also like to hear more about that item. i remember the discussion, and if there is a significant change, i would like to know that. banks. commissioner olague: my sense from the speaker is that it is not what happened afterwards, but it is what happened at the commission hearing. that there were changes made -- did i hear you correctly, sir? and we should not be discussing this. did you hear that there were design changes? >> quickly, the original design that was approved two years ago was an art deco design. commissioner olague: ok. >> after hearing the commission requested that it be "modernized" that was condition for approval of the project. commissioner olague: right. >> it was not to modernize. it was completely wiped clean of any art deco. commissioner olague: i thought that is what i heard. it is a combination of both. definitely the commission decided something.

we would all appreciate something. >> thank you, commissioners. we can move forward on your calendar to item number nine, the first item on your regular calendar. case number 2006.085tm. japantown community planning process and a national -- and initial recommendations. >> get afternoon. my name is paul lord from the department of staff. before i get started, i would like to apologize to the commissioners, because, for the first time since perhaps 1977, i have got speaking notes in front of me. typically i am familiar enough with projects that i can address you directly and maintain eye contact to see how you're responding to various points that i may. it has not been since 1977 when

they presented the 16th street revitalization plan and wrote my notes out in ink and was so nervous presenting to you that my perspiration bled all my notes and i cannot read them anyway. so i am back to notes again, and i hope this is not a sign of things to come for me. but nonetheless, i am happy to be here today. it has been a very rich experience working in japantown since assigned. but to refresh your memory is, there was the publication of a better neighborhoods draft plan in 2009. could that was presented to this commission at which time the community came before you and asked for more time for a thorough review, and bringing back to your recommendations for how that plan could be modified to better meet the long standing needs in japantown, as well as

the future needs for that community in terms of its vitality. and its social heritage. you granted that request and asked the community to begin that review process in late 2009. the committees that were formed in the community broke the document into chapters and began to review those chapters in public meetings that were pretty broadly advertised with in the community and discussed by a fairly large group of community members and participants. by 2011 -- or the late 2010 in august, planning staff was assigned back to this project to help guide it this review process and provide technical assistance in the ongoing deliberations in the community about how the plan could be

modified to better meet their needs. i was it that selected staff. and i have been working with them ever since. one of the first things that we did was to have the request and -- at the request an invitation of supervisor mirkarimi, form a decision making body called the japantown organizing committee. i do not know exactly the number seated now, but it was well over 20 people come summer between 20 and 30 people that responded to supervisor mirkarimi's invitation to participate as the decision making body and to hear the recommendations coming out of the committee reviews of the plan itself. the planning department joined in to that process and provided technical planning support and assistance. the organizing committee and the planning staff collaborated in developing a community engagement strategy that would actually evaluate, validate, and

enhance or modified the committee recommendations as they were being presented to the broader community. that effort was largely undertaken by the committees and by the community. there was an exploration of an idea of a community land trust. there was one particular element in the better neighborhoods planned -- i think one sentence that said explore a committee land trust idea. and that was seized on by earlier work that had been done by the id to give director -- by the executive director, paul psaki, who had written papers on community land trust. we began to explore that as part of this ongoing process. we did that with the help of many people. first and foremost, we began with some assistance from san

francisco state. i got a group of san francisco state students in to look at community land trust ideas. one of those students as stayed on to continue work in the community. she is in the audience today. we also were recipients of a $30,000 grant through the ford foundation to acquire burlington and associates as one of the leading experts nationwide on community land trust, to evaluate this idea of enhancing local ownership opportunities or exploring this particular avenue and possible changes in global ownership of some of these strategic properties in japantown. we were also the beneficiaries of -- we got a $50,000 add- back funding provided by supervisor mirkarimi, who has been incredibly supportive of that this process the entire time. we engaged the services of cycle

