and we're trying to figure out -- as a result, we have been letting go of a lot of these policy discussions we need to have. we to look for to working with everyone who is part of this and figuring out just looking at this more closely, the pros and cons and everything else. we will be in touch with the supervisor's office and maybe land use is some place where this can happen. if you could look into some of the issues mr. welch raised. >> i already looked at cex. in united states, they only have

10 stores. there -- it takes 11 or more to figure -- it takes 11 or more to trigger the formula used. its only domestic stores account and we will look into the american apparel. president olague: we're going to take a 15 minute rece >> i would like to make a few announcements to remind the public that regular calendar items 11, the special sign district has been continued to august 11. item 13, 5411 gargeary boulevard has been continued. leland avenue has been continued

to october 6. commissioners, your on general public comment. not to exceed 15 minutes. members of the public may address the commission on items that are within the subject matter or jurisdiction with the exception of agenda items. i have the one speaker card. >> amy o'hare. >> i come before you because you approved a citation before -- i appreciate your correction.

good afternoon, commissioners. i have lived in the city for 26 years. we on a home in district 7. i would like to suggest to the planning commission the recently passed a cell phone right to know ordinance has an interesting implication. the citizens have the right to know about other enclosures. should the planning commission recommend to the department of the internmenin vernon to -- cid and back. there is nothing that would prohibit such notification. since this results in a change of rf levels, the carriers should [unintelligible] that have undergone changes at lay.

an independent measurements database such as this would facilitate the city's ability to seek restitution. thank you. >> is there any additional off public comment? >> president olague: is there any additional public comment? of this might relate more to the health commission. this is something we may discuss at some point where to go with the issues that was raised -- that were raised. you have worked a lot on this issue. perhaps we could see where we might. go with this. if you have any thoughts, let us know. it seems to me it might be a health commission priority as opposed to planning. >> yes. >> we are on the regular calendar. item 12, request for conditional

you thought -- use authorization. >> i am mary woods. this is a proposal to convert a vacant and retail spaces that used to be they mervyns' and good guy's shopping mall. this includes 6000 square feet with the potential to add 14,000 square feet of vacant spaces become available for 120,000 square feet. there are existing parking spaces at the site. 600 regular vehicles bases and five freeloading spaces. there are 28 bicycle parking space oncs. the product would -- project would add 14 bicycles basis for

a total of 42. there are entrances on geary and others for access. this includes a use size of to 120,000 square feet. the department approves -- recommends approval with conditions. staff has received two letters in support of the project. this concludes my summary of the project. if you have questions, i will be here to answer. thank you. project sponsor. >> good evening. i am jim ruben, working with the owners of the shopping center for the last four or five years. we're trying to take these six pending formula retail applications down to five with an approval today. you can check of one approval. one more powerful.

during that four or five years we were told consistently as we did our travels around the city we should try to get target as our tenant. they listened, so we're pleased to bring target here today. the entire project team is here. there is a lot of people here. we have representatives of the ownership of real estate and target representatives that are here from minneapolis and additional consultants. it is hard for me to imagine a question that could come up that we would not able to answer. i'm going to introduce the owner of the center to speak next. i did want to divert on the sign legislation. you ask if if this was our request. the department wants to do work on the sign ordinance and we were fine with that and consented to it. it was not us that asked for. i would like to introduce adam

mileler to speak and we will show a the architectural proposal. > president olague: if anyone is here for the petco item, that was continued to october. >> is there a way of having -- go ahead. the project area is the shopping center located at geary and masonic. this is a slide. here are photos of existing conditions, looking off of the corner, looking back to a couple of locations on farrell. as you may know, the property was constructed in the 1950's as a sears department store. it was purposely built for

sears. in the 1990's, it was converted into multi-tenant retail and at that point, it was mervyn's and office depot. toys r us was replaced by best buys and the others are closed. the aerial views going north and south of the property, it points out an interesting condition of the property. when it was built in the 1950's, a single use prop., there is a number of these tiered parking lots that exist. they're not willing to. they act independently of one another. one of the areas of concern and we heard from the community outreach was a desire of improving circulation are trying to help improve the circulation and the understanding of the

property. given its current design. it is not something we can fix. we cannot link the parking lots easily. in conjunction of working with mta, we are contributing towards an upgrade of the existing signalized intersection at farrell and mason. we think that is one component that will definitely enhance the circulation around the property. separate from that, we will be contributing to a new signal at the union terrace intersection. both tied to -- both are consistent with a broader masonic plan. here is the site plan of the property. it points out various parking levels. as mary had said, there is 601 prop. spaces. that will not change with the

