-- we have one we call the art scheme that is about organizing a kind of pedestrian path so that in addition to moving straight along the embarcadero you can move on this arc through the site. it organizes the series of spaces in a connected consequential, involving experience, with a primary space with some kind of art. it moves the potential mini piazza down to the northwest side of the site. that has advantages as well. that is the scheme we are considering. another scheme we are looking at is one we call the triangle schema, kind of demoralizing the three geographies of the site -- the city, the water edge, and the gta, to bring a larger used

recreation area and a different kind of piazza. as we move forward, we will flesh out which ones of these schemes have the best marks. i look forward to that process. here are some views down at ground level looking at that space. what a lot of people do not realize is once we demolished that it is quite a vast space we will create. activating it with active use is important. you can get a sense we have used significant san francisco landmarks as drivers for the pathways and the parks. if you come out of the terminal, right then you have a view of the transamerica building and quit tower -- coit tower. it is a portal for arrival at

san francisco. the idea is having a way to come up on to the piazza. i should not that accessibility is a challenge along these areas where there is a change in grade. entering at this corner is a natural way to enter the park. with that, i will hand it over to john unless you have any questions for me. president fong: i have one. first of all, i think this is fantastic. does. b have more window -- does option b have more window view toward the bay then option a? >> yes. with square footage, and they are comparable. they are configured very differently. b is long and thin. a has a larger body between the

two zones. president fong: thank you. >> good afternoon. i am from the planning and development staff. i want to reemphasize that what you have seen is a master plan. we do not have available money for everything in the master plan at this point. some of these project elements are going to be greater defined as time goes on and money becomes available. what i am going to emphasize is the impact of the process for the next few months, if not years. the overriding goal is to get this project complete by 2014, which means we want to start construction in early 2012, operational by early to mid 2014. one thing that was in your packet is the fiscal feasibility approval. this is very important at this point. i wanted to make sure you knew

about this. the city's administrative code requires this project is subject to physicals feasibility review at the board of supervisors. that was submitted to them last friday. they are going to agendize this item hopefully this summer. that packet includes the staff report of that -- a project description, what the purpose of the project is, and items regarding the cost estimates as well as the potential funding sources. this is important because we have to get the fiscal feasibility approval by the board of supervisors in order to start with the environmental review process. this past month or so we have been in a process to select an environmental consultant. we will come back to you, i believe in august, the 18th.

the 19th. for the contract award of that. that details with the fiscal feasibility approval. the environmental review process may be the critical path for the project. it will at minimum take 12 months. it could take as long as 18 or even more months. we do not want the process to hold up the project. the other thing i want to talk about a little bit is we will get back to you. we are going to take a lot of public input. we are going to have a public workshop on july 21, a design steering committee on july 20. we are going to instigate on thursday. we are going to new egg on august 4. we will meet anybody any time on this project so people are duly informed and provide input with

regards to the schemes. and we will work closely with the constituency, especially in terms of the nebraska dwarf public project. as peter delineated, there are at least three variations that could work. that process is going to take a little bit longer, but we are hoping to get a drb review board meeting. i believe it is in september. so things are moving. we are trying to move as quickly as we can. we hope to be back to you in early fall with the public input we have heard. we will launch into schematics. with that, i think we can answer any questions or comments you may provide. back to you. president fong: i have a number of cards here.

carl hansen? >> he left. [laughter] president fong: he loves it. ok. ben sherman. >> thank you, commissioners. i am a member of the green commercial advisory committee of san francisco. also, i am president of marine highways, elsie, a company developing ways to get companies off the roads and onto water highways. i am here to express strong support for the proposed new cruise terminal developed by the port of san francisco. since the finding of sentences

go day in 1775, the vitality of the city has always been associated with the port. it is truly important. today, the situation has not changed. one of the large driving forces of the economic vitality of san francisco is tourism and travel. in the future, this should be the same. therefore, the city must continue to promote all areas that will continue to expand these pillars of its economy -- tourism and travel. the new cruise terminal proposed by the port should be a major aspect of that continued economic vitality. unless san francisco develops a new cruise terminal, it will become a has-been at port -- has-been port and will have lost

an important element that makes the city and attractive tourist destination. the poor is commended for being able to undertake this project. as we all know, there have been a number of efforts in the past to develop a new cruise terminal here in san francisco. they have been public-private partnerships. today, the port has undertaken to develop this new cruise terminal project as a public- works project, and it should not be compromised to private interests which have failed often in the past. we cannot allow additional delays. delays in getting this facility the city needs for its continued economic vitality. if the project is not progressed in a timely fashion, other ports and the cruise lines will see is on san francisco's to madness and lack of vision in setting

