is this series of numbers for office retail -- the greyed out portion are the number of square feet in the pipeline in other parts of the city? >> exactly. commissioner sugaya: we're seeing 9,500,000 square feet outside of downtown in the pipeline? >> that includes the downtown. you get a ratio there. >> it seems like another -- that seems like a lot of office development -- if we could look into that -- >> i suspect it is mission bay and hunters point shipyard.

>> there are a couple of projects that will build out over a longer time. commissioner sugaya: those projects are skewing the numbers on the city-wide side? it isn't distributed evenly throughout commercial areas? >> no. commissioner antonini: in addition to the housing projects in the pipeline, there are quite a few under construction. one would expect the 2011 drop was an anomaly and there will be big changes in 2012. the transit use mentioned only 36% and your report says 31% walk, 2% pike, and 2% use other modes.

adding it up, it looks like 70% coming to work by non-auto means. that is pretty impressive. walking is a statement to the fact that we have quite a few residential areas in walking distance of the businesses downtown. >> the data behind the summary is a journey to work data from the census. it is the choice of residence inside the super district. the next page is the percentage of transit ridership in the peak hours of 2010-2011. commissioner antonini: this was probably for the 2012 report, but as was mentioned in the

press and i believe it was brought up during comments here some weeks ago that we had a big jump in employment in the downtown area in the first six months of this particular year. there are newer figures that will show quite an increase which is encouraging >> absolutely. president fong: is there any public comment on any item in this report? commissioners? any comments or questions? >> if we can move forward on your calendar to the general public comment for 50 minutes. at this time, the public may address you on any subject

matter in the jurisdiction of this commission. however, for this category, each member of the public may address you for up to three minutes each. keep in mind the entire category as a 15-minute time on it. i do not have speaker parts. -- i do not have any speaker cards. president fong: is there any general public comment? >> i'm not sure if you had a chance to read a little message i just sent, but anyway, i'm sick and tired of being sick and tired and i know that's not an original sentiments, but i think i speak to the sentiments of the neighbors of that little church. i have spoken about the fact i know the people and the little congregation at the end pray for

saving the little church and turning it to a good use and some people believe god sends angels to earth. i don't know if they believe that or not and the angels look like ordinary people. i have met the angels living across the street from that little church. what she has done to try to guard it is sad. frustration and the paint and michael who lives across the street has than documentation you can't believe. we went to the department of building inspection and we pursued it there. after the 2010 denial of the application, i went up a few times and i made a report and the police came and asked to meet with me and said please write to the district attorney because there is nothing we can do unless they are in possession

are have open containers because the property owner wants these people there. i wrote the district attorney and went to the board of supervisors when they were looking into the parallel and testified there and i wrote to the board of supervisors and nothing happened. i've written to you and other people. this is just terrible. think of the press and for other developers. let's say they want to stamp their foot and say we have a right and we're going to sue. if suing the city gets this kind of results that the city can't do any enforcement of these matters against the sponsors, it is a slippery slope. maybe they will say never mind that we want to put a pedestrian tunnel across the route of the subway and never mind that we

want to eliminate a thousand units or more from the area that is supposed to be housing and never mind the parking spaces and emergency vehicles and the sirens 26 times a day as they try to make their way against traffic. we are suing. maybe you can't consider these things. the city cannot be paralyzed by the fact someone has sued and i would ask you to try to take action to get the city attorney to take some action here. president fong: any additional public comment? next item, please? >> you are now ready to start your regular calendar with items sixa and sixb.

the zoning commission will hear the -- [unintelligible] >> it good afternoon. i'm with department staff. this is a request for a conditional use authorization to demolish the gas station and construct a 43,000 square foot

mixed use building that would include 24 residential units, three of which will be affordable, 3000 square feet of ground for commercial space and a 14-space underground parking garage with 12 bicycle parking spaces. access to the garages from castro street. the zoning administrator will consider the request after you consider the conditional use request. subject property is on the northwest corner of castro street and market street in the neighborhood commercial district. the sponsor has been working closely with neighbors on the design of the project and as a result, the project includes a 450 square foot community meeting space and extensive pedestrian street scape improvements. the demolition of the gas station would allow full use of

