and i have an iphone and i am constantly on text messages and text 2,000 messages a month and my assistant texts me back 4,000 and whatnot and i need the data plan and whatnot and so i just don't understand people who are opposed to this and putting it up where this is supposed to be so i get better reception. and being in north beach alone and whatnot and the financial district and whatnot, i know there's tons of working professionals in the particular area and i know for a fact they would be happy to know they have perfect reception when they need to make an emergency phone call or whatnot and just go and check and sur the web when i do need to. i am paying $200 a month and

hope to have reception in that area i am doing business in or browse at my own free will to internet or text is a choice that i hope i have when i am in the neighborhoods. i drive over 40,000 miles a year in my car and so i'm absolutely in favor of getting better reception and if this means a cell tower every two blocks or one block doesn't matter how many goes up and whatnot. it shouldn't be up to the neighbors in that particular building to say that, no, i don't want it here. if you don't want it here, put it up into the next building and whatnot. thank you very much. president olague: thank you. >> i have a restaurant in the city of san francisco and i am for this project because i

believe san francisco is a world class city and we need to have desce decent broadband coverage for everyone including the tourist and the business people that are happening in certain spots. we all have cell phones and i am pretty sure that 99% of people have cell phones and it is always a very, very discouraging thing when you have a service that drops a call. and so to be fair, everyone should have enough coverage to make sure that the business works well. and my customers depend on that and we like the one just talked about and text messaging is a way of life and my employees live somewhere there, too. i need to call them up and find out if they are able to work or so no one is having a home phone

and that becomes our home and i believe full coverage is essential. that will raise the quality of life and also raise the status of the city of san francisco as a world class city. thank you. president olague: thank you. >> i am darla bernard and i am a resident of san francisco and wholeheartedly support the cell phone tower. thank you. >> i am actually a broker and i do loans and those type of things which means i am always on my phone and driving and on the road. and with the laws being blue tooth and wires re, i want to prevent on being on the phone and have my calls accessible to

that and i find it very frustrating to pull over, park, and get on the phone to find out where i am going and what needs to be done. and in these condensed areas and homeowners as well to help them and get the right place in efficient and quality time. and i am representing for susan mcauliffe of north beach neighbors and president in support of it. thank you. >> i am a working mom pretty much full time and i have two daughters and this is seven months and another four years and goes to preschool and in the daytime my family members or my nanny picks up the other one and i have to talk all the time to make sure are the work okay, the babies okay and my daughter goes

to tutu ballet in north beach and also goes to preschool very close to north beach and there are times when i try to call home and see how it is going and there is no signal. it is really frustrating and rush home and speeding and the law against me and everything and with better coverage and in my life will be a lot easier and the timing is crucial. so with more antennas in my life will be a lot more efficient and really important to have signals for cell phones. by the way, i don't have a home phone, so cell phone is the thing that i need. thank you. president olague: thank you. >> i will be interpreting for her. >> translation?

>> i can't have both microphones working at the same time. so if she speaks and then you translate. [speaking in foreign language] >> i hope in the future we can get better for all my family and children and won't waste so much time for getting dropped calls i think. [speaking foreign language] >> i hope that you can get the antenna done as soon as possible. that's all. president olague: thank you. next speaker.

>> if you can ask her to speak into the mike a little bit more. and otherwise we won't be able to pick it up. >> i am li sue and i come because my son -- and

[speaking in foreign language]

>> i am at a friend's house and i get dropped calls and as soon as we get this antenna for us, i can call my friends and relatives without all the dropped calls. i hope we get this antenna installed as soon as possible. [speaking foreign language] president olague: she needs to speak into the mike.

>> i am a child care person and i take care all the kids in the morning and i hope that we can hurry up and get the phone lines fixed and the wireless fix sod that we can check on my kids and are they home and after they go home, we don't know if it's safe, and they have to keep calling everyone to make sure that everyone is safe so that it will make -- so she is actually just want to get the antenna as soon as possible. that is all. >> [speaking in foreign language]

