i move to continue item number one in definitely. commissioner antonini: second. >> on the motion for a continuance on item number one for an indefinite continuance -- [roll-call] that item is continued indefinitely. let me make sure i have turned on your microphone. commissioners, you are now at commissioner matters. commissioner antonini: i would like to thank everyone who worked on my reappointment to the planning commission. we probably had a thousand e-

mail's, voice messages and i'm very appreciative. i believe the swearing in for commission -- for the new commissioner and for myself will be on thursday, august 30 at the mayor's balcony i thought i would just announced that and welcome you to be there. particular task -- particular thanks to the supervisors who voted in favor of my confirmation, particularly supervisors cohen and olague. my message continues to be i'm available to me with you in your constituents and i welcome your comments and positions on matters that come before us at the planning.

i certainly want to take this into consideration when i deliberate on decisions. a couple of clarifications on some items in the press that i wanted to bring that. i thought the articles have been good and i appreciate the members of the press. they mentioned my being like a team quarterback and the team i am playing for is the city and county of san francisco. over the 10 years, i have been able to articulate my issues clearly and distinctly. for those who may not want me to continue, that might be a reason the new commissioner might take the same boat as me bedmate take longer to make those positions known and that was the reference to the quarterback. there was another mention in the

chronicle. i was honored to be compared to mitt romney and antonin scalia. i told the reporter i would be just as honored to be compared to president obama or justice stephen briar. we did not make all our elected officials, but we did make the supreme court, judges and commissioners and others, appointed positions that are not subject to periodic votes of the electorate. that's important in a democracy but also has its downfalls because sometimes it keeps officials such as judges are commissioners from being completely objective in their vote or in the positions they take because they are subject to not only the feelings of their constituents but their contributors.

it is important we keep the separation of powers and i think this is a key issue when you talk about comparisons to judges. finally, i'm very happy to report that when i go to work coming from the west side to my office, frequently when i'm not taking muni, i will drive, happy there are eight projects under construction along that route. i'm glad to say that is the case. but we are actually seeing ground broken and projects going forward and that is very promising and very satisfying to see these projects moving forward.

commissioner sugaya: i thought of that comment about swearing- in raises a good question. i thought swearing in was required. but we have mr. hillis here. commissioner antonini: i can clarify that. there is always a legal swearing and and then there is a formal swearing-in. that is what i was speaking of -- the ceremonial swearing in. commissioner sugaya: i would like to welcome mr. hillis. we have had some previous encounters and i have always found him to be bright and generous and will serve the community very well. so welcome.

welcome to the other two commissioners to have been reappointed. >> commissioner hillis was sworn in this morning and is legally able to sit and take action today. commissioner wu: i believe for the record i will not be at the swearing in ceremony. i also want to congratulate commissioner antonini and commissioner hillis. i got to have lunch with him and it was very nice. this friday is the 35th anniversary of the i hotel. 35 years ago, that was the night of the eviction and there will be a program starting at 6:00 tomorrow and it will go until

2:00 mimicking what happened that night when activists and tenants' rights, folks are from the city and region. that will go until 2:00 when there will be a march and a ceremony. commissioner sugaya: there is an excellent novel by a japanese professor which -- it is a novel, not a historical account, but it has the hotel as its theme and the people who were associated with it. >> i also want to add my congratulations to the reappointment of didn't commissioners. commissioner hillis and i have worked on different projects along the waterfront and i

believe his appointment will add to the existing commission. commissioner hillis: i would like to thank the mayor for appointing me. i have great respect for the department as well as many who have come before the commission so i am honored to be here. i also want to thank commissioner miguel. i worked with the city for 15 years and have had the honor to be before the commission and work with him and it's an honor to fill his seat. hopefully i can fill the seat, so thank you to him. commissioner antonini: i would like to take this opportunity to welcome commissioner hillis and i'm very happy is going to service commission and also like to acknowledge the former

commissioner miguel. was a pleasure to serve with him. he brought a lot of knowledge and good things to the commission. on the question of swearing in and the city attorney can opine on this if i am misrepresenting it. i believe it do to legislation from a couple of years ago, there's a time where the mayor or president of the board must make their appointments after the conclusion of the existing sitting commissioners. then the board of supervisors has a time at which they have to confirm that absent any confirmation the commissioners are deemed confirmed. the terms of the sitting commissioners extant until 60 days after the completion of their term. as long as the formal swearing in takes place, it can be any