the site and will not appreciably diminish access as a 24-hour chevron station is located across the street and a shell station is located east of the project site. proximity of the site and subway station makes it well suited for residential development and the elimination of the gas station supports the city's transit- first policy. the commission has received one call an objection to the project and has received comment from castro planning in action and a letter supporting the project. at the department recommends approval of the project as it creates 24 new one-bedroom and two-bedroom dwelling units and includes a three on-site affordable units and redevelops and underutilized's -- personal

and provides new opportunities for employment and advances the general plan meets the applicable rick -- plan -- applicable planning code. president fong: project sponsor? >> it good afternoon. i'm mitchell benjamin and rick essentially describes the project and i came here to describe the project also. what i am about to show you, you should have gotten in your packets. this is the proposed one on its own the project is right on the

corner of castro and market street. it is it 24 residential units above retail and a ground floor community space that has been given to the various community groups we have been working with for the last year-and-a-half or so. the design of the building has morphed. the project was submitted in 2005 and it has morphed from an architectural design to a modernist, more dramatic strong building at a very important corner of the city. there are 14 parking spaces, 12 of which are for the residential units. that commercial space, besides

the community space is about 2500 square feet and the design can be used as one big space or divisible into two or three smaller spaces depending on how it is used in the future. i can answer any design questions if you have any. president fong: will call from -- will call for public comment and i do have some speaker cards unless there is any other information from the sponsor. >> you all have just received a letter of support from the three neighborhood organizations we have in working with over the past years. on the design, specifically. just five minutes prior to this hearing, one of the members of one of the group's who i believe

missed one of the meetings showed up and asked if we could continue with the hearing today but have the department come back later with an informational presentation after everything has been finalized. if the commission is disposed to do that, we have no objection. >> i'm with department staff. this is not a continuance they are requesting. what is being requested is an additional conditions to be conditions of approval asking that the final plans be brought back to the commission under the director's report to show the commission what a final design is that has been worked out with the neighborhood. that is being requested of the commission would care to do that. thank you very much. >> public comment?

[reading names] approach the podium if you are prepared. >> and the executive director for the castro upper market committee benefit district and i would like to speak very positively on behalf of this project. the district has been working for about a year-and-a-half with the neighborhood associations the project sponsor on all lot of details on this project. you have a letter signed by all of us in strong support and the board is in strong support of this and i would say the project

sponsor has been absolutely cooperative in meeting all the needs and interests of that community. thank you. >> good afternoon, commissioners. i am here both personally as a resident of the castro as well as a business owner. i live about two blocks away from this project. this is where i live and this is where work. this is where my employees work and live and my clients live and work. i canceled to meetings to come here, finding out only one hour before this meeting was happening. i've never done this before, so i hope i can do it properly. i'm a commercial real-estate broker before the economy took a turn and after i went to law school, i got my advanced law degree in tax and i run a tax

business is a very untraditional space. i purposely chose the space where rim because it had would at floors, because i have the white picket fence look on the inside, because it was old. now i see this morning at the meeting, they took a vote and i was one of many people who said no, this is not right. this doesn't fit our culture. doesn't look like the harvey milk plaza or the castro theater. it does not look and feel like where i live and work and where my businesses. it is not what we are. it is steel and glass and downtown. the same look of the project will be built two blocks away. i'm glad to see both of those

come because i think it improves the neighborhood. this building destroys my neighborhood that is my home and office. if the other gas stations across the street were to do the same thing, we would have highrises around are a central intersection and it would not look the same. i would have lost three of three gas stations. i ride a motorcycle so i don't need much gas but i don't even know where another gas station is if you take these gas stations away. most of all, i want to say it just does it does not fit our culture. there is no plan for delivery for the businesses. they are going to double park. it is going to be a mess. this gentleman and bragged about three affordable units. that is sad, when only 1/8 of

the building can be affordable for people like me to buy. please to not approve this project. thank you. >> i live in 360 castro, apartment two. it is a six-unit building. it faces south, right into the north wall of the proposed building. all of the front entrances and all of the windows face that way, which means -- i measured it the other day -- there will be 14 feet of light available, coming down 65 feet to light and ventilate these apartments. this is not acceptable. i have no cross-ventilation in my apartment as it is. all of my windows face south. there are a couple of other apartments that have small windows that face east, so they

