of the coastal zone application. i would be happy to answer any questions at this time. thank you. commissioner fong: commissioners, and the specific questions? ok, thank you. >> good afternoon, commissioners. representative read it -- but grisham our government. i have a power point presentation i would like to do. it is included in your packages, so i will try to move through at a pretty good pace, but i think it is important to touch on all of these points from a point of history and understanding the project in more detail.

back in 2004, the recreation and park department initiated a third-party recreation assessment, which identified at the recreation and park department was short athletic fields citywide, and the problem has only exacerbated over time as sports become more popular. on an average day, over 4000 kids use our field after school, especially during spring and fall, and during that time, usually between 3:00 and 6:30 p.m. is the prime time of usage. what we find is that growth is restricted by the lack of fields in our system, so that is why this program came into existence and why we are here today. following that recreation assessment, the city feels foundation and recreation and park department joined forces to establish a plate field initiative. we can gather in 2006 and started the program. immediately following that, we initiated a few pilot projects,

which i will talk to a bit later, but the goal of the program at the time was to make sure every san francisco child had a safe place to play athletics and sports. the way we were going to achieve that as part of this program was we had a three-prong approach. two, to improve our permits and reservation so we can optimize that system, and, three, to engage with the school district so we can utilize their facilities where appropriate on weekends. with the program starting in 2006 to date, the combination of city and private funds we've been able to general er irdelizz 21 million from the city side and $29 million from the private donors. to date we have completed 14 athletic fields and light renovations in seven of our park facilities and in the works we have six athletic fields with light renovations.

beach chalet which we're talking about today and the renovations we are proposing at the muni facility why synthetic turf is the big question. simply put, it allows us to utilize these fields year round, from morning to night. we don't have to close these facilities like we do natural turf fields because of rain, rest, and regrowth. they're extremely safe, they're a lesm playing surface. they don't have geoffer holes or irregular surfaces creating problems for our youth on the fields the in 2008 we went through a very exhaustive task force that found that the synthetic turf was a safe product. also the e.i.r. process we went through identified that it's a safe program. there are other side benefits to our program that have come to light as part of it, as far

as environmental improvements. obviously synthetic turf we don't have to water. we estimate we save 1.5 million gallons -- gallons of water on a single field, roughry 75 million gallons saved annually. we don't have to put herb i kidsed on the fields. and as part of our turf purchasing standards which we worked through very closely with the department of the environment we require that the turf we purchase is recyclable and that the company we purchase it from will take it back and recycle it in entirey. we have about six years of experience under our belts. what we've documented during that time is just by field renovation as loan we've been able to increase play hours in our fields by 37,000 hours, reorganize our permits and reservation system. we've added another 37 for

fields and reservations improvements and in our work with the school district we were able to tack op another 4 5 hours for roughly a grand total of 72,000 dibble play hours since the program started. that's a big number. hard to put your arms around what that really means but just from the youth soccer organization we were able to increase youth soccer play with an additional 1,800 kids playing soccer which equates to 140 additional soccer teams. this next image is just a scatter diagram of the facilities we've renovated to date. the yellow stars represent facilities renovated and open and the two red stars are the ones i mentioned, mini levy ward in the center and the beach chalet that fills the void up in the upper west corner of the city. the next few slides are basically images of fields that have been completed to date.

they've all been a tremendous success and asset to the community and the rec and parks staff. silver terrace was the other one, the project in 2006. it's now the most highly requested athletic field in our system. franklin square, that's a facility we actually renovated with synthetic turf in 2002 before the initiative. we added lights to increase play at that facility. south sunset on the west edge of the city, another success. crocker am adon playground, one of our theme primary ground sports facilities. this facility actually hosted three soccer fields before we did the renovations and through creative alignment we were able to add two additional soccer fields in the same footprint so we now have five full soccer fields the kimball in the

western addition. nestled between two high schools we know this is highly utilized by youth organizations and neighborhood teams. it is a bustling facility out in the western addition. mission dolores. this say project that just had its first phase ribbon cutting tuesday of this week. it was an asphalt athletic field and we len 0 vated it with synthetic turf. it's a multifaze project. it was -- multiphase project. it was opened on tuesday and the latter half of the project with will be opened this summer. next, muni levy ward. this is in the planning phase and we hope to move forward and not -- be in the construction phase in 201. another field in disrepair in district 11. we'll help that area out significantly.