-- will seize on san francisco's to madness and lack of vision. in peter's presentation, he pointed out many other non- cruise features of their design. these are added aspects of the project benefit to the community. there is no question that the port commission and the city in creating this new cruise terminal for sentences go. president fong: ernestine weiss. >> good afternoon, everyone. i agree with the gentleman's speech and peters presentation was excellent. i support it wholeheartedly. to create a park -- you know how i feel about open space. i love the way it is positioned

there. i only hope we will have facilities that people could play soccer and volleyball, which we desperately need. we do not have the most recreation on the embarcadero, for the young people and the working people. i see that with requests for my part which we cannot accommodate. anyway, it is a beautiful project. congratulations, peter, on your efforts. i hope it goes through quickly and that we remain successful. the ones that went before us will not work. this one is right. i have to say when i endorse something they usually goes through. so thank you very much. make sure it has all these aspects. thank you. president fong: bernard

meyerson? >> yes, thank you. i'm also a member of the maritime commerce advisory committee. i just want to make two points that maybe would not be made by others. point number one is that although we all recognize that the cruise industry is critical to san francisco in many ways, i want to stress also that we have an obligation to the thousands upon thousands of cruise passengers that look to make a port of call in san francisco because it has an international draw and people want to be able to come to san francisco and therefore, we have an obligation to them to make sure we have the right kind of facilities to accommodate them.

the second point i want to make has to do with another part of the point -- port, which has to do with bae. the port and bae have spent time and money and effort to nurture a cruise ship repair and refurbishment business, and i feel this might be negatively impacted if san francisco were to give up being a cruise port of call, so for those two reasons, i strongly support that the city move ahead. thank you. commissioner fong: thank you. >> thank you, ladies and gentlemen of the port commission and director. this is a very good plan

overall. i think there may be one element that is either missing or should be more emphasized, and that is the port needs a first-class cruise line tour -- a first- class cruise line terminal should have a major artistic or architectural design teacher that would stand out -- feature that would stand now. usually a tower. perhaps nothing quite as grandiose as the largely to the west, but something that would stand out. i understand you are under budgetary constraints, so such a project could come at a later time at a later phase, so i would suggest -- i'm going to have a letter to the commission outlining some of the specifics of what i'm thinking of, but it should be something that is bold. it would be a landmark for san francisco that would be constant

with the purposes of the cruise line terminal, and it would be a monument to our whole history of the great port of san francisco, the gateway to the pacific. we do not have anything that emphasizes that to visitors or even our own residents. this should be the symbolic thing that does that. thank you very much. commissioner fong: thank you. any other public comment on this item? commissioners have questions or comments? >> want to get a comment on the progress that has been made. i remember when the panel came up with the recommendation that here 27, and here we are with an actual design, so looks like we have that the team in place to really get this done. thank you. >> commissioner brandon: i want to echo commissioner lazarus, in that this is a very exciting project, and i look forward to the design recommendation that comes back to the commission. commissioner fong: ok.

a couple of commons. i think there are two different options, and it is interesting that princess cruises is trying 2011, and hopefully, they are very successful with that, which gives us more of a reason to make that investment. i know we have some monetary things to figure out as well, so it is clearly not a done deal, or we need to figure out some other things, but it is very exciting. i had the pleasure of being in shanghai, china, and took a tour of their crude ship port of call, and it was absolute state of the art. it is a beautiful building, a landmark building for that city, and it functioned very well for an event space as well as different use. this is a non-action item, but i look forward to the next steps, and remind everyone that there is a workshop on july 21, correct? a public workshop.

thank you. >> item 9c, informational presentation on the department of the city planning's nebraska embarcadero study -- nebraska -- northeast embarcadero study. commissioner fong: we're going to take a two-minute break and let the clout -- crowd clear the room. if you want to have conversations, kind of move them away from the front door here. two minutes.

commissioner fong: ok, seeing that our next item has a lot of public comment, we will go ahead and get started. would you please read the next item? >> he wants you to read the item. >> i'm sorry. informational presentation on the department of city planning's northeast embarcadero study. >> good afternoon, commissioners. i'm with the planning and development of -- division. i wanted to start by giving some introductory remarks before introducing planning department staff, for them to provide their presentation to you. last week, the planning commission held a special public

hearing on this study, and it really is quite -- hopefully, you had a chance to actually produce this. i think that is really a lot of hard, thoughtful work that hopefully will advance the public's understanding and appreciation of what we can do if we work together to make improvements along the embarcadero corridor, particularly the west side of the embarcadero. the public hearing was actually quite an event. it was highly attended. there were probably 50 or so public speakers their way in -- there to weigh in. it was about four-hour hearing, and i would say the full spectrum of viewpoints were expressed, and the planning commission was fully engaged in the whole discussion. i'm going to let david and his

staff kind of share with you the highlights of the study and where it came from, what's their recommendations are about, but as you have probably heard, the planning commission did approve the resolution that was attached that basically just urges -- they wanted to endorse the work in the study and have it forwarded to the port so that this commission would be able to fully consider the content of the worked and the recommendations. one of the significant things that happened in the public meeting last thursday was asian neighborhood design -- i guess hired by a group of community stakeholders working with brad hall -- have been working apparently over the last couple of months on ideas and vision

