process. supervisor campos: what about the point they made that you are not allowed to engage in that kind of a piecemeal analysis. if the whole point of ceqa is that you cannot break up a in project and -- in two different faces. that you have to look at it collectively. what about that point that the maid? >> we are not assuming the same assumptions that she is. that this is piecemmealing. supervisor campos: going back to what president chiu is saying, is this is sort of commonsensical view of this property and looking at this picture and the testimony of the export, i am try to understand how looking at the picture, from

common sense, the planning department and say there is no potential for any environmental impact. when you look at that slope and hill, i am trying to understand what your reasoning is. >> we are looking at this as purely a subdivision of a lot. we are not looking at this as development, because the development proposal is not before us. when it is, it will be reviewed under ceqa. supervisor campos: my sense is that they have tried to get this kind of approval in the past. not once, but a couple of times. what is different between every time that this has been attempted in the past and the planning a department has said no. what is different about today than was previously cited and when the planning department said no.

i assume that the slope and the physical characteristics in of the location have not changed that much. i am trying to understand what the difference is. >> there was a development proposal in 1984. an eir was done on a 12-story units on the time. a project was submitted for environmental review in 1995. the letters of 1998 -- the 1995 application was still open. the developer was not being responsive to the department's concerns. there was a development proposal. first, they wanted to do a four- story live-work building on one parcel and a single-family home on another parcel. then they changed their minds

and decided in january that it wanted a two-lot subdivision with a portion of the lot for townhomes. in 1998, the revised the project again to make a three-lot subdivision and development of lower calhoun terrorist as a single-family home. the department was dealing with development proposals throughout the process. president chiu: i want to make one comment. it was interesting how, for this analysis, you do not refer to the 20% slope, but in 1998, reading your own the karmas letter, it says that while it is true that minor projects are exempt from ceqa, this one has over 20% slope so we are required to review it. since the proposal raises slope

stability issues and is linked to future development, the department determines that the environmental review should analyze both the subdivision and any proposed development as one project. >> that is true because there is -- there was a development proposal at that time. they're looking at the subdivision and development proposals at the same time. and development was not going to be under a categorical exemption at that time. development that is proposed in the future will not be approved under a category of exemption. president chiu: a thank-you for the position of the department. why don't we move to the project sponsor? you want to do the subdivision. was to the subdivision. -- let's do the subdivision.

>> good evening. i am a city and county surveyor. we received this application in december of 2007. in we deemed that the application so amenable in january of 2008. have we got a report from the department of building inspection in december of 2008. we granted tenderable -- we granted tentative approval in june of 2011. we have no information on any further developments. as far as we are concerned, it

is taking one parcel and creating two parcels out of it. we are in favor of moving the subdivision forward. president chiu: to you think it's possible the developer learned his lesson at this point? the move forward before and that did not get through. now they're doing this piecemeal so they are getting the approval they need? collapse i think would reserve comment on that, but what planning is trying to say is that whether there is a development that happens or not, it is still going to be looked at. dbi and planning, i cannot imagine that anything is going to be built there that does not meet stringent city guidelines that are already in place. president chiu: thank you. any other questions to planning? why don't we hear from the project sponsor?

is the project sponsor represented here? ok. i thought the project sponsor was here. what do we hear from many members of the public who wish to support the project sponsor? seeing none, what we hear from any final comments from the appellants. you of to three minutes for appeal. >> do i have three minutes for each subject or three minutes total tax -- three minutes total? president chiu: you have six minutes total. >> that is plenty of time. ok. going back to the ceqa

categorical exemption that we all know does not apply here. you're planning staff has set a couple of things that are blatantly incorrect, in just not correct. if you look at -- let me find this other thing. 15061 of ceqa guidelines, a list things that are exempt because they do not have an impact. one of the sections, section e2 talks about categorical exemptions. those are subject to exception for unusual circumstances, etc. your staff is telling you that there are no unusual circumstances here. it is also calling this a categorical exemption and exclusion. it is not a categorical exemption. therefore, unusual circumstances

