supervisor maxwell: it will come up in one second. we have to tell the folks downstairs to show the picture, and come up. >> there is rachel blowing bubbles under my tree. she spoke at the first urban forestry meeting and said she has had birthday parties under that tree, and played under that tree. anyway, i thought it was such a great picture, i wanted to share it with you. supervisor maxwell: thank you. that is what this is all about. >> thank you. supervisor maxwell: why don't you come up next? >> good afternoon, supervisors. i am sarah, rube stein thomas. my mother said most of what i would have said. i think the other thing that i noticeded in the papers that you have in the file is the tree is unique in a backyard

setting. it is veble -- visible from other areas. my mother has in some ways compromising the land value by designating the tree a landmark. it's a win-win for the city. i heard a program on the radio that talked about the impact of trees in an urban setting on young, low income kids and just the general population and the sort of soothing effect that the greening of a city can have on its population. we have always lived in the city and are city slickers through and through. but living in a green environment does bring a little bit of the country to all of us. i appreciate your intelligence, and any questions you have, direct them at us.

supervisor maxwell: thank you all for bringing it to us. we appreciate your commitment. any further public comment on this item? please come forward. >> good afternoon, my name is terry mill, and i am a member of the urban forestry council. we had a meeting about this several weeks ago, and the council has endorsed this for a landmark tree. i would just like to say to the supervisors now i know that supervisor maxwell has several landmark trees in her district, but i would invite all the supervisors. we need more. this is only the 22nd landmark designation after 25 or 30 years. we could should use a lot more in other districts. thank you very much. supervisor maxwell: thank you. >> walter paulson. ♪ he was born in the summer of

the city-city year commissioner newlin: coming home to a play he had never been before commissioner newlin: he left yesterday, and you saw the trees commissioner newlin: and you might say he was born again commissioner newlin: you might say he found a tree for every door. ♪ and the city on high. and i know you would be so glad to see it go high. and i know he would be a poor guy if he never saw a tree grow high. see the trees all-around in the city. see the trees around and it sure looked pretty ♪ maxwell shrank you. any further public comment. seeing none, public comment is

closed. well move this forth. supervisor mar? supervisor mar: i was just going to ask are different species of redwood trees rare? i like the redwood growth, but are they rare, and are they looked at with more attention than other trees? >> redwood aren't necessarily rare in san francisco. there are some pockets of them in the park areas. they are definitely not common for backyard areas in san francisco. they are big. >> and her tree can be seen from the street. >> yes. supervisor mar: how old do you think the tree is? >> it is hard to say. the tree is not going to grow as tall as they might grow in the woods because it is starting alone. the trees protect each other

from the wind. a building is protecting this tree from the wind, and vice versa, but that is going to keep the tree from growing much higher than the build. it is hard to tell without doing a coring sample, and we don't want to do that. supervisor mar: thank you supervisor maxwell: did i close public comment -- >> in response to his question. i am 51. the trees were large when i was a kid. so they are at least 51 years old. in terms of the rarity, i will note from the urban forestry council, and it has been indicated it is rare for a redwood tree of that size to be in a backyard setting in the city, for what it's worth. supervisor maxwell: let me

close public comment. colleagues, without objection, we will move this forward. item number seven? >> ordinance approving exceptions to requirements of the seismic safety loan program to allow for a $15 million loan to the arlington residents at 480 ellis street. supervisor maxwell: staff? >> good afternoon, chair maxwell and supervisors. joel lip ski from the mayor's office of housing. in this item we are asking for an exception to the existing requirement associated with the seismic safety loan program to relieve one project of the requirement to mean the loan to value ratio of 95%. the current requirement indicates that in order to make a loan to this building, we would not be permitted to

provide any more than what would bring all of the loans on the building to a level of 95% of its appraised value. we are asking for an exception to that because under the current circumstances, this doesn't really apply either to this type of project or to the type of lopez that we would be making. there is some existing debt on the building, but there is committed dead from the state and some stimulus funds that have been awarded the project through the state tax credit allocation committee. if you add them all up, that would amount to 235% of the appraised value, rather than 95%. our loan for 15 would raise that to 266%. there are two reasons why a and

a loan like we intend to make, why the loan to value ratio is not really a useful tool. essentially, loan to value ratio is something that a lender would use to assess the rivercat -- risk. in the event of a default, the risk of losing their money because the building may not be worth enough to resell it and recoup the money for the money. this wouldn't work for this project, and this is the case for all housing in the city. first off, the existing loans, and the loans from the state, as well as our loan, we have some money on the property already. all of them come with deed restrictions that survive the payment of the loan, suppressing the income to the building and making it affordable. particularly in a building like this. the targeted income for the

people who have lived there is extremely low income. solo that the long-term plan would be to provide subsidies through the department of public health, who would be making refrls to this building. the second reason that it doesn't really work is that the value in this case that we need to assess is not so much its monetary value on the market, but its value as a public benefit as affordable housing for folks who are at high risk of homelessness or homeless. the regulars provide something. that would be to look at the entire portfolio of the borrower, in this case, mercy housing of california, and we looked at that. but mercy's portfolio itself is so deeply affordable, and it