proposed target use. each of these services is a certain number of tenants. parking is not exclusive. all tenants and customers are used to this property. this slide shows the relative square footage breakdown of the property. currently, we have 202,00500 square feet. that is part of the approval -- as part of the target occupancy, we will be increasing the square footage by a total of 500 square feet. those areas are specific to adding a fire exit their and making a small modification to a loading dock to make a more functional and usable. we specify initial square footage of 106,000 square feet. going up to 120,000 feet. that is based on target and some

adjacent space. this next slide is the first floor. the proposed target use. this occupies 100% of what was formerly mervyn's. they will be maintained, one on masonic and one on farrell. we have to the right two areas identified as a potential expansion area. office depot is an existing tenant and property. that becomes available as a result of the downsizing of office depot. we're looking for flexibility to expand them. this represents the second floor of the proposed target promises. this is basically 100% of the former good guys space and the mervyn's space that was located on the second floor.

this is the layout. there will be utilizing this loading facilities are -- that are on site. the show's a general section or a few of -- this shows a general section oor view. this shows the area where target is proposed occupied. they will be on two levels. the first and the second floor. their location on the first floor is based on taking the former mervyn's space. the dotted area is not included for the expansion of office depot. the final slide shows the same sections and dotted areas where the proposed target tendency will be. this shows, this is the same allegations which shows some of the proposed renovations that we're looking to do is part of a upgrading the property and

freshening it up in kentucky -- in conjunction with target's pennine said. we're going through some of the design characteristics we are looking to incorporate as part of this proposal. >> good afternoon. i was going to quickly go through with a powerpoint presentation and continue it. and talk briefly about -- excuse me for my technical difficulties here. briefly about some of the exterior improvements that we are planning as part of target going into the space. when we started the project, we had some design goals that we wanted to incorporate into the project. the first was to activate the pedestrian and straight edges and make the project more pedestrian friendly. we are increasing the amount of storefronts on masonic as well as adding additional display

cases along geary and creating a higher quality and terrible environment. we want to increase the pedestrian lighting levels and the sidewalk level. another idea we have is to apply alamance and building facades to update. this is an interesting national -- international style building but it is not the most cheerful. doing some things we think are appropriate like taking the canopy and fin idea and increasing them. we have an idea of using screens to bring some color and warmth. and adding landscape to soften the environment especially around the perimeter and replacing the plant materials to freshen that palette. we are going through some before and afters. this is a view looking at masonic towards geary.

this would be the ground-floor entrance of the city target. you can see some of the elements we would like to address. you can see the typography and the steps of parking lots. we have a lot of exposed, dreary retaining walls. there are a series of strip windows in parts of the project which are interesting but for decades, they have been closed off because water retailers are not using them. they want -- they blank out elements in the assaad and we would like to address ways of making that more interesting. >> president olague: thank you. how much time do you think you will need? >> can i have five minutes? >> president olague: locating -- ok. negotiating time here. >> this is an after one of our

proposals. we're looking at graphics and landscape treatment along the retaining wall. in place of the windows, we're proposing that you have some screens that would have colored panels, maybe glass that would glow and night as well as during the day to add some warmth and texture to the project. you're coming to the main entrance. along masonic. there will be new revolving doors. there is a bus stop at that location. we're proposing to have the target cafe animate that corner. back to that corner of masonic, looking up. the corner had display windows that were closed off. we're trying to reanimate the corner and can see this thing of canopies and fins.

we wanted to give the building which is pretty banal, some rhythm and texture. once again, you can see the corner cafe that we're proposing there. and reopening the windows, new displays, the screens that will animate the facades. the fins and we will -- that we are proposing. we are adding two more display windows along the street as well as canapes. the idea is this is the north side of the building, it is a little bit dark. this will bring light and interest along the sidewalk as well and lighting from the display and the canopy. we are refurbishing the landscape planters that are along geary which will be more pleasant.