consulting to look at the economic feasibility of a community land trust. so burlington and associates was hired to look at the government -- governance issues and explore the idea of what would be perhaps the first time in the country commercial community land trust. as many of you know, this has been done for affordable housing projects and open space projects but never for a major set of commercial properties. they also formed a clt advisory body to help guide the consultants. that was composed of merchants and other well-informed people on this subject from the japantown community. out of this process going on, we also strategizing with the organizing committee about how to create a valid planning process that would actually have them be able to come to you, as they are ready to do today, and say that we went through a public process that was both

transparent and inclusive and open to the public in all respects. so what we did is we were fortunate again to receive a grant from the friends of city planning to help finance some of the costs associated with what eventually became four committee meetings running from june until a september 10. the first three meetings were to share ideas with the community, that the committee review of the better neighborhood plan. they were sharing those ideas, but there were also seeking input from the community as to how those recommendations could be modified or made stronger, better, somehow more appropriate in some fashion. in the course of that process, i was fortunate enough to have the initiative of than intern by the name of maria lee, who is in the

house -- audience, to help with the logistics of pulling those meetings together. food, name tags, all those sorts of things, she was a major help with. again, we got the funding for much of the underwriting of these meetings from friends of city planning. one of the things that that grant helped us to provide was independent professional facilitation for these meetings. it was done by the community outreach program. not only did the community outreach program provide independent this occasion for these meetings, they also helped to design the meetings themselves so that they ensure the greatest level of public engagement possible, given the short time that we can actually ask the committee to participate in those meetings. so there were broken in to break out groups, and there were over of presentations and summaries, exit interviews were done. i know the commission has been looking at meaningful ways of public engagement. we had a presentation not long

ago from staff about the ongoing research the department is doing on public engagement. i wanted to share that idea and how we went through that process in japantown as a result of the committee's review of the better neighborhoods plan. the organizing committee is set up to ratify or men committee recommendations. so each of the committees, when they have a recommendation, but the organizing committee seeking their ratification of that or modification. when it came to planning staff technical assistance, i do not know what it is about me or the department -- i know the department has a very high standing in the minds of many young people going through school, studying these programs. but i seem particularly blessed with the sort of interns that

my projects seem to attract. for doing things like updating retail sales information since 2008, which 2007 was the last date in which the japantown neighborhoods plan, was fortunate enough to have an intern that was finishing up her master's at pratt, come in and update the sales information at the request of the community. i was also fortunate enough to find and in turn by the name of jonathan yee. this was through a round of golf was playing monday. i met his father, and he said his son was interested in an internship. and jonathan, who graduated from the program at berkeley, came over and help us develop an existing build out analysis of the existing zoning in japantown and has rejoined me now after having a brief paying jobs over the summer. we then started to work and something called the japantown design standards that were based, in part, on existing city

design standards, better streets program ideas, as well as little tokyo's design standards from los angeles. but jonathan and maria, who i mentioned earlier, were instrumental in helping to pull together the initial draft of that document. we have also been working very closely with the neighborhood on developing some revised neighborhood commercial district controls. currently, there is an nc2 district that runs on the north side of posed street and buchanan streets. there is the nc3 district between fillmore and laguna. that is an nc3 district. we have explored and gone through a very extensive process of evaluating both the applicability of the nc2 and nc3 districts and merging those into a possible named japantown neighborhood commercial district. from staff, we provided

assistance in looking at density analysis, and we provided, with the help of johnny and jonathan, some exercises looking at typical sights to see what sort of density changes we can make in the area to help address the long standing needs the city has for growth, especially along a transit preferential street in the geary brt. we also began working, again with staff, shelley and michael and johnny were very instrumental in some of the very initial stages of taking social heritage resources the committee had identified and mapping those resources, and we continue that process with the cultural heritage committee, hoping to refine that list of resources and how they should be mapped. also, i was happy to get help from one of the -- a young woman

who is now in law school in san diego by the name of jennifer lie. and jessica avila, a san francisco state senior. and a young man you will hear later from, who has helped me to start to look at the rooftops for the malls. we have almost three city blocks the rooftops. and without height change and without significant work done on the subterranean garage is that support the malls, we're probably looking at building form for many years to come. and we were thinking that black rooftops were not the best use of that rooftop area. so we have begun to explore a variety of sustainable treatments, from rainwater harvesting to solar to a variety of treatments that could be used up their, even possibly urban agriculture to grow something's that japantown restaurants could use, in a wide variety of