the beach chalet soccer fields, the purpose why we're here today. again this photo shows the existing conditions and the proposed solution on the right. the present condition is grass field. the the soccer fields are currently fenced with an eight-foot link -- chainlink fence around the facility and it's currently closed about half the time during the year and is only used through formal permit and reservation process. next slide. so a little bit more. the soccer field at the west end of the park hads been in existence more than 75 yards -- years and it's one of our three primary athletic facilities. during the fall more than 1,500 kids and 600 adults play at beach chalet every week. the soccer field in scale, golder gate's total is, this is

less n -- than 1% of the fat -- facility. current condition, the fields are closed for rents about 50% of the time as a mentioned. it's only open by reservation and closed before 3:00 p.m. most week days, closed every monday throughout the year and closed due to winter season conditionsnd staff maintenance needs and basically allowing the grass to regorrochategui. the field has had limited use and unsafe conditions. even if -- when it is open we only occupy three of the four fields, we go through a rotation cycle. so the benefit with the synthetic turf is we're going to gain an additional field full time. other unsafe conditions, the field is riddled with geoffer holes and uneven surface. we have wet conditions out there throughout the year because of its location on the west side of the city and some

of the amenities such as the parking lot are extremely unsafe right now due to the volume of people coming in and out. pedestrians have to access a driveway entri to the facility, which is problematic the and it lacks family friendly amenities. there is no seating on or off the field for spectators. the bathroom facilities need a face lift. there are few stal doors on the interior of the restrooms, making it unfriendly. no changing tables for kids and there's no other amenities at the facility like children's play areas, picnic tables, barbecue pits and such. next? so the proposed benefits for this project as mentioned previous reply by another presenter, we anticipate we're going to triple the amount of play time at the facility with this project. currently we have 4,700 hours of play. we at this. being north of 14,000 once this

is rhone vated. we're going to provide a family friendly facility and provide more field time on the northwest side of the city for children and adults playing sports. proposed improvements, obviously the core of president project is synthetic turf and life. we are proposing to add spectator benches and seating for all four fields, a children's plaza and play area around the structure, we're going to renovate the restroom, create safe walkways to and through the site and create new picnic and barbecue space to the south of the facility. the next few views give you a feel for what we are trying to propose here. this is a view look -- looking east. there sigh small area of space that will accommodate seatding.

adjacent to that is a meandering path down to the field which is a.d.a. compliant and south of that another children's play area. one up can't see behind our proposed tree solution is a proposed maintenance facility that will replace the trailer our staff currently operates out of. currently there is an eight-foot-tall chain link fen. we're proposing to lower that substantially to 42 inches tall except for right behind the back stops. we're going to raise it up at those locations to keep the balls on the field but the lowering of the field around the rest of the facility is going to provide a more friendly and inviting environment. this is looking east at the field level. we're -- we're proposing a nice landscaping around the restroom building and the more important

element of this drawing is the spectator seating we're proposing. when we started this project we talked about adding spectator seating ond the design folks said ok, we can put bleachers out there. that's not where we wanted to go with this. we wanted to have low-profile seating in the space that would complement the space. what we're proposing is small, about 30-inch-tall bleachers with wood slats on them in keeping with some of the other facilities in gold benefit -- golden gate park. next slide. this particular image is thrown in to illustrate the lighting that we're proposing at the field. as you can see in this image it shows seven of the 10 light fixtures that are prepared for -- proposed for the field. the image is obviously only one perspective but it shows the scale of the light poles against the tree canopy. those are the actual trees.

those are the actual photos of the trees. so it just gives a relationship and shows that the poles are actually relatively low compared to the trees surrounding them. next slide. we recognize that lighting is a contentious issue on this project and we respect that and we've gone through a very diligent and long process. normally the light towers on a project of this scale would be 08 to 90 feet tall and ringing the field. through goes, and developing a more realistic program that would work for everyone, the orange dots you see, they're actually 60 feet tall and sitting on the field, in between the fields actually by unward. the intent is to lower the light poles so you can't see them from the perimeter and minimize the impact beyond the park the others are small

lights along the pedestrian pathways, and the purpose of that is to have safe entrance and exit for the facility during evening hours. here's just a simple floor plan of the restroom. we're not intending to renovate the exterior. it's a historic contributor to the golden gate park historic district but we'll be guth the rest rooments inside, improving the size and scale of the fixtures inside so it acomdamentse the users and it will also be ada compliant. parking lot improvement. currently the parking lot hosts about 50 parking stalls. it's an irregular shaped parking space and as i mentioned kind of in insafe condition. a lot of users come, drop kids off and let them practice and pick them up. there's not a formal pickup and drop-off zone, which we are proposing.