>> i use my cell phone all the time in the chinatown area and i am in huge support of the cell phone antenna. that is all i got. >> good afternoon. i am regina and i live in north beach myself. and i can't really add too much more than what's been said. i think the restaurant owner, excuse me, expressed it very well and all i can say is we're in a world class city and you need to have access to people who need to get in touch with you and in orderer for us not to have dropped calls or in order for high speed on the laptop, you need to have these antennas

installed and it is, i think, it's krushl and extremely important -- i think it's crucial and extremely important and essential. we do need this. thank you. president olague: thank you. >> reset the clock. >> commissioners, i am a resident of the district three, although not in north beach. i publish a newsletter for the social media set, twitter, win tin, and facebook and this past week it was about microsoft buying skype which means they, one reason they want to do it to build enhanced messages into the microsoft phones for more connecttivety. i am urging you to deny the d.r. and look into the argument for this as carefully as i could. i couldn't find a reason to latch onto it and in terms of it being a lot of antennas, that is because we decided to have a lot of antennas and went with many, many, small with weak output and

alternative plan could have been to build 12 towers across san francisco in which case it would be, but we decided not to do that and the argument that there is a lot of towers is circular. yes, there are a lot of towers because we decided to have a lot of antennas. in terms of there is no comprehensive plan, i think, a., that remains to be determined. but b., the desire to have one sounds great and is in the very, very are early stages. i was at the board of supervisors meeting where it was discussed casually and one thing president chiu said was it sounds good, i don't know where the money would come from to do it was the comment he made. it may be something that sounds good, but when you get it into, you may learn that you have most of the information already or else things are changing so rapedly that it's not worth it. and -- things are changing so rapidly that it is not worth it. and we're going to do a study, but while doing a study, we will

declare a moratorium on any new antennas and that is page one news. that is no antennas and for an indefinite period of time we are staying where we are. i think that would be a real problem. thanks for listening. >> thank you. i don't know why we are having a meeting or hearing like this. i think that the installation should be automatic and shouldn't waste everybody's time when we need to or they need to install the antenna and we have to come to this kind of meeting and waste your time and waste our time. and hopefully in the future they will pass a law saying that they

want to install the antenna and just approve it and approve it automatically. and without any waste of time of everybody. and because studies have shown there's absolutely no health hazards to any of the antennas to the people in the area. so i am a big supporter of installation of more antennas or better cell phone signals. so i am glad to see all these supporters here. as a matter of fact, can i have all the supporters of the people who are in favor of the installation of antenna stand up? [meeking speaking in foreign language] okay. i see a lot of people behind me standing up and thank you, everybody. president olague: thank you. is there any additional public comment in support of the item

or in support of the project sponsor? >> in the interest of time, we're going to forego our additional comment. president olague: thank you. d.r. requester, you have two minutes of rebuttal time. >> thank you, commissioners. we're talking about an antenna proposed for a prominent location that makes this installation visible to residents and visitors in north beach and discussing an antenna within tloo two blocks and discussing a site that even according to zoning guidelines is not preferable and we are discussing the installation that according to t-mobile online coverage map is unnecessary. surely the commissioner cans see the disadvantage of this particular location for a cell phone antenna considering all of the other an the men antennas

that have been approved in close proximity. and san francisco is at the cutting edge of technology that we need overall something else planned. the supervisor chiu is looking to the planning commission to draft this plan for your guidance. but meanwhile, he has asked that conditional use authorization be required for all cell phone antennas and that is what we are asking you. thank you. president olague: thank you. project sponsor, you have two minutes. >> we very much appreciate your patience with respect to this application. as you know, you are not making the conditional use determination today but whether there are extraordinary or exceptional circumstances with respect to this building permit. as you know, this is the most minimalist design that can be provide bid the carrier -- that can be provided by the carriers and is 5 feet tall and 10 inches in diameter and two blocks is deemed to be a significant gap in san francisco and was said,

these are low wattage, microcells and the whole point is to have a multiplicity to provide the coverage and capacity that obviously the community needs and we encourage you not to accept discretionary review. thank you. president olague: thank you. public hearing is closed. commissioner sugaya. commissioner sugaya: yes, project sponsor, i have a question about the antenna itself. i assume the antenna is going to be capable of handling whatever your version of 4g is at the moment. i don't know if t-mobile is on that track and i assume that the antenna is capable of handling future technology in terms of whatever comes along. >> it will be, yes. and actually, we have a managing engineer for t-mobile and if you have anymore specific technical questions, he would be better to answer those for your review. commissioner sugaya: it is just

a question i have because as the multiplicity of antennas, i understand why that is necessary and why certain carriers have more than others. and there is the whole question of improving technology and now that we're into 4g and lt and all that business, i assume that the present locations are sufficient for at least a foreseeable future, is that right? >> yes. and at this point i think it would be a good idea to have our engineer comment on that -- >> that is okay. but we can be assured that that is right. >> the design and both the location and the design are as forward thinking we can be given the technology that exists now and where it is going. commissioner sugaya: okay. that is all i had. i don't find anything extraordinary and exceptional and am going to take d.r. and

approve the project with the equipment units that are sitting on the stair tower be screened in some fashion and design can be worked out with staff. i am not talking about the g.p.s. antenna, but the cabinets and other subpanels and equipment panels that are lined up a little lower on the stair tower. that is any motion. to screen it in some fashion. that is my motion. >> second. president olague: you understand the motion? you look confused. i'm sorry. >> my question is we're obviously happy to do that and find some screening solution. the question was, what is you preferred method? is it just painting it to match or do you want to put or build an extension of the pentous around it to disguise it? i am not sure -- commissioner sugaya: i think it's more than paint.