-- that is not part of what you have to find. you probably could because this is a constraint lot. unusual circumstances do not apply. this is a b2 categorical exemption. this is day 3. the general rule exemption applies. where this is referred to everywhere else in california is the common sense exemption. common sense tells you that a particular product has no possible environmental impact. supervisor campos asked what the question was, whether it was a possibility of impact. in that is what the common sense exemption he says. you have got to find, with certainty, there is no possible environmental impact. that is a much higher standard than a categorical exemption. in this case, even the categorical exemption cannot be met. that is conceded by staff. he said the product does not fit

a category of exemption because it has such a high slope, but you can say with certainty there is no impact, those are inconsistent. it is not sure you have to find unusual circumstances before a categorical exemption is proposed. further, the fact that there is no project applied for right now, for whatever reason, it could be a tactic by a development, it would be logical i think. we do not have to surmise that. the test is what is reasonably foreseeable. and that is the supreme court case. as i told you, laurel heights. if there is a number of cases that talk about that. another supreme court case, np -- no oil vs. the city of l.a.

in page two of your response today, parcel a would be retained by the owners for future development. that is reasonable. it is foreseeable. there is a reason for the subdivision. it is not happening for no reason. it would be odd to find it is not reasonably foreseeable. there is no reason to subdivide unless there is going to be a project that is coming forward. it is clearly not required that there be a project application. the other thing house want to say to year -- your staff told you that the reason the top rollcall exemption does not apply is that category of exemption implies that there is development spending. here there is not, so this exemption does not apply. that is not what the exemptions says. that exemption is for minor subdivisions where you have residential or commercial zoning in place, etc. it doesn't say and there is a

product application. that exemption is just for a small subdivision. there is nothing in there about development pending. the whole point is that indexing that happens after a project -- a lot is divided, the development potential increases. here it is questionable whether there would be environmental reviews required if you had two lots. it would change the kind of development which would occur. there are different setbacks and rules which occur when you have one lot versus when you have two lots. for example, in terms of setbacks and what you can do. the other argument that was made is that you do not know what is study because you do not have a crush a before you. so what you do with your environmental review? the city of antioch case that we talked about for a moment is particularly helpful. in that case, there was a specific argument made that there was no project applied

for, so how the environmental review know what should be studied? the court goes on in great length saying, just look at the type of development that would be allowed by that particular facilitated action. there was a sewer and road being opened here. you have two lots. you look at reasonable development on the property. what should happen is that the applicant will come forward with the project. the key problem here, again, is that by creating two lots, you lose control of the lot as the old. you have a landslide-prone and site, a lot of environmental concerns, and if you have the possibility of separate owners, you limit the availability of an army to review a. i refer you back, as the final

thing to say, is that february of 1998, your staff explained and you have in your pot -- have it in your packet. now i cannot find it. give me one more minute to find it and show you one last time, if you would. president chiu: thank you very much. any further questions? colleagues, any further questions. seeing none, this hearing has been held and clothes. this matter has been handed to the board. supervisor campos: president chiu. president chiu: i would like to make a motion that this project is exempt from environmental review. when i first learned about in the appeal regarding the tentative parcel map, i was a little bit skeptical until i started digging into this issue. we all know that telegraph hill is one of our city's most beautiful landmarks. we also know it is quite fragile pity -- quite for agile.

there have been landslides that destroyed homes and restaurants. we should use the standard of reasonable for civility here. we heard testimony today that these lots are unstable and if they are supported and we lose access from one lot to the other, that would not allow us to rebuild that stability. i also think it is curious that, in 1998, the planning department use the standard of the fact that this ilves slop e -- this hill's slope was greater than 20% was enough reason for environmental review. it did not cite development. that is clearly the case here in 2011. i would ask that, at this time, we reversed the planning department's decision. supervisor campos: in terms of

items -- president chiu: items 32-38. supervisor campos: it has been seconded by supervisor elsbernd. roll call. supervisor cohen: aye. supervisor elsbernd: aye. supervisor farrell: aye. supervisor kim: aye. supervisor mar: aye. supervisor mirkarimi: aye. supervisor wiener: aye. supervisor avalos: aye. supervisor campos: aye. president chiu: aye. supervisor chu: aye. clerk calvillo: there are a 11 ayes. president chiu: at this time, the exemption for review as and determined to be inadequate and has been returned to the planning department. it is still in the hands of the board for us to consider the

tentative parcel map. it is tabled by operation. that is not what we discussed before. so the map is denied. supervisor campos: there is no map. president chiu: at this time, the use matter has been tabled by operation of law. in the queue. -- thank you. what going to general public comment? clerk calvillo: the opportunity for the general public to address the board, including items on the adoption and items which have been excluded by a board committee. those using translation assistance will be allowed twice the amount of time. if you like a document to be displayed on the overhead projector, please clearly speak