there is a new pathway from j.f.k. we're going to expand the parking lot by 20 stalls. it will also share four new a.d.a. parking stalls and at the south end of the parking lot will be the new storage structure for the operations staff. so i wanted to talk briefly -- that's the overview of some of the elements of the project. i wanted to talk briefly about the golden gate master plan. i know neil mentioned it briefly as part of the general plan review process but i wanted to point out that the department recognizes that goaltender -- golden gate park is separated into to distinct sections, the east end, the more developed area and the west end is more sylvan and pastoralnd we recognize that and respect that and try for that goal. but if you look deeper into the master plan -- plan, that

concept an over over-arching concept but there is specific language in the plan that poisonous to athletic facilities and i want to just briefly touch on some of those. in the objectives and policies they recognize major recreation be areas in the park and beach chalet is clearly marked as the a major recreation area with specific purposes for athletic play, soccer. others have that also, like the fly casting pool or the golf course. they're intended for a specific use and that's the way the master plan recognized thep. the second it in the recreation facilities portion of the of the master plan. it recognizes that this facility is heavily used, has maintenance problems is -- and is a recognized recreation facility in the infrastructure. then the last two sections point to two specific plan areas that are for the west end of the park. one is the west end plan. the other is the

richmond-sunset treatment facility plan. both talk to each other in that section. the west end plan briefly reflects itself back to the other plan but essentially what it's saying is that the west end doesn't have the activity it should. we need to bring more positive activity to the west end and activate that space. the master plan considers adding a fifth soccer pitch where the treatment facility used to be. it also recognized that a 30 to 40-car parking lot should be added at that area. it contemplates the addition of a 2,500 square foot pavilion which would be a community space, a place for roller skating, bike rentals -- those are all great and we think that our project dovetails with that goal. obviously with our field -- field and increased use the need to expand another soccer field to the south isn't necessary, adding an additional parking lot at the south end isn't required.

we're achieve all those goals and that's clearly articulated in the master plan as a direction we should be moving. we shouldn't be expanding our recreation facilities, we should be improving the foot print are -- of where they exist now so they meet the demands of the public. you have have information in your packet. i don't want to read through this but i have some quotes here from the master plan. i'm sure you have read those. with that i want to talk briefly about next steps. obviously we're here for approval today on the e.i.r. process. our goal is to move forward into design development bit end of the year and move forward in 2013 and it -- have a rickon cutting hopefully everybody can participate in in the end of 2013. do that i'd be happy to answer any questions. president fong: commissioners,

any questions at this time? if not i'm going to go straight to public comment. because there is a large crowd and we want to hear as many as possible, we will keep the comment to two minutes. i have a number of speaker cards. chief is in the room and with your indulgence i'm going to ask the chief first. >> thank you, commissioner, i appreciate it. i'm here to speak a little bit about the two parks. obviously muni levy ward isn't what we're talking about today but as a former captain of bay view and can tell you what it did for silver terrace and garfield in the mission and kimball playground where we actually have officers coach the kids, when the facilities renovated, it gives kids positive voice -- choices to engage in positive exist -- activity, and especially at-risk kids in the community

of color. i've played on these since i was a kid. my kids played there. the police soccer team plays there. this is a fabulous location, but i have turned ankles and knees and i've seen how these kids play, again at gar field, kimball and silver terarkse whether it's junior giants -- the way that you can activate these spaces to engage young people, and if the lights have been reduced in height as they have been so it's not seen outside, there are things that have always gone on in the bushes in and around beach chalet, whether narcotics use, prostitution, a haven for auto burglars to play one foot off the gutter, it all activates the space and i think any time that's done it's a good thing for public safety and i for one would be for anything that gets more activity of a positive space especially for young people as we try to give kids positive choices here in san

francisco. so with that i'll leave it at that. >> thank you for that. [applause] dd sin >> as we go forward with the public comment if we could deviate and take all those who have special accommodations? if we have anyone who has a special accommodation that would like to speak now? come. i mean, come up. >> good afternoon. my name is george wooding.