would get some kind of light. there are trees not shown in the plans, on the walkway, which will buy it when the building is built. we also feel there will be an increased chance for crime in that walkway, since the walk we will no longer be able to be observed from the intersection or anyplace else, as it is now. also, i have to agree this building is totally out of scale. it just does not fit that intersection of the market street corridor. the other buildings they are building there, i have no objection. this particular corner of this building is the only corner where the building next to it is facing south, right into the building, instead of having a whole street to admit any kind of light whatsoever. i sent a bunch of documents and

photographs to mr. crawford and ms. avery. i did not get any kind of response from ms. avery, so i do not know if she received them or not. i brought some photographs illustrating my point. if i may turn them into you, i would be very -- turn them in to you, i would be very happy. may i? president fong: yes. i am going to call a couple of other names. richard megley and roger martinez. if you can line up on this side, by the television, we will keep the door open for fire access. >> my name is dan bergerac.

i live and work on castro street. this item was brought to the general membership less than two hours ago, sort of an 11th hour need to vote on it. for me, the building does not fit into the neighborhood. it looks like it is from pleasanton or emeryville. i feel it distracts from the neighborhood and does not add anything to it, and i would urge you to vote against it. >> i am richard mcgarry, the head of the emergence of upper market and castro. there are about 240 currently- paid members for 2012 in the organization. we did meet and hear a presentation from the project

sponsors this morning. it was not possible to do it earlier because of the summer meeting calendar schedule. the developer desired to have as much information as they could. i want to confirm that the membership this morning did vote in favor of supporting the project. because of the late hour, that information is not in your packet. i did give ms. avery copies, and also mr. crawford has copies as well as the project sponsor. i want to confirm we are on board in support of this. we are not neighborhood organization mentioned earlier that asked for some kind of accommodation. thank you. >> my name is roger martinas, and i own the building next door

to the gas station. i have been there over 60 years. i grew up in the neighborhood and have been there all my life. there are going to be too many cars. you can barely get across the street with the street lights now. for a person who has a disability, it is very hard. i think the building is ugly. it is coming right next to my building, where it will block off all the light. i think it is a terrible looking building, and i approve -- i disapprove of the whole project. thank you. president fong: if there are any other speakers that want to speak, leave a card on the bench, thank you. >> good afternoon. my name is judith. i am the planning committee chair for the castro and lincoln

valley -- rincon valley neighborhood association. we went to a long process with the project sponsor and the architect. it was very collaborative. it was a good experience, very productive. we forged a settlement agreement with them on a number of items of benefit to the community. we have heard people raising that is inevitable. it is not going to please everybody, but it does meet planning department regulations and guidelines. we are in support, the neighborhood association, of the project you have before us. there is just one extra little

thing. at the time there was the applying of the market octavia regulations to the upper market, the last part, what was called the orphan block, beyond noe -- at that time, there was an agreement made that this project would be grandfathered in and would not be subject to all these agreements, if they came back with an informational report to the planning commission when the project was finalized. there is one item that remains to be finalized. that is why we asked for that informational hearing to be held separately, which would be just for the parties involved, as the report to the commission, so we

can memorialize the last bits. the design is still in flux. the project sponsor has written to you that he will work with us to finalize the facade. but that in, if you can. early in september sometime, as soon as we are finished with the design. thank you. >> good afternoon. i am allen beach nelson, the president of castro-eureka valley neighborhood association. i worked with the neighborhood sponsor over the past year and a half. a couple of things i just wanted to comment on that some people

are saying they just learned about it today -- that is factually correct. they are not just aware of activities in the neighborhood. we distribute newsletters, hand delivered to every home, every business in the core castro area. we have cut articles on this project five times in the last year and a half. it included the most recent issue in july. it has been well publicized. the projects sponsored did all the mandatory neighborhood informational meeting. that was noticed around the area. it is pretty well known. frankly, what is there now is an eyesore, and of the gas station. -- an ugly gas station. this is an improvement. in the upper market planning

process, it was decided this should be and eight story building. that was what was called for in the planning document. we worked with the project sponsor, and we did not want that. the fact that it is a six story building is a reduction from what the neighborhood said it wanted, through a whole planning process that was done in 2007- 2008. this project is the only project that has come before any of us that is actually going to have on-site inclusion therein housing. i know it is only three units. i do not know who makes the rules on what percentage it should be of low income housing, but this project is the only one to offer it. the project sponsor has been so cooperative with us. we have had at least 12 meetings, lasting two hours each. we have gone back and forth on an agreement. we have goneba