a legislative perspective. it needs to be a change that applies to all buildings that are existing in whatever capacity the policy makers choose. lastly, just to sum up the" argument, i do understand how one person could pick section 261 b 2 e out of context and read that as the ability to proceed with that high limit at all costs. the fact is the top of roof is 73 feet. it is 8 feet above the existing high limit. there are code provisions and interpretations that allow for certain the minimus -- de minimus steps to go beyond. for example, the roof deck that is flush with the room service, -- roof surface. but the code does not allow for a wind screen or an elevator

penthouse -- strike that elevator portion. a stair penthouse or other appurtenances, as the applicant proposes in this letter of determination. thank you for your time. vice president garcia: i do not mean to ask you to speculate. let us say some accommodation could be reached between the planning department and the applicant, in this case the appellant. a certificate of appropriateness would still be needed, as you have said. would you lay any odds on how that would go through? >> in the hypothetical, i would like good odds. vice president garcia: this has nothing to do with this particular case. but it almost seems unreasonable that if a building is built, and maybe this is the issue that was

addressed by the one person that offered public testimony, and you impose a high limit that is less than is built, you are taking rights away from the building that are granted to other buildings in the same area. it almost seems like a little bit of a taking to do that to that particular building. >> commissioner, i see your point. but one argument that could be made is the flip side of this perspective is that buildings that conform to the height limits in the district cannot enjoy the same additional height the nonconforming building does. under the planning code, the case could be made that the top floor of this building is a right not enjoyed by other similarly situated properties in the zoning district. commissioner hwang: what concerns me is i think they have a deed to occupy. how is that provided?

>> i cannot speak to the personalization -- parcelization. we would characterize the roof as being useful, so long as appropriate safety improvements were made. the code does allow for a deck and railing. it does seem they cannot get the desired access. but there is a way to get up there. vice president garcia: rope ladder? >> i will hold my tongue, commissioner. >> commissioners, the matter is submitted. vice president garcia: did you want to offer more comment? please do. >> i'd just wanted to mention for one thing the coo in

question for the building. for some reason, the building did pull all the permits for the work that has been done on the roof back in '95 and '96. that is on record. the work was done and inspected along the way. but for some reason when they built this building they did not get the final coo. my building is currently in the process of obtaining that, with all the inspections and everything. because of that, a whole bunch of the permits they pulled back in '95 appear as canceled. it is a huge mess for a building that we are slowly working out. the other thing is i can build an elevator but not a staircase, and that is crazy. it does not make sense. personally, i cannot afford to build an elevator. the other point is that you could say that our building is higher than the other buildings that are shorter, and so we

enjoy and advantage because of that, but that is not really true. our building has something taken away, whereas the other people that are building and know that, going forward. vice president garcia: you are continuing your argument. i thought you had something. at any rate, wait to see where this goes. not that i know. commissioner fung: i will start with a couple of points. i am sympathetic to them wanting some open space that is directly accessible from their unit. a couple of things, just from a purely technical basis.

even with the change in height, you could not get an elevator that conforms with in the 16 feet in this high limit. you cannot get a stair penthouse, technically, to conform with this height. i have to do this to commissioner peterson. 25 years ago, there was a very famous name in san francisco. the zoning administrator denied his permit to build the market greenhouse on top -- to build an orchid greenhouse on top of his high-rise in pacific heights because it was non-conforming and above the height limit. the problem i have here perhaps is a little bit too much experience with this code

section. that is that it has always been interpreted that way. the fact is that the 65 feet establishes the point at which exceptions take place. therefore i do not see any basis that i can even attack to give them what they want. commissioner peterson: i do not have the experience of commissioner fung, but i also am very sympathetic. i needed to look at the language to see if there is any wiggle room. you have a hope or expectation for having something like that on your building. i understand what it is disappointing to see these restrictions. but i also could not find any way around it.

i guess i was wondering if there was a chance for a continuance and a possibility for something that would be within your budgetary constraints and still get you something usable. i do not know what everybody would think about a continuance. vice president garcia: i would certainly favor a continuance. i am not sure it makes a difference. the zoning administrator is scott sanchez. we have great minds to work on this. i would suspect they also think this is a worthwhile project that would add to the value of this house and the enjoyment of your property and the safety of your child. i someone agree that it seems kafkaesque and does not totally

make sense. i would favor the suggestion made by commissioner peterson. that is offering you perhaps false hope. sit down and have a conversation. mr. sanchez and mr. sider -- you might walk away with them saying they would love to help you but cannot. that is the sentiment of this board. we would love to help you, but we can't. commissioner fung: the proposal to continue, i will support that. but i will remind everybody he has 8 feet for an elevator. that includes framing and the cab itself. that is not going to get done. if they can find something that turns the language, ok. but i do not see a technical response to this attrition.

