-- potentially our smaller businesses, keeping this in our communities, the importance of this has been stated. i would like to caution you about adding layers of controls in already highly controlled districts, particularly the broadway district. broadway is a highly controlled district now. it is undergoing quite a bit of change. i will speak to the amendments when i analyze them. i know people who are working very hard and they had the idea this process was going on. i am talking about property owners and business owners in the broadway corridor. a lot of work has been done, a lot of great preservation and protection work. however, an additional layer of control in the already strictly controlled area, i would caution.

i ask you to look at bats. thank you very much for moving this -- i ask you to look at that. supervisor wiener: for anyone who would like to see the amendments come up my office will e-mail those to you. >> i look forward to a thorough discussion. >> thank you for your work on the small business commission. >> thank you very much. >> good afternoon. i would like to thank the supervisors for their leadership on this issue. it is incredibly important to the restaurant community. i want to reiterate how an important the restaurant community is to the city.

the commissioner talked about the importance of the restaurant committee as an employer. and how that impacts our residents. it also enhances your neighborhood. when you go out to eat, those public places to find a character of a community parade it is not what you do in your living room, it is what you do in the city's living room. did it really is integral as to what -- who we are as a city. it is also integral to who we are economically. 50% of visitors said the number one reason they came to san francisco was to eat. the restaurant community is the number one driver of the number one history -- industry of san francisco tourism.

by condensing these and providing the flexibility, it allows our restaurants tuesday competitive and innovative -- to stay competitive and innovative. this legislation will further in power who are leading the charge. the legislation strikes a very good balance of controlling the impacts while opening up the creativity. i think that is a testament to the yearlong process that the legislation has gone through. the significant community support, significant business impact. the professionalism of the planning staff. it has been a pleasure to watch them work over the course of the year. albert to the neighborhoods, and outreach to the -- outreach to the neighborhoods, outreach to

the business communities. i want to think their efforts. i look forward to seeing the amendments. i know you have incorporated some amendments in trying to protect the definition of restaurants in a way that incorporates that bonafide approach. again, we support this amendment and we support the effort. thank you very much. supervisor wiener: thank you. >> good afternoon, supervisors. i will be brief. i did not know too much about this. it has been quite a challenge in the last several years. as a volunteer, i have to confess that i do not know all the different aspects of the

issues being raised at the board of supervisors. there has been a lot of things going on. we have folks in student housing, better neighborhood plans, parking staff, recreation, open space, and the preservation issues. supervisor wiener has kept us very busy. this issue, unfortunately, it was under the radar. we do not know much about it. i am glad it has been continued for another week. we hope to be educated. i would like to thank the planning department. in the past, they have been very helpful. there outreach is very good and

they have been very cooperative and having meetings with us or having conversations. perhaps somehow, you could get the planning department to assist in having meetings with us. or with the community. we were not really involved in this. thank you for extending this for another week. supervisor wiener: thank you very much. is there any additional public comment? >> good afternoon, supervisors. i have been living in san francisco for 60 years. listening to the different discussions here, i have a couple of questions i would like to make for the record. first i would think that it

would be a good idea to have their roll-call of the different neighborhood merchant groups to say whether they were in favor, a post, or no comment. -- opposed, or no comment. i think that would clarify the situation and give each merchant group a chance to wait and whether they are interested or not. this way, everybody in this city knows who is in favor, who is in not favor, and who does not care. if you have an existing business, it is they're going to be specific additional cost? i think the answer is no, but that should be clarified further. i would like to ask whether there is going to be increased authority for the san francisco police department to close down troublesome businesses in these two categories. i think that is something that

did not work. maybe we should specifically asked the sfpd to weigh in. i would like to remind everybody that the current situation involving these two types of businesses or sets of bypassed bureaucrats. if we want to improve the situation, we have to admit that a lot of the problems were caused by past bureaucrats and past planning commissions. i want to get this on the record that this was not a problem of noncompliance. problems caused by change, etc., etc. i would like to mention one situation in my own neighborhood of west would park. it deals with safeway that was brought into the development.

all of a sudden, they left, i guess that was not a good idea. i would like to mention whether bringing in at the whole foods near city college is really that good of an idea. some of my neighbors, especially on the other side of ocean avenue, feel that maybe we should have brought in one of the big chain dollar stores like family dollar or dollar general. i have a feeling that stores like that are going to have a lot more foot traffic than wholefoods. since save weight is going to expand on monterey boulevard, a lot of the customers will continue to go to safeway. i have a feeling that cold foods is not going to last. thank you. --whole foods is not going to last. supervisor wiener: public comment is closed.