to such and remove the document when we return in the when we return to live coverage. >> first speaker. >> [speaking foreign language]

as at its senator abdollah. i am here today. after 30 years, i have lived in the united states one of our supervisors, supervisor kim, and she cried. and that is the first time in my life, and this going, that i saw one supervisor have a sensitivity, life, and worry about each one of us. i hope she puts her hand with her friend and our supervisor. thurgau in one way or another to stop the criminal it is activity. a young baby, five years, has

been shot at by a gun. another one, a 60-year old, has been killed by a gun. we must and wake up. we must work, as we see our supervisors strived for some of our residents. tonight, she made me cry and made many people in the meeting today cried. that is the feeling about our supervisor. we do not have to see that before. hire some people like me and give them money to set whatever they want us to say. i refuse to get money for anyone. but i still fight. i fight for my community and the people who cannot fight for themselves. i had a heart attack six times.

operations and i still survive. i do the best i can for my community. 30 years living in this country, i love this country. president chiu: thank you. the next speaker. >> i know you're all so grateful for the endurance of the public speakers. do not accept money from the friends and foundation of the public library. you are aware that there is even greater awareness than usual of the destructive elements of corporate influence in our society. in any discussion of the evil in the privatization, it is necessary to place in historical concept -- historical context the intersection between the abuse of open government, the wisdom of resources, and the

betrayal of public service that is at the center. these are only the highlights of the privatization scandal. privatizes claim that there is only the most recent law that have to worry about. they claim that the money -- the most aristocrats' is the most fundamental law of all. it is not just about the fund- raising scandal or the ethics commission finding scandal. there was also the book dumping scandal, the accreditation scandal, the library service scandal, the private rental scandal, the disintegration of service scandal, and they are underlined in that public records. it can be demonstrated that proposition destroys any public institution, but the success for the partnership is that private

money is so important that your solution is to destroy accountability in said. the full estimates -- the philanthropists have called themselves friends of the of a library and have no affiliation with the city. they find the answer is that whatever happens, they are still the aristocrats and the public is only the public. the truth is the market depends on accountability and the lives -- the lies cost more than the money. thank you. >> i just want to say to everybody that i love democracy. this has been a great evening and i hope yet enjoyed it as much as i have. i mean that very sincerely triet i am here because i and the plaintiff in this letter that hopefully will be passed around to you. that was the product of a sunshine task force project that i came to because of the noise

problem that arrived at my back door. in 2008, the board of supervisors passed the noise ordinance and created the task force. the task force's noise ordinance mission was to meet reports of board of supervisors annually and make recommendations for any legislative changes. during those three years, in the task force never had a public meeting until this operation came about. they had one final closing meeting in which i did appear and they said thank you for a much, you are done, we are done. they claim that they had no recommendations for any changes to the noise ordinance for you guys because they could not have made any decisions. if you look at their minutes, you will see that they develop recommendations. the proposed changes to the noise ordinance. you will see that the department of public health will bring them forward to you. i hope that when they do arrive, you will see them as the product

of a tainted process in which there is zero public comment during the entire three-year period. my problem with this situation is that currently, under the noise ordinance, because there was no public, available at any point, a person who has a problem who has observed that do not fall the ordinance, and i have reviewed about 50 documents and taken noise surveys. in the service, they have abided by law once. these come from all of your district. the department is not following. the department has no appeal, no way of being heard. that is what i have discovered. i hope you will continue -- >> [speaking foreign language]

>> i am going to translate for her. i was outside of the city hall. the moment i saw it, i was so shocked and stunned. i could not that -- i cannot believe they would appear in the government building of san francisco. i felt so frightened and disgusted. after seven years, i escape from china. i was persecuted to death by a chinese regime in china. my older brother has been in jail for 10 years. why? because the practice the mind

and body practice that benefits millions of people around the world. i was also in prison and tortured for some reason. in august of 2001, both me and my younger sister were thrown into labor camps in china. i was beaten brutally, sometimes with an electric batons. my sister died in december of 2001 because of the torture in. i found that she was not the only one. she was forced fed with water that contained needles and nails. ccp means terror and painful memories to me. i asked them why it was there. the lady denied that it was a flag.