has so much soft debt on it already that we couldn't get there by going that direction. we also looked at reducing the scope to a much lower level to again try to meet this requirement. we weren't going to be able to do that and still obtain the state and tax credit money. if they come in, they put the building way over the 95% ratio. looking at this smaller scope proved to not be feasible. the building is fairly old. it has been owned by the st. vincent paul society for a long time. we have a plan to bring it back into full service with long-term assistance from the public health department. the smaller scope we could have done would only prolong its life four or five years. the basic systems, in addition

to seismic upgrade, it needs new plumbing and ventilation services. it is an old style who tell with bathrooms down the hall for most of the units, which has proven to be a less stable environment for the population we are trying to serve than one where folks have their own bathroom and acked to cooking. for these reasons we are asking specifically for an exception for the arlington hotel of this specific requirement. in our mind, the risk to be assessed is whether or not we will be able to count on it fulfilling its public purpose for the length of time we would be making this loan. it would be a 55-year deferred payment loan like all of our own loans. the question to ask would be whether mers could, with the assistance we put in place for operating costs, would they be able to do that.

they have a very strong track record of serving this population. in any event, if they for some reason went out of business or were able to continue to serve the population we have in mind, we have in our loan documents the right to replace with with another service provider and owner. for these reasons, we ask your approval on this ordinance. we have someone from housing here, and someone from m.o.h. to talk more specifically about the project itself if you want to hear that. supervisor maxwell: colleagues, would you like to hear that, or any more comments or questions? i think we are ok. let's open this up to public comment. >> walter paulson. i hope you fix this building. in case the earth moves under our feet. and the ski tumbling down.

i want you to fix it up all-around. because buildings break down, and we need it fixed. and i hope you do it quick. i feel the earth move under my feet. >> i feel the sky tumbling down. fix it up all-around. supervisor maxwell: thank you. any further public comment? seeing none, then public comment is closed. colleagues, then without objection, we will move this forward with recommendation. so moved. madam clerk, item number eight? >> resolution establishing an area plan infrastructure committee to supervise a consultant study regarding infrastructure finance districts. >> colleagues, this is the next step in an important conversation that we started in the context of our planning work for the eastern

neighborhood. it started with the discussion that the cost of all neighborhood improvements in our plan areas would exceed revenues generated. we need to be focused and creative in identifying additional financial tools to meet our objectives. i want to thank everyone for their hard work to get to this point. it is now time to broaden our discussion to cover all the adopted plan areas in the city, and i look forward to a more detailed exploration of the infrastructure finance district idea. i would also like to ask for an amendment of the whole. i would offer it -- which would add a more robust description of the needs, analysis and back ground for the market, octavia

area. >> thank you, chair. supervisors, in your packet you have a resolution from the planning commission. they did consider this draft resolution as well as another introduced by the mayor. this one, as supervisor maxwell said, discusseses facilities districts. the planning commission did recommend that you approve it, but they wanted you to take special consideration to two issues. first, they wanted the board or other decision-makers to seek additional funding to extend this pilot program to all the eastern neighborhoods. in addition to the pilot. f.d. resolution proposed, it is important this knee committee be tasked with the development of eafer i.f.d. for the

neighborhoods area. funding will be identified in the short term by the committee. this neighborhood has existing forecast deficit, and the city could better address this by establishing an i.f.d. in this area. the department continues to look for grant funding for such a study, but we encourage you to keep this need in mind if you have access to any other funds. the second issue they wanted to draw your attention was to ensure the committee studies the long-term effect on the general fund. i didn't really describe what the infrastructure district does, but for those of you who are familiar with re-development law. the i.f.c. allows us to capture a portion of the property tax. as property values rise, that increment of rise is captured for the district.

i wanted to ensure that as we capture this new increase in property values for the benefit of a specific limited geographic area, be aware that necessarily diverts funding from the city an general fund. a portion of this new commitment is made possible by the zoning changes in the eastern district areas, but only a portion of the property tax revenues should be diverted to the area plan needs. this would enable continued money to the general if you said to ensure city-wide services. the commission recommended this committee study the effects on the general fund revenues and to ensure the city as a whole maintains a well-funded base. supervisor maxwell: is there anything in the resolution that would prohibit that? do we need to call it out specifically?