i work with several neighborhood groups throughout the city. san francisco, and i am against the soccer field being, synthetic soccer field being built in beach chalet. first i want to say i love soccer. my son played soccer. i have coached soccer. i've also been a sponsor of several soccer teams in san francisco. this project will permanently transform golden gate park by placing seven acres of plastic and chrome and rubber artificial turf and lights on 60-foot-high poles. at least 60 seats for spectators. 9 project would permanently transform san francisco's crown jrblings golden gate park, a nationally recognized historic site which has been cherished for generations as -- for its

naturalistic beauty. it's a unique natural area within the confines of a major estimate the area, only 500 feet from the ocean, is listed on the national register of historic places and is the first large urban park built west of the mississippi river. i do not approve of this project. this reminds me very much of when the cable cars were going to be removed from san francisco and there was one person that stood up and said no, you can't do that and now they're a treasured asset to san francisco. you cannot pave over a grass field in an urban area with such limited urban areas. there are altern atevbs for these fields. especially you might want to consider the west sunset which is being considered in the 2012 general obligation bond. thank you very much for your time. [applause]

>> if i can just interrupt for just one second, there is one thing i did not do. and that's to state that this, the planning commission and recreation and park commission will hold one public hearing for the public to provide testimony on all items that are listed below that i read into the record earlier which includes consideration of whether to certify the e.i.r.. following the public hearing the planning commission will consider action on certifying the final environmental impact report, adoption of findings under the california environmental guatemala act and the recreation and parks commission will then consider action on improving the project and certifying the ceqa findings. i just want everyone to know that as you come to the podium to speak you have the opportunity to speak on all of

those components and this is your only opportunity to speak on each component. >> madame secretary, may i add that while this is a heated issue that the two commissions won't tolerate any clapping, cheering, booing, hissing sounds and i think we'll get through this hearing in a proper fashion. ? thank you very much. ok. >> good evening, commissioners. my name is denise and i'm opposed to this project and i think soccer is a wonderful and exciting game and more sports facilities are needed for our children. however, the selection of the beach chalet is inappropriate. it is such a beautiful meadow, and transforming it into synthetic turf is like telling our children that nature has a low priority for their lives. it is also hard to believe that school age children will be playing soccer into the night

and in the fog. our society is -- with all its gadgets is already undermining our inclination as human to interactions. now we're depriving our connection to the natural world by killing off plants and animals now extant in the meadow and its surrounds. please find an altern atevb to the destruction of our natural heritage. thank you. >> any other special accommodations? >> and then, you, sir. >> him. as you can tell, i'm blind. what i'd like to do first of all is say, it's interesting, today i was listening to cnn

and they had a list of the five best cities in the united states for parks and san francisco was number one. now, i think one thing that's interesting, we always talk about our parks and usable space as though the sword of damocles it handing over our head and we don't have usable space. we should remember the rest of the world is watching what we're doing here. when john mclaren planned the pork -- park he cared as much about echo systems as he did about usable space. if we are able to maintain the natural grass we can meet both goals. i'm also here to speak as a blind person. i rec hearing somebody talk about how the grass feels and looks like real grass but it will never smell like real grass. the reason i say this is next time you smeal -- smell ralph lauren polo i want you to think

about what that smell was based on. it was based on the smell of fresh-cut grass. everybody in the parks enjoys the parks in different ways. one of my favorite smells in the whole world and since i've become blind six or seven years ago it's become a reeducation about how a human being with enjoy and appreciate nature. and one of my favorite smells that always makes my day is the smell of fresh cut grass. 9 sounds of birds singing -- i realize there is difficulty in maintaining a grass lawn but also would bring your attention to wlfer -- whenever the astroturf was aremoved from candlestick park it was a call for local and national celebration. so think about what you would be depriving me and other people in my community if you replaced it with synthetic turf and thank you for your time. [applause] thank you. >> again, no applause, please.