ways, looking at how those three city blocks that are currently black rooftop could be used to help sustain and rebranded the mall's if we go through a process of acquisition and remodeling for the malls. finally, the technical assistance went into some of shadow analysis, because in the heart of japantown at the end of becky -- buchanan street is peace plaza. that is the rec and park property which is subject to prop k, and future building analysis has to take into consideration new shadows into the public open space. with the help of staff, we helped to begin some preliminary shadow analysis, possible minor height increases along opposed and buchanan street in our study.

finally, i want to thank j uaquin for neighborhood services. there has been one meeting -- one and a half meetings, i will say, of what is called a city family working group that has oewd, the mayor's office of neighborhood services, and other important players in the city family to consider some of the proposals, whether it be local ownership, business enhancements, and things of this nature is to try and get some sort of -- i do not know, critical mass around those ideas to actually move those forward. and it was really through the help and initiative of him that we got that john started. i wanted to thank him abbottabad gives you a sense of some of the technical assistance we have provided. the next two speakers that i want to introduce our karen, who has been at the chair of the

land use and build forum committee, and bob, who will speak consecutively to you on aspects and recommendations that these committees have come up with an vetted through their organizing committee and through this extensive community planning process, and they are here now to share those ideas with you. when they are finished, i would like to come back and share some ideas related to next steps that we could possibly take in this planning process. so thank you very much. i would like to introduce karen is now, the chair of the land use and build forum committee in japantown. > thank you, commissioners. i am a member of the japantown

organizing committee and co- chair of the land use in bill form subcommittee. at the very top of my remarks, i really want to give thanks to paul lord. he has been an extraordinary asset to our planning process. he is help desk to obtain resources. he is very, very useful in helping us navigate the planning details that we're going through. we also wanted to acknowledge all of the resources that he has mentioned. it is amazing how much he has pulled in in terms of wonderful people who have really contributed tremendous products that have been at the basis for the work we have been doing. being here today to set met our recommendations is a milestone for us. but it is definitely not the end of the road, and we're very

aware of that. we're continuing to work with our planning staff and the resources he has brought in. we're working on various things that will continue as staff works on developing the planning language. then, of course, we're looking forward to going back out to the community with that language. hopefully in the early 2012, we can do that to then be able to come back to the commission with a final recommendation for the plan. the recommendations we are submitting today are designed to promote the continuation of san francisco's historic japantown as a culturally significant, authentic, and sustainable elements of the city's fabric of diverse neighborhoods in the magic that takes into consideration the economic sustainability and an ability to accommodate increased residential growth. one of the first major changes that we are recommending from

the draft plan is that there be no general increase in building heights. this is not to say that we are opposing growth. that is not what we are doing. but we are in tandon protecting and nurturing the neighborhood alamance that form the basis for japan town's cultural activity, our atmosphere, and small independent merchant base. there is an analysis in your packet by the planning department, which shows that even maintaining our current basic height limit, there is room for substantial growth within japantown that for the next 20 years, based on current growth in rates. we did take this into account. there's still room to grow. the height increases in the japantown draft plan, however, we felt were just too much.

there were too large and inconsistent with the character of japantown. these were up to 375 feet. there were three towers ranging from 130 feet to 250 the potential on the japan center. this is in the neighborhood that basically is about 50 feet maximum height, and it is not built up to the maximum height. you can kind of get our feeling that having these large buildings would destroy the neighborhood character. and one very important issue was a long geary boulevard. we are very concerned that what is now viewed as a moat separating japantown from the southern fillmore and what was part of japantown by geary blvd. might be even more femic --