i thought in some ways when we said it is now time to broaden our discussion to cover all the plan areas in the city and look forward to a more detailed exploration of the finance district, that that would go a lock long way to covering those issues? >> it would be. that would be a nice resolved clause or a whereas clause, whatever your preference may be, but encouraging the committee to keep in mind the impacts of this diversion of fund to this specific geographic area. that would be part of their study. they are tasked with studying those sorts of issues, and that would be important to call that out. supervisor maxwell: city attorney, would there be a problem in adding that? so could you give us some

wording on that, and we could add that? gnawed gnawed supervisor maxwell: ok, d [inaudible] supervisor maxwell: ok, perfect. colleagues, i would like to open this up to public comment if you have no questions or comments? public comment then on this issue. jamie whitaker? one card. >> good afternoon supervisors. i would like to thank supervisor maxwell especially for working to improving the developer stimulus. at first i was very much against the stimulus legislation that did not have up front fee, and am pleased we did get something with 15%. this neighborhood is not really represented by a formal c.a.c. it is not part of the eastern neighborhoods, and as we all

know, development is stalled. we have a lot of folks living in the neighborhood. it runs all the way up to market street. we have millennium, which is a 6-00 foot to your, one renkin hill, which sticks out like a sore thumb, and the infinite. so 1,500 additional residents have come to the neighborhood. i live at bakers towers, built in 1991, the first mid rise condominium built after the earthquake. while there are children's playgrounds planned for the trance bay transit center, that lovely park we hope to see in 2017 and a couple of other parks i will show you, the kids right now need space to run around. anything that can help to

hasteen the development of open spaces and other infrastructure like traffic calming and other needs for this community, to encourage people to get out of their cars and walk, use bikes. public transit would be wonderful. on the projector i have a plan that -- could we see what is on the overhead, please? sfgov, please? supervisor maxwell: it takes a second. >> anyway, there are already two projects with plans. it has been vetted on the community. the one i have on the projector right now is for a park. the parks and rec department have conducted things to get

outreach from neigeach from nei. we came to consensus as a community. it is just awaiting funding. this might help to get that built. earlier this year we had the three month process with the beloved open space access at 333 harrison street. it has a bacci ball court, a children's play area, and a dog play area, but it needs money. we are waiting for prop 84 funding. this would be a great step. thank you. supervisor maxwell: thank you. any further public comment on this item? please come forward if you want to comment. >> yes, espanola jackson, bayview hunter's point.

i went to each of your offices this morning to distribute a news report that came from the mercury in san jose. it's a discussion -- with the press conference at 10:00 this morning, i thought sure some of you would have been there. it was by invitation only. the statement is they are going to use 50 trucks daly for the next three years bringing the dirt and the rocks to the hunter's point shipyard and also over there to -- between the bay bridge. what is the name of that? i am getting old and slow now.

supervisor maxwell: i know what you mean. they just tore down -- i am getting old, too. >> they built that in the 30's there in the middle of the bay. what am i speaking of? i know someone in the background knows it. you pass by it on the freeway. you can turn off and go to that air there where you have the homeless living and other people living. it is really something. wait just a minute here. hunter's point and treasure island. it is right here. right here. now, i didn't know anything about this, and i contactsed -- contacted the mercury, and i don't know if any of you supervisors new about this. our community didn't know we were going to have 50 trucks coming in and out of your community for the next three years with all of this hauling.

when i was at the other hearing, i was wondering why you can't tax these big traction coming into our communities, like a dollar per axle. i think we should be getting something out of this. did any of you know this was going on? what are you going to do about it, and how are you going to talk with cal tran. the name of the person, the developer, is on here. did you receive yours? supervisor maxwell: my staff, we are on that right now. i want to thank you very much for that. >> yes, because you think we should have known about this, the citizens of san francisco, all of the citizens. i don't like the fact that we are just being told. one of the things i am concerned with is where they

are going to put this dirt when the shipyard has not been cleaned. they have not removed the toxic dirt already there. supervisor maxwell: thank you very much. next speaker, please. >>ed madam president and supervisors, good afternoon. i am with residential builders. i am here today so say we are very much in support of the resolution before you today. as participants of the eastern neighborhoods rezoning process finalized two years ago, it was raise at many meetings. at the time it was envisioned that i.f.d.'s would back fill the race ose for areas that had substantial zoning or large new residential developments. to go to the community infrastructure would be above

the baseline tax today. supervisor maxwell: one second. espanola, we will be in touch with you on that. >> thank you. supervisor maxwell: go ahead. >> it is only fair to support the communities that have reaped the benefit to the neighborhood. the city could issue bonds to move projects forward based on the guaranteed stream of income from increment finance districts. this proposal would complement all of the earlier plans, and i urge you to support it today. supervisor maxwell: thank you. >> there's a spark of magic in your eyes. candyland appears all over the land.

never knew that fairy tales come true, but they come true with the city park and you. you're a cityland jeannie in surprise -- genie. i bet you, this is the land and park i have been waiting for forever, and ever will you fulfill all our dreams. thank you, please. supervisor maxwell: any further public comment? seeing none, then public comment is closed. thank you for joining us. let me say that the whole point of the group and the study is to explore the t.i.f. we have people on that committee like the controller,

the budget office, et cetera. part of the reason they are on there is to track and make sure that the general fund is not adversely affected. you can talk to that as well. >> good afternoon, supervisors, and chair maxwell. i apologize. i was held up and then agenda item eight came up, and i ran down here. thank you for accepting my comments after public comment. i understand that ann-marie from planning summarized what it was about. supervisor maxwell: you are part of the staff. >> i don't know how much additional information you need. i did want to highlight at least -- perhaps reemphasize the scope of what we will be studying and give you a preview of what we hope to do in the next two months to get this process moving.