colleagues i have distributed the proposed amendments in addition to the written documents, there are two small amendments that i would like to read into the record. they are in section 703.2, subsection c. at the end of subsection i, after the phrase of street parking and loading, we would add the phrase, and excess 3 wholesaling manufacturing or processing of foods, goods, or commodities. in subsection v, strike the word primarily before we tilt sale of

such foods. -- resale of such foods. i would move the amendments to legislation. >> colleagues, can we take those amendments without objection? supervisor wiener: because of the amendments, we will need to continue this one a week. i moved to continue this item to the meeting next week. >> can we take that without objection? without objection, thank you. thank you, everyone. could you please call item number 2? >> item number two, resolution accepting a gift in place to the botanical garden center. >> thank you. this item is offered might -- authored by my office.

i want to give a few remarks. i want to thank the director of the san francisco botanical garden society the san francisco botanical garden society has offered to donate the design and construction of the nursery as a gift in place valued at approximately $14 million. the nursery over replace the existing nursery, which has become run down and is always intended as a temporary facility. this new nursery will become the hub. all uses of the nursery you'll be to for the mission and purpose of the botanical gardens, including cultivating support for the botanical garden and the bond between people and plants. the tremendous support for schools and children's learning has been a wonder to see and observed at the arboretum as well.

the nursery will be jointly used for the san francisco botanical garden societies staff. i know how hard they work. as well as restaurants with a shower and emergency eyewash station, and space for meetings related to gardening operations and for horticultural reference materials. before construction of the nursery begins, the society and the recreation and parks department will enter into a lease agreement that incorporates these understandings. it would replace the existing nurse facilities, which were built many years ago and provide extremely substandard working conditions. on november 29, 2011, the planning department issued eight mitigated- -- all of our impact

would be mitigated to less than significant levels to the mitigation measures set forth and the final mitigated negative declaration. the commission recommended to the board of supervisors to accept the gift in place at the march 15, 2012, and recreation and parks commission meeting. the gift is a welcome improvement to golden gate park. i urge you to support the acceptance. colleagues, if there are no questions, i want to call up rick from the department of public works, the director of golden gate park, and the director of the botanical garden society. >> good afternoon, supervisors. this is a very exciting project for the botanical garden, golden gate park, and our department. the proposed nursery is a platinum targeted facility, which is the highest rating for

sustainable design and construction. it would replace the existing 45-year-old nursery and plant production facilities. the existing nursery is a series of structures so far beyond their useful life. the replacement was addressed in both the 1995 botanical garden and 1998 golden gate park master plan. the design and construction of the project be funded by the botanical garden society. it is a nonprofit entity that is supported -- has supported the botanical gardens since 1945. when complete, the nurse rouble be given -- the nurse to be given as a gift in place to the city. the san francisco planning department reviewed the project and concluded that it is on balance with the city's general plan and the proposed nursery's

facilities are contemplated as noted in both the botanical garden and golden gate park master plans. they're both been adopted by the commission. the project underwent environmental review and the final mitigated includes measures that have been adopted by the recreation and park commission. park commission approved the conceptual design for this facility in 2008. since then, community input has continued to be solicited at many levels. many design aspects of the current plan reflect positive changes or enhancements resulting from public comments or specific suggestions. i this time, i would like to introduce our project architect. she will provide a brief overview of the project. >> i will be brief because you said so much.

i have a couple of the invisibles. -- the visuals. [inaudible] as has been said, the sporadic has been in the making for the last 20 years -- this project has been in the making for the last 20 years. it was a collaboration between iraq and park and the arboretum society -- rec and park and the arboretum society. in 2008, we were hired to begin the schematics and develop the drawings for the project. it is currently being reviewed -- >> could you introduce yourself for the record? >> my name is laura hartigman. the purpose of this building, as has been said, is to replace the existing near street. it is a working building for the city. it is the base of operations for

the plant collections and decoration of the collection that the society does. it primarily supports the arboretum, which is an outdoor classroom for the whole city. the secondary benefits is the educational potential, both as a building and as a base of operations for other educational activities. it also is intended to be environmental responsible building, as green as possible. you can probably gather that it has many functions and many people see it as benefiting their work. to show you where it is exactly, the current year's tree is right here. the site -- nursery is right here. the site is warmer and much more advantageous for growing.

it is currently where they have a lot of the growing grounds in now. >> my understanding is that the current nursery was placed in a very low area that is colder and not a great place for a nursery. i am curious why it was built there in the first place. >> i do not know. when they did what the reports from san francisco, they pick the coldest spot. some recent data, it is about 10 degrees colder there. having it out of that is going to be advantageous. >> it is closer to the children's garden as well? >> that is right. the children's garden is in the western part of the garden. it will serve as a base of operations for the teachers and children's garden. they can have their supplies. they can gather the children before taking them out into the garden.