formidable by creating walls in addition to a moat. finally, after discussion and through the process, we found out that even if the tower developments were going to be allowed, they would not have a sufficient yield of profit to put that money into the community in terms of benefits to offset the damage that would be done. i brought one of our community visual aids, because we're not as high tech as some. this was done thwith color crayons. the orange area shows the current building heights. 65 feet was proposed along a lot of geary boulevard. 130 feet was proposed on south of geary. this is the current height of

the hotel. 240 the dow is the potential height of the towers. the sequoias are 300 feet. you have to go up 75 feet more + to reach some of the other projected building heights. so you cannot even see our poor little orange buildings down and they're now, and i cannot reach that high. but this kind of gives you a sense of what we were looking at as community members, saying this does not fit. this does not support japantown. as mr. lord mentioned, we're looking to develop a neighborhood commercial districts. we're looking at this as a continuation of the existing sud. it will be a smaller area tailored to the commercial zone. we have been working very closely with mr. lord to go through and one of those marvelous charts, and i believe

the draft is in your packet as well, that details what uses will be allowed and what we are planning to do there. one significant factor is in the ncd, we're looking for an increase in residential density. we do take seriously that the city and the region has growth pressures, and we're proposing to allow a 1-400 ratio in the neighborhood commercial district for residential. we believe that, with unit mix requirements and other basic limits on residential buildings, that this will not cause a decline in the housing stock that is available, but it will allow folks like young people who are coming in for their first home and independent seniors who want a smaller home to find housing of that nature in japantown. we also have the pressure of trying to find homes for

families, which requires a larger footprint. so we're trying to and be as wise as we can and take into consideration the concerns that there in existence regionally and to be supportive, but again, to respect the fabric of our community. one of the other key issues is parking. and for residential parking, we're proposing three spaces for every four units with one-to-one parking be allowed on a conditional use basis. this reflects japantown's existence as a regional hub. we need to have parking for visitors. because the fact is that transit, as much as we would like it too, does not currently and in the foreseeable future -- i think that is the life of this plan, is not going to be able to bring people from outlying areas effectively into japantown for

the activities and the community without parking. we really need to have that available, and if it is taken up by residential parking, people who become street-parkers, we will not have room for visitors. it has been pointed out that we do have the japan center garage, but there's a great deal of concern there because in recent years we have had times of great shortage when there has been construction in the area, when too many spaces are let out, and we're very aware that pmc will be coming in. that may also have a significant impact on the availability of parking in the japan center garage. so we are asking for what may appear to be more parking, but we feel that it is a balance that will help maintain japantown as a regional center for japanese and japanese- american culture and history.

another big change from the draft plan is the deletion of the webster st. linear park proposal. we recognize the need for open space, but we find that this proposal is very problematic in how it is situated. there are a number of obstacles that make active use of that area difficult. and it would also cause problems in terms of the decrease in the size of webster street, which is a major thoroughfare and is also one of the major entrances for our parking garage. and one of the factors in favor of the park has been to provide space for young people and for families. and we're very cognizant of that and our public realm transportation committee has been very diligent about looking into alternatives. and looking into how we might improve our existing open spaces to better serve these

constituencies. finally, i want to mention that there is no funding for this park. aid has a $7 million price tag. and that was supposed to be covered by community benefits from the towers. but even if those towers were built, they would not have the money to fund this park. and i think it would be pretty shabby of us to hold this out as something we're going to do for our community and not have any way to make its real. finally, i want to touch on our japantown design standards put the original mandate was to apply city-wide design standards, and we found that rather elusive. we cannot find a group of city- wide design standards. so with paul lord's help, we have been working on creating japantown a creating design

standard. and the landscape is truly unique, spanning 100 plus years of history, from victorian houses or japanese-americans, first generation, worked as houseboys, to japanese-style housing and buildings that are the product of the redevelopment era. now we're getting a whole new generation of modern, sleek, glass buildings that are inspired by current trends in japanese architecture. so we're trying to blend and harmonize, trying to figure out how we make all these elements come together and still remain an identifiable japantown. so this is part of the private building standards. it is also very much a part of what that are -- what our public realm is looking at. it is also what our community is concerned about. because the neighborhood is really a stage in itself. it is where the