vice president garcia: i misunderstood. i thought you could not go above 75. commissioner fung: it is 16 feet above the 65 for elevator. vice president garcia: i thought they could go 16 above the seven. >> commissioner fung articulate it best when he said the 65 foot height limit is the point at which any exemption is taken. 10 feet in the case of stairs and 16 in the case of elevators. because this building is already 8 feet above the height limit, they only have a fee to play with. perhaps when i indicated an elevator was the option, i spoke without experience. it is a more viable option. there are ways to get access to the roof, i believe, from the

unit. but it is a question of working with the sponsor, which we are happy to do, to figure out what will work. commissioner hwang: looking at the drawings and the designs, it does not seem to become a first of all, economically viable, based on the testimony of the project applicant, the appellant. but also it does not seem to be simply an access issue. the windscreens would also be more protective. if you are talking about safety, that is not good to address that. access is not the big issue. i would assume if you could get the screens up, that might do it. just hold the hand of the child to get to that area from a common space. it is not perfect, but that would be somewhere in between, if it were me. vice president garcia: right.

there is currently access. commissioner hwang: but if you are in close with the windscreens, you feel more safe to move around. vice president garcia: absolutely. with gratitude, i think mr. sider opened a window where there might be a ray of hope. if you want to pursue that, some of us are willing to continue this. commissioner peterson: i will move to continue. >> do you want to suggest a date? commissioner peterson: the end of august? how about august 24? >> commissioner, did you want any additional briefing? commissioner peterson: i think this is an opportunity for them to discuss. >> this would be a motion to continue to august 24 with no additional submittal is allowed. vice president garcia: i would

recommend that if you start feeling like you might get some accommodation that would work for you, make sure you leave their knowing all about -- there knowing all about the certificate of appropriateness from the historic commission. >> the motion is from commissioner peterson to continue this matter to august 24. the public hearing has been held. it is to allow discussion of alternative options. no additional briefing. commissioner fung: aye. >> the president is absent. vice president garcia: aye. commissioner hwang: aye. >> the boat is -- vote is 4-0. >> there is no additional business this evening. vice president garcia: thank you.

>> very good. perfect timing, mayor. [applause] >> actually, mayor, i was just at the part of the program where i was going to introduce.

it is now my pleasure to introduce the honorable edwin lee, the honorable mayor of the city and county of san francisco? would you mind saying a few words? >> well, thank you. i guess my timing is still ok. everybody, thank you for being here. housing, and especially affordable housing, is such a challenge these days. with the economy the way it is, with the lack of help we get from the feds and the state, we have to do a lot on our own. that means we have to have the most creative people working in partnerships with the other committed creative people in our community. so it is no wonder you have got the union bank, wells fargo working together with the federal home loan bank. you've got the institute of aging working with bridge housing. you've got redevelopment working with the mayor's

office. everybody, including our public health department, all putting their best synergies together to create this fantastic place that when i walked in, the first thing i asked was where was my unit. just to understand, you have 125 units, 25 of which are going to be targeted for our most frail, our most vulnerable, sitting on top of two floors of fantastic health -social service-corrective type supportive things we did do for our seniors. it is that type of magic that says only in san francisco can we open this kind of thing up like this when everybody else is talking about layoffs, shutting down, not getting started, not even having good conversations at all. take a look around you. i think we are really lucky to

be in a city to have people that are so committed to working together. and i wallace want to -- also want to thank everybody. the neighborhoods had the problem with the size and the mass, and we found a way to get through that, to find a common agreement, to look forward to a day like this to see the seniors as happy as they are to have an affordable unit here in the middle of our great city. this is a wonderful plushment, and i know there was a lot of sweat, a lot of tears behind doing all of this, and i want to thank everybody involved in it. especially bridge. you are such a magnifique accept housing provider and developer. you have done wonderful things working alongside the institute. it is a marvelous combination. i am here to say thank you to everybody who participated in this. as i saw down it street, looking to see what we were going to do with the old

coronet, how it was going to be here and how it was going to transform, and i am so glad so many people made this happen. for future generations of people who are going to come here, serviced here, live here in a comfortable way, and then to make sure this serves as yet another example as to why we fight for redevelopment, why we do things right in the city. to make sure fred maxwell, doug and others keep these examples coming. in san francisco, we will continue doing it right. now they don't get paid up there until they start listening to people and getting the work done. thank you very much for this opportunity. [applause] >> mayor, thank you so much four thoughts, and he about couldn't agree with you more. i have to say that the redevelopment agency, the city and county of san francisco, have been stellar partners for bridge, and we appreciate your

candid attitude. thank you very much, and i would like to give you this as an appreciation. >> well, thank you very much. [applause] >> another great partner of bridge's -- [applause] >> thank you. first of all, i want to welcome everyone here today to this great event, the final papers to really implement our new treasure island. all of the people behind me, i want to spend the time thinking them and everyone involved. when you have a project that has lasted decades, where you are