points that they would like to pursue further on design studies within a community process that began in may. we have not had the opportunity yet as sports staff to sit down with them to really understand full scope and intent of the -- as port staff. that was something that was discussed fairly extensively in the hearing. frankly, there was not enough time for the content that was covered. we are working with brad to find some time to sit down with the asian neighborhood design group to understand what that is to see what kind of information that we can supplement with the planning department's staff

presentation today that then would be available for the commission to consider as part of its thoughts about how to improve that side of the waterfront and what its implications and choices might be that you would want to consider for the sea wall at 351 project as well. i think i want to just back that up. we're certainly available for questions, and happy to follow- up accordingly. >> thanks. good afternoon, commissioners. acting director of city-wide planning for the department. with me today are kate and neal, who have prepared the study and are most familiar with it, so i will make just a few introductory comments. in early 2009, the port commission, at the request of supervisor chiu, commissioned

the planning department to introduce the surf pretty surface parking points alongside the embarcadero north of market street, and that we consider for a writ areas beyond those immediate heists to more fully understand the context of the work we would do, and that constitutes our study area. we have completed our analysis and the policy recommendations, and that constitutes a study area. they regard design guidelines primarily for city pattern, for height, for urban form, for land use, and for open space. we are excited to presented to you today and to present the commission's resolution to you as well. we have conducted a series of community workshops in this process. we have attended a series of

workshops held by the northeast embarcadero waterfront advisory group. that group was kind enough to hold quite a series of studies -- of meetings to discuss the work and provide us feedback, and we have public input from very many people that has been very informative, and we appreciate all the efforts of all hoover dissipated in the study. the study has certainly touched on controversial issues, and by no means were we able to reach consensus with the community on the future of the study area. we have been challenged from every direction, i have to say. nonetheless, the study represents the planning department's professional judgment on the optimum course for the northeast embarcadero. it is the planning department's hope that the recommendations and guidelines from this study serve as an additional guide to development in the study area and further articulate policies and guidelines in the port's

land-use element and design and access element. at the meeting that diane referred to last week, when we presented our final recommendations to the planning department, the planning commission, they passed a final resolution urging two primary things, and we'll get into this in more detail and certainly give you the resolution itself, but the first is that they acknowledge the work of staff in completing the northeast embarcadero study, and recognize the design principles in recommendation of the study for improving new development in the area. more importantly, i think, for this group, the planning commission urges support for san francisco to consider the principles and recommendations proposed on the northeast embarcadero study when considering proposals for the study area and when considering public infrastructure improvements in the study area. with that as an introduction,

kate will give you an overview of the process, and then, neil will give you some of the information that is actually in the study. thank you. >> good afternoon, commissioners. on october 27, and introduced the northeast embarcadero steady team to discuss the process here last thursday, the planning commission passed a resolution that is the fourth to take the study into consideration when the court is considering proposals for new development and public realm improvements in the study area. i have copies of this resolution here for you. additionally, the planning commission made many comments about the steady, and we have

incorporated some of them into our presentation. we also corrected and now i hear an absence inc. the correct map -- we also corrected the math in here and have since inc. the correct map. it is the we're here to present the final product. over the next 15 minutes, we will guide you on a tour of the northeast embarcadero that study, including its fundamentals and design recommendations for fundamental improvements and new development in the northeast embarcadero area. the planning department analyzed parking lots along the west side of the embarcadero north of market street, seen here in orange. we considered a for free areas beyond the immediate sites in order to more fully understand the context any role the four properties can play in the embarcadero and the larger city fabric. the study built on the work that has already been done in this area, including the northeastern waterfront plan, which is an

area plan of the city's general plan. the nebraska waterfront historic district, which is referenced in the city's planning code. and the waterfront land use plan supports official planning document policies, and it is related to the design element. the study consisted of more phases. community discussion, and listening to the public, presenting the department's initial recommendations, presenting the department's recommendations, and lastly, the study's final recommendation. public outrage was a significant component of the northeast embarcadero study, and comments submitted over the course of each phase help to inform the study as it progressed to the next phase. the public outreach effort was substantial, and hundreds of commons from individuals and organizations were received by the department, either through the five community meetings the palm hosted or via e-mail, fax,

or mail. these comments were summarized and posted on the study's website, following each phase of the study, and you can see these studies in the summary's appendix. last week, we received a number of letters of support for the study, and i will also submit this to you. with that, i'd like to present the designer for the northeast embarcadero study, who will present the department's final recommendation. >> good afternoon, commissioners. it is a pleasure to be here before you. i will lead you through a brief introduction of the urban design study, analysis will be undertook for some of the opportunities we found during that analysis. i will go through the basic underlying or fundamental principles of good urban design we develop and finally conclude with