it can be some kind of, i don't know what i have in mind. but something to disguise and sort of -- >> what i am hearing is something physical that is in front of the -- in front of the panels so that they are screened from view. my assumption here is they don't need like the antenna and don't need to be free and open and are just panels and just electrical panels. >> there needs to be access to them, sure. and we're happy to work with the department to find a solution that is acceptable and some sort of visual screen, absolutely. commissioner sugaya: okay. president olague: thank you. commissioner antonini? commissioner antonini: i will probably be supportive as long as it's understood that they work with staff and this is a

companion piece to the 1563 and it went up on the roof and looked down where the towers are and to discern where they are. and if we can approve the aesthetics, why not. and a lot of comments were made about the closeness of installation and the topography is unique and anyone who has ever had a cell phone and tried walking over telegraph hill and calls are dropped because of there is the area between the different installations and not only that but the huge increase in usage and types of usage. and with all the people texting constantly and downloading books and movies and other things that

put a tremendous load upon the system is imperative with this tremendous load and more people living entirely on the ipad. and so that is the the wave of communication of the future for business and emergencies and the future and the present and we have to make sure it works. i think that it is unfortunate that each one of these has to go through a process and maybe we can find a way and maybe if there weren't a lot of these that code compliant and don't

have to go through discretionary review so that members of the public choose to do that, that is their prerogative. president olague: commissioner moore. commissioner moore: i would like to take a step back and i am sure my view and i love the smart and connected city and would love the city to become a premier city as a wireless modern connected community. however, there are three types of cities. there are 1.0 city which doesn't have any wireless overlay and a 2.0 city and one like our where is you have the wireless overlay over an existing city. and then you have the 3.0 city and some of the cities in asia where you plan immediately based on wireless and broadband from the gitgo. and i believe that unless we plan more comprehensively as an overlay to our entire city, we will be falling further and further behind. because there will be a point and i am not sure when that is -- i am not an expert on

completing networks and what creates interference with each other, but i do believe i observe in a very prominent downtown location that since i bought my 4g iphone, my service has rapidly basically almost disappearing. while i used to be sit there and have calls coming in and talk to everybody, it's basically day by day getting worse. i cannot even call from my phone anymore to a land line. i don't get any connection. i am sitting there, sitting there, nothing happens. and i don't think it's the fault because of the phone. i do not believe it's because of the not enough coverage because it was always it wasn't with the previous phone. and all of a sudden it happened and it is exactly the idea of the smart and connected city and where we have to accept that and that is the bigger step and doing this piecemeal and hearing

other people say in my mind, and i think it's incrementally all blanking itself out and that is why i am saying, again, that the planning department and with that there and with the compared community and where san francisco needs to take the lead. and it's not the way we're asked to do it here. >> and let me make a comment that has come up for some time and i am convening a meeting with the four major wireless carriers and the department of

public health to have an initial meeting about this idea. and one of the things i have learned recently is three of the four and maybe you all knew this, but i am just learning this stuff. three use different technologies and it makes it very -- and so i am trying to figure out what actually a master plan would involve. it is not clear to me what the scope of such a plan would be and we need a city to be clear about what a master plan of this nature would be. i need an expert to help me scope this thing and i really don't know what a master plan for this technology and for this system would be at this point. but as a first step, i am convening a meeting with several departments and the wireless carriers and the supervisor's request is all antennas with the larger and the smaller ones be review reviewed and we are, in fact, doing that and let the

supervisor know that we are doing this and with respect to the master plan, it is something i need to understand more and the department needs to understand more about what we can and cannot do and what such a master plan would entail and how much it would cost and i am starting that process. president olague: that is great to hear. thank you. secretary avery: commissioners, the motion is to take d.r. and approve the project but require that the electrical units be screened in some way. on the cell tower. and that the design will be worked out with staff. on that motion, commissioner antonini. >> aye. >> commissioner borden. >> aye. >> commissioner moore. >> no. >> commissioner olague. >> aye. >> commissioner sugaya. >> aye. >> that passed 5-1 with commissioner moore voting against you are on item 12.

case 2011.0194d at 4090 26th street, request for discretionary review.