>> 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 other garden improvements. >> the pathways improvements are tremendous. it makes it so much more accessible on the western and northern side of the arboretum. >> thank you very much. >> supervisors, the director of the san francisco botanical garden. she mentioned the word transformative and this project is indeed that. 55 acres of the san francisco botanical garden really is a very special place. the school children, in particular, are one of the groups that we really do hope will embrace this new facility. the infrastructure improvements go beyond description when you look at the real work of our garden at staff. we have 11 dedicated city gardeners come at nursery specialists -- city gardeners,

an industry specialist. -- nursery specialists. this is a tremendous and generous and visionary gift. we would encourage you to support this gift in place to improve the botanical garden. thank you. >> i know that some of the residents around the botanical garden, arboretum, have said they are looking at the golden gate park and recreation and park code that no building or structure can be erected in larger expanded in golden gate park unless such action has been approved by a two-thirds vote of the board of supervisors. this is a nursery, but there are other abuses that might be seen as non-nursery -- other uses

that might be seen as non-nurse ry use. >> i believe we are in full compliance. the intent of the nursery is to replace the temporary facilities that are half a century old. the function of it is to support the propagation efforts. as with the entire arboretum property, it is as much an outdoor classroom. we do hope, though, inside the greenhouse is and see what activities go on to support the world-class collection that we have. >> there is another provision of aboutin golden gate park could be used for non-recreational purposes. it seems like -- is your interpretation that this is a recreational use?

>> that the nursery is recreational and use? >> it seems to me it would be a recreational use so it does not fall within that provision. >> i would agree with that. >> thank you, mr. dennis. >> good afternoon, supervisors. i have been representing the society with respect of the land use entitlement process. i did want to a knowledge that there are the sections in the code, but the planning department has already found in certain contexts are ready that this project does constitute a nursery. because it is serves the entire arboretum as well as the larger golden gate park, it seems quite clear that it does work towards the recreational purposes of the garden. >> thank you. >> let's open this up for public

comment. thank you, everyone, for the testimony. we will limit this to 3 minutes per person. nancy connor, dan mahoney, monica martin, joseph, andrea, and donald. >> thank you. my name is nancy connor and i'm speaking on behalf of san francisco park's alliance. we support this great gift to golden gate park. it was our first endorsement, our first issue undertaken by this new organization. what a joy it was to have this be the issue. the discussion was favorable, the vote was unanimous. this is a win for golden gate

park. it will do wonderful things to support the exemplary mission of the society. responsible horticulture and plant conservation. we endorse the project. >> thank you. next speaker. >if people who have been called could line up, that would help. we still have several items on the agenda. >> i am the curator at the botanical garden. i work quite a lot. your question about why it was put there in the first place, at the regional nurseryman -- it was a very sunny spot

originally. when i first reworking there, it got winter sun. in those days, they did not grow much in the wintertime. >> you remind me of the character in "lorax." [laughter] >> the new spots is much warmer. it is better that we are growing our plans on the new site. it is so much warmer up there. the next point i want to make is how important the botanical garden is both nationally and internationally. we will have the only cloud forest from the three areas of the botanical garden. most of these countries do not have their own botanical gardens. all of those areas are vastly

fast becoming deforested. many of these species are going extinct every year. it is almost like an obligation since we can do this. we also support botanists from those countries when they come visit us. our collections are getting very important. we have a weird climate, and it might be getting weirder. every 50 years, we have 100-year freeze. will those plants. and another thing this minister will provide is a place where we keep all of park -- this nursery will provide is a place for be keep all of our cloud forest plants. hopefully, that'll never happen. the last big freeze, we only lost 20%. by the end of the year, it all grew back. we saved almost 20% of that in

the greenhouse. that is why this is such an important facility. thank you very much. >> good afternoon. i appreciate being able to come before you today. i cheer the board of trustees at the san francisco botanical garden society. i come with a contingent of trusties staffs and volunteers. could i get them to stand to show their support? thank you during much. you have heard testimony of dilapidated facilities, and how these facilities are supporting what has become a very important collection of plants throughout the world. we are coming to you today with a $14 million gift from concerned citizens who want to

see this part and the facility remained for generations to come. we have come a long way to get to this point today. the huge progress we have made just three years to get past the mitigated negative declaration. the most recent being the commission has passed this on to you for your endorsement. i am here today as another voice of support and would like you to put your stamp of approval on this project. there is no good argument against it. thank you very much. >> thank you. >> good afternoon, supervisors. i am co-president of the sunset park neighbors. the border of the area where the new nursery will be installed. i am here to express my support for the nursery. it takes about five minutes of a

tour of the old nursery to know that these guys are working in lousy circumstances. it is amazing. we have been all ontours, we have seen the plans. they have done it out reached to the neighborhoods. i am comfortable with the plans and the changes that have been made after community employed. i encourage you to vote to approve this project. >> thank you any other public testimony? public comment is closed. colleagues, if there are no comments, can we move this forward with a positive recommendation? thank you, everyone. >> there is item 3, 4, and 5.

item number three, a hearing on the reports of foreclosure in california. item #4 hearing on strategies, policies, administrative actions and other potential steps to address the foreclosure crisis. item #5, resolution supporting foreclosure activities. >> thank you. i know we are waiting for supervisors to arrive. here is supervisor avalos. this hearing yvonne's on foreclosures in california. how is int -- this hearing is on for closures in california. the resolution by supervisors to support community efforts to protect our homes