working with federal agencies, the navy, all the funding that we did not have, developers that we had to make sure were together time and again with us, residents and had the confidence that our city could not only treat them well but also plan for their future, with them, working with them. groups such as the homeless, those on the lower end of our housing affordability. all of that has come together over decades of hard work. right up until last week, that work continued at the highest level in order to make this happen. i need to spend a moment thinking the people who have been before me in this position and other federal positions. they have their history marked in many years of essential contributions to this plan, and

to the workings of the island, to the vision that is being presented today. first off, senator feinstein. i want to thank her deeply for her contributions. [applause] leader pelosi for giving us the funding. [applause] former mayor willie brown. his vision for the island. [applause] the only thing i have to apologize for is the casino idea. [laughter] lt. gov. gavin newsom. my predecessor. thank you for his wonderful contributions. when supervisor and now still helping us with this, former supervisor tom ammiano. thank you very much. [applause] i only carried these cards

because there were so many people to think. i want to begin with the incredible city staff team that has worked for many years on this project, starting with rich ellis. [applause] michael temoff and john from the office of economic development. [applause] the incredible and ongoing work of our city attorney's office that has been wonderful in crafting a good language that people are not only living with on the island, but the delicate legal issues. eileen molly, charles sullivan, john malamut, andrea esquita, our city attorney's office. [applause]

thank you also to your boss for giving you the time to do this. from city planning, john ram, i do not see him here. kevin guy, rick cooper, city planning, thank you. from the mta, i want to thank matt ford for his staff. [applause] from the puc, ed harrington, thank you for allowing us to work with mark -- michael carlin. doug schumacher, thank you for the great work you did on the office -- from the mayor's office of housing. then there are great members of our board of directors. they include, for many years, claudine chang.

larry delcarlo. larry mazolo jr. lord richardson. john paul samaha. [applause] to members of the treasure island citizen advisory board, countless hours from our citizens involved in every way, especially the president, karen knkowles pierce. [applause] she has worked so well with the other island residents including becky hoge, john conners, and bnetty lettington. we have our organizations on treasure island, who have been working so hard for us, and of so many other important things ever present our city.

including the director of the homeless initiative, sarah. [applause] thank you. member organization that are included in this initiative have been the boys and girls club of san francisco, catholic charities, community housing partnerships, mercy housing, rubicon, tool works, and walden house. thank you for your cooperation. [applause] and to our development partners who we have come to know, cherish, lived with, talked out a lot of issues, at the state level, local level, and of course, the treasury -- a treasure island community development. chris, thank you for being here. [applause]

have i gotten everything else? i know we have other speakers here. we have a number of the board of supervisors that i want to thank each and everyone of them. we have jane kim, carmen chu is here, scott wiener, mark farrell. they are here as well. there may be more coming. i want to give a special thanks. i know not only gain, but her staff, has worked hard to spend the time necessary to explain to everybody but this is all about, and to also make sure the commitments that were made by the city family are actually carried out. whether they are affordable housing or transportation, or open space, parking challenges that we will face, or whether

they are simple communications of what this is all about, i want to invite supervisor jane kim appeared to speak. -- up here to speak. >> thank you, mayor lee. i got to come to the end of a really long process, close to 14 years, of the development project, the last six months, and it is amazing how much can happen. so many people were involved in the process for many years. mayor li the enologist many of them. -- lee acknowledged many of them. tida, the citizen advisory committee. i look at developments with a careful lens because they have a huge impact on the city of san francisco and shape of our city looks like. one thing i am proud about in

this project, which i cannot take credit for, is the immense community outreach and input and process them and through this development, and to talk to folks who were formerly homeless who felt like their input was heard and taken into account into with this new neighborhood would look like. up to 2400 units of affordable housing for the city of san francisco, something that our city definitely needs. something to be clapped for. [applause] an unprecedented number of units going to formerly homeless communities as well. sherri williams and many of the community-based organizations will continue to not only provide affordable housing but actually support the community as well. we are looking at a mixed income neighborhood in treasure island. treasure island will have an impact on the city. i want to think ross mirkarimi and david chiu for introducing some changes to the development agreements, which will help to

mitigate some of these impacts. of course, the mayor's office, for being a really good partner on this project, working with our office. thank you. [applause] >> thank you, jane. it does take a lot of teamwork. i think we are resurging that team work in city hall. i know the work of david chiu has been instrumental in doing that. i want to get david appeared to say a few words and also to signal, and we do not get -- often get an 11-0 vote. i can remember one other -- [laughter] david, you have been working so hard. come up and say a few words. [applause] >> it takes a village to build a village. i want to thank the village behind and in frontof