the project as it was.

i just want to note as san francisco's park and rec has learned, unoccupied public facilities degrade quickly. this facility was available between the exploratorium leaving and the long-term lease program which is going to be i gather by rec and park. we saw [speaker not understood]. we're pleased the town school can help occupy the building, keep it active, keep it available for public use as well as for the school use and make it available, keep it safe, and keep it up during this interim period. we also appreciate the need for the conditional use permit and we appreciate the support from the planning staff. we appreciate the support from rec and park through this process and through our crazy time frames and the process that we are all working through. and lastly, we really appreciate our neighbors in the marina district who have to put up with a lot, especially right now seasonally, so, we want to thank them. not only is our intent to to be

finished and out by june, we will be fully operating on jackson street by september 2014. that's my present aches. i'm here to answer any questions and help talk about any concerns you have during our interim use occupancy. thank you for your attention. >> thank you. going to open up now to public comment. i do have a couple of cards. brendan duncan and john hook. good afternoon, my name is john hook. i'm a neighbor. i live on jefferson street. one of my main concerns -- >> sir, if i could ask you to speak directly into the microphone. my main concern is parking on baker street. it is an untolerable situation on scott street where the parents of the students have their cars lined up and sometimes they're double and triple parked to let the children off or pick them up. i'm not sure where they plan to

pick up the children where there is parking behind the exploratorium. i'm not sure whether there is any requirement that the pick up is behind the exploratorium, but it should not be on baker street. baker street is already crowded with persons who are looking at the fine arts palace and there should not be -- they should not be allowed to pick up their kids or just double park and that situation, i think that is a very important situation. i don't know what the answer is, whether they have any requirements of parking, but that should be -- should be the concern of this commission. >> thank you. next speaker, please. hello, my name is brendan duncan and i am a resident who lives within 150 feet of the subject property. i'm generally in support of the

conditional use authorization, but i did -- when i had the opportunity to look through the documentation, i noticed that there was a mention that outside activities would take place at marina green. so, i was concerned about how the students would actually cross marina boulevard to get to marina green and i started e-mail correspondence with nancy doddy who is the cfo for town school for boys. she mentioned to me that the students would actually be walking down marina boulevard to broderick and cross the intersection there and come back to the little marina green which i don't know if we can quite pull the projector here. [speaker not understood]. do i need to hit anything? there we go. [inaudible]. but basically the issue is that this is the house finance building. students will be coming out

lyon street, [speaker not understood] the intersection of baker, broderick crossing marina boulevard, and then coming back to [speaker not understood] to come to little marina green. when i was discussing this, she mentioned the reason they were doing this was because the other two intersections at lion and baker were not safe. ~ i actually totally agree with that in substance, but i'm not sure the right solution is to have -- hope that these young children are going to always go down to broderick and cross at the appropriate place. and, so, you know, i'm hoping that if authorization is given, which i said i'm generally in support of, there be conditions attached to that around the safety of these students because it sounds like their p-e classes and physical activities would be taking place on little marina green. and i'm not a traffic engineer so i don't have any specific things to prescribe, but i would hope that somebody who does know would take the opportunity to think about signage and traffic calming

features that we would associate with schools that are zoned that way and what we normally see around school yards. also given that once the students are on little marina green, there is actually no fencing you would normally see on a playground at other schools in the city. and, you know, the drivers that are coming down marina boulevard have no indication there's going to be children at play during these hours, so, that is all i have to say. thank you. >> thank you. next speaker, please. patricia vaughan, [speaker not understood]. we're totally in favor of this and i want everybody in the room that's in favor of this to please stand up. now we don't have to have 50 repetitions. thank you. >> thank you. thanks, everyone. commissioners, good afternoon.

i'm brewster eli, head of the boys. [speaker not understood] had to leave because of the parking question he brought up. our pick up and drop off is way around in the west side of the parking lot. and, so, we have a whole system. it sort of breezed right through and keeps all of our families off any of the neighborhood streets other than accessing the back of the exploratorium site. so, his fears were allayed appropriately. my only comments to today is that i've been the head of the school for 25 years and as we brought the previous jackson street project in front of you sometime ago, one of the really fine moments there is our neighbors, in spite of the fact they were going to have to endure a lengthy and noisy and difficult construction project, did not resist the project at all. they said to us as a school, you have been a good neighbor. i have spent 25 years trying to

being the elephant on the block, being a school that truly cares about our neighborhood. so, i can pledge to our neighbors our temporary neighbors in the mission -- in the marina district that we will continue the same thing because i will be the one in charge of doing that. thank you. unlike several school mates, [speaker not understood]. with many sacrifices from my family, i was fortunate to diversify my role in educational experiences by coming to school in america 10,000 miles away. my name is flora montgomery matunga [speaker not understood] at town square for boys. that commitment to diversify student body [speaker not understood] is at the heart of what we do at town school. our statement of diversity is the best education for our

students requires a diverse experience. our students have had opportunities to interact and learn from south africa teacher interns who teach in africa, global institute from cape town, south africa. the teach africa program [speaker not understood] was a first for me and [speaker not understood] commitment to provide a broad platform of diverse experiences for our students. town school committee comprise of students, board members, faculty and administrators is a vehicle which we actively seek to set goals and continue commitment to diversify our student body. we do this in a number of ways, including having planned volunteers, outreach, admissions committee, to reach the board of supervisors preschool community. as a school community we host [speaker not understood] for lgbt, asian american, latin american, and african-american families. we also have opportunities for families to join and participate in school cultural celebration events.

our commitment to socioeconomic diversity is equally vital. to that end, town school has board approved $1.2 million for tuition assistance, 20% of our families are on tuition assistance. and finally, town school is a school where learning is prized, school is essential, and where boyhood is indeed celebrated. thank you for your time and consideration. good afternoon, my name is jennifer warren and i am the lower school head at town school for boys. and it is my distinct pleasure to work with our approximately 200 students that would be occupying the space at palace fine arts. and i would like to reassure you that safety is our number one priority and that crossing marina green and having boys either on little marina green or the chrisy field area is something our entire faculty has already