as you come down towards the entrance that is -- the parking entrance off of geary, we are refurbishing of the bus stop. we're redoing the railings and it can see more pedestrian light enhancements we are proposing. -- you can see more pedestrian light enhancements we are proposing. if you are coming off the exit ramp from geary and heading up, we have this large retaining wall. which is this blank wall and it is very high as to head toward the east and the building is a little bit hoking on the top of the hill. -- hulking on top of the hill. we are proposing landscape improvements that will help make it a lot more attractive as you

come up to the building. we are expanding on the idea of canapes and fins to give the building more articulation. you can see more of those display windows that we're proposing. and the fins. we are coming to the masonic and geary intersection where we will have more display windows and the corner cafe. there is not a lot of opportunity for landscaping. a lot -- the opportunities that are there, we're going to take advantage of. they happen along the perimeter. along farrell. and those retaining walls. we will have a graphic and landscape treatment of those. also that large retaining wall that becomes this steep element

which will be nicer with landscaping and soften it. our -- we're not finalized on the colors of the material. we want to do with color scheme that works in the character of this midcentury modern building but introduced through color panels some color and interest and a laittl-- a little bit of vibrancy that will make it fit into the neighborhood. that is the presentation. thank you. >> president olague: opening up for comment. we have some speaker cards. eric holmgren, jennifer, and jennifer dever. i do not know if anyone is still

here. you can come to the mike in any order. >> thank you. i am resident of san francisco along to 41 masonic. i'm extremely excited and hopeful for this project. i lived nine years in that area. i have been waiting for something to go in the bacon's murdering -- vacant rinse building. there is this fear of retail in san francisco. we want to help the mom and oppp stores. the ability to walk down and buy some underwear, that would be great. that is -- there is nothing in the city i can walk to. i'm excited about the potential. as a voter and taxpayer, two thumbs up for target. thank you. president olague: thank you.

>> good afternoon, commissioners. i am a 25-year resident. 16 years near geary and masonic. i used to shop at sears and mervyn's and i am looking forward to target coming in. we need -- and has a history of retail. we need a strong anchor tenant. it would provide local jobs. it is occupying the existing footprint, not displacing any mom-and-pop stores. there will be working with the masonic corridor project. with traffic lights and signals and traffic engineering. and ewing terraces. -- a feeling terraces. many of the strongly support this project. we urge you to support it. >> it afternoon. i also live on ewing terrace

and i am in support of target. i have a history of a back to sears and i am excited to see a strong anchor replace what has become a blighted and on safe- feeling area in the neighborhood. the mixed use there will support smaller retail spaces in the same city center. and i am encouraged to hear the issues around traffic are being addressed in coordination with the masonic project. i wanted to voice my support. thank you. >> president olague: thank you. >> good afternoon. i also live on ewing terrace. i lived 11 years there. i have been to the meetings and

i think it will be a wonderful thing for the neighborhood. especially a lot of tax revenue that is going to coma, the city of the dead, we would like to keep it here. 200 jobs supposedly and a wonderful new facade to the rather ugly building. thank you and i hope you approve it. >> as you know i own a small business down a ways from this project. the only thing i would encourage is for the commission to take into consideration and economic impact study of some sort to see what effect it will have on small business. the retail giant like this will have a ripple effect in every direction. for quite a distance. that is the only thing that i urge. thank you. >> president olague: thank you. is there additional public comment?

>> i am on the board of this neighborhood association which is behind the target project and we were fortunate to hear the presentation as well as target's presentations to us. a couple times in the past. we are very much in favor of this project. we hope it goes forward. thank you. >> president olague: thank you. is there additional public comment? public comment is closed. commissioner moore? commissioner moore: i feel good that someone is going to use the existing infrastructure. the devil is always in the details. i do like the approach to clearing up access and

circulation at the edges of the project as well as inside. to serve retail more efficiently and -- avoid not knowing where to go. which was an issue previously. the questions i will ask, i am prepared to support a conditional use for formula retail to move into this space. i have some issues with the architectural solutions that are proposed in this project. i find the detail of what we saw today, that might be a sketch idea to get us going, they are a little too excess of to what i believe is an iconic piece of architecture. it is a period piece attributed

to international style. it has a more modest way, it could be brought forward without making this peace look too much like ellie and free web architecture. i have problems with that. everyone knows where sears is. it does not matter. we are -- this building does not sit alongside a freeway that you would have to call it out as loudly in order to know where you are. it is at masonic and we know where it is. the choice of what i think is -- there are too many of them, including the freestanding sign that we're discuss -- not discussing today, it is more than what i am prepared to support, including the facade treatment and the complete alteration of the building expression. it is slightly more toned down

way to make a point. target has a draw as a location as sears does. everyone knows target. you know when you see the circle. it does not need all those extra loudness in order to be present. i'm prepared to support the project, but i would be asking that there is a significant rethinking and toning down of aggressive architecture. we have pantone coming up. that is another destination that will have to market self -- market itself along the boulevard. i think to harmonize, particularly with the fact that this is the rt corridor. if they can work with each