to show you the building in more detail, it is organized in three cases. this is the center of operations for the gardners and the staff and volunteers. inside, there is a large working area called the comments. the volunteers meet, the gardener's need, -- meat, it is a working space for the garden. the side that, it is a work space where the curatorial staff will have their offices. other members of the gardening staff are located there and in the greenhouse. in addition to that, there is a staff meeting area, small kitchen, and some public

restrooms. that is the central piece. it is made of wood, and it is to showcase what they grow in the arboretum. the frame is is certified wood. proclaiming trees that have been down in the garden to use for columns. there are large benches. throughout the building, everything from bamboo, a plywood paneling, many different materials to showcase the use of wood and to demonstrate how this renewable resource can be used by everyone in their own environment. the other to pieces or the greenhouse. that is where the primary plant propagation for the garden against. it is situated in such a way, it

also creates a sheltered outdoor work area to the east and the south where the gardeners can continue their work. the l creates the learning court to the north. this is a place for children and people walking for the garden can gather for presentations. there is a way that the circulation of the garden beside the building, the building is much more transparent than where they are now. you can walk by and get a sense of how plants are grown. it is an aunt -- a chance to understand the process of the propagation. the third piece is the shade house, it to the south. it comes down toward the street. it is where the plants ark for developed before they're put out into the garden. it is a steel frame structure. the greenhouse is an aluminum

frame structure. both have internal shading systems to help moderate the climate. one advantage of the project and one of the things that came out of our various -- the input from different groups come up through the process, we have less parking family did originally. -- than we had originally. cross between working with the civic design review, the fire department, and we were able to lessen the amount of area required. the energy conserving features, as rick mentioned, we are seeking platinum. j ++water efficient toilets

fixtures. this building has a very passive strategies. it is tied to the south and it lets in a lot of southern sun it also has a green roof. it demonstrates what is done in the garden. we concrete slabs.

it is a very traditional innovation strategy towards heating and cooling the building. in addition to that, we do have photovoltaics on the roof. i will stop and passage over -- pass it over. this has been a wonderful model. having this building will only further. all that very successful collaboration. >> i am the supervisor for golden gate park. or about 99% of that. many people do not know that. i am strongly supportive of improvements in the park. but also the part belongs to all of us, all 11 of the supervisors. my daughter learned much that she knows in her science class is about plans and its inability from regular visits from her

school and many other schools. my hope is that this new nursery and other improvements will make sure that children are learning and a appreciating everything from the redwood grove and so many other great things that are going on in the arboretum. >> thank you very much. i am so honored to be here today on behalf of san francisco botanical garden society. during be our number of our trusties, staff, and volunteers. -- joining me are a number of our trusties, staff and volunteers. to our partnership with the recreation and park department, san francisco botanical garden has ground to international recognition and stature. we of undertaken many garden improvements together, but none as large or as transformative as the nursery center for sustainable gardening. san francisco botanical garden

society is enormously proud to be presenting this death to the city. the new nursery has received endorsements from a number of organizations and individuals. among them, at san francisco unified school district, board of education, san francisco park alliance, san francisco travel, san francisco beautiful, california academy of sciences, merchants association, many community and neighborhood leaders. i am going to turn the microphone over to the recreation and park department. he is my city counterparts, the garden's director. he provides oversight and leadership for what we refer to as our blended a horticultural team. the city gardeners' and the botanical garden society nursery staff and volunteers.

this is the group whose work will benefit most directly from our news did of the art nursery. brent also was a member of the project team for the nursery. in addition, other members of our project team are here today as well. i want to introduce them. scott lewis of oppenheimer louis, elisabeth of oppenheim louis, and ron, our landscape architect. we are pleased to answer any questions that you may have about the project. thank you so much. >> i just want to ask one question. in some of the botanical garden society information, it gave some numbers of how much money has to be raised. there was a certain amount that was stated in the newsletter.

there was a previous figure of $30 million that was thrown out from a much earlier statement. i know before you were director. if you could just clarify how much has been raised and spent and how much more has to be raised. >> yes, i will. the nursery is a $14.2 million project. we now have raised almost $7 million. we have another $7.2 million to raise. i think it is a $30 million figure must go back to the capital campaign that was launched many years ago, 2002, 2003. that was more like the total number for a whole range of improvements, which included $3 million for the pathways within the garden, $4 million for improvements to the county fair building, money for annual operations, and a number of otherd