time and it is in compliance. correct me if that is not correct. >> i do not have the charter in front of me, but the important swearing-in is the one that occurred this morning. that is the legal swearing in. any legal that is a ceremony. >> i can confirm that. commissioners have a four-year term and at the end of that for years, there is 60 days during which you can sit if you are not reappointed. i looked at this recently as well. you are correct that if the board does not act within three days, the appointment is

automatically deemed it confirmed. >> you are correct. commissioners, we can move forward to the director's report and review of the fast -- review of the past week's events. >> i would also like to congratulate the commissioners on their appointment. i have been able to work with rich for many years. hard to believe that has been five years but welcome on behalf of the department. if i might, i'm going to give the historic preservation report today. the preservation commission

approved the construction on 850 battery st. which is a non- contributing building, it was one project at was the only certificate of appropriateness yesterday. the other items were informational hearings on the fire that occurred at pier 29. representatives of the court gave a presentation on that. i believe that within the next several months. second, the commission continued its discussion to expand the administrative certificate of appropriateness delegations. they are allowed to delegate certain types of changes to buildings in historic districts to staff. to date, i think there is general consensus that it has worked pretty well.

a revised delegation process will be at the hearing in november. the planning staff summarized sections of articles 10 and 11 which were amended at the board of supervisors when i got to the board in may. i believe the red line version will be in your packet today and you can see the changes that were made as well. that concludes the report from the reservation -- the preservation commission. >> i'm here from department staff to give you your weekly report on the board of supervisors as they pertain to planning and land use. the chinese hospital, the project would demolish the existing hospital and rebuild it as a 110 ft. facility.

the commission recommended approval on july 12 and the committee recommended approval of the ordinances. on tuesday, the full board of supervisors, the first plan was the appeal for the cpr see. the department submitted additional materials on monday of this week in response to a number of questions asked at the july 17 hearing. he moved to continue the hearing until november 20 as. they noted that they had agreed to work with the city and an outside mediator on the development plan. supervisor campos wanted a quick selection of the mediator and the item was continued until november 20. for many items that the board this week. there were many items because it is their last week before the

break. the board approved final reading, the northeast legislation, but this commission called the mega legislation. these first three pieces did largely accommodate your recommendations. supervisor weaner has a building code amendment that would allow smaller size efficiency in its than the current controls allow. the commission heard this as an informational hearing on june 28 and supervisor in wiener requested this be continued to allow for more discussions. next was the mills act amendment which would ease implementations of contracts to reduce property tax on historic buildings in exchange for rehabilitation. he did incorporate the changes of this commission and the

historic preservation commission and the item was approved on first reading. next was the ordinance that would create new named never had a commercial districts in the sunset area. that was heard on june 14 and recommended the approval of modifications. the supervisor inc. the majority of the changes and this week, the full board approved it on final reading. also on final reading was the transit center district plan which would provide a comprehensive plan for the area around the trends bay terminal and include a mechanism to increase development value to fund the construction of the transit center program in addition to other improvements. next up was the student housing ordinance which would establish a definition for student housing and land use controls for that use. the ordinance is up for first

reading. belong collaborative process was described and the board's support was urged. supervisor kim would like to pursue concerns of academic institutions in her district and consider some things that it's in the item back to the commission. she describes two outstanding issues, ensuring the student units were sufficiently monitored to make sure any conversions from stephen housing to regular housing would trigger the requirement of the inclusion ary housing payment. there had been discussions with the academy of art and there are asked to describe the discussions. the director described the process and recommendations to preserve existing housing. he described it the legislation is a separate issue from any discussions at the academy of art and that there is a

discussion for a more global solution to legalize their work and if there were any agreements reached, this would come before the board at a later time. supervisor kim asked for more time to consider grandfathering these institutions. she is concerned about the floor by floor conversions might make it difficult to track. the motion to continue failed and the item was passed on first reading. the last regular or events was an '88 or events. when you heard this in december, it would amend the planning code and other codes. the amendment would have excluded the square footage for the floor area for any accommodations in needed for that 88. since you heard the item, the changes to the planning code have been removed and this ordinance would require

commercial landlords to make space is accessible or inform their tenant. it appears the supervisors may be interested in coming back for trailing legislation that would accommodate our new definitions of restaurants and seek to exclude 80 a accommodations from the floor area calculations. there were a couple of appeals scheduled. the first was for 24th street. that was granted by this commission on june 14 to establish a financial service known as the first republic bank of a small storefront. this was not subject to formula retail control because the law was not yet effective but prior to the hearing, applicants withdrew their applications and the board took formal action to reverse the authorization and disapproved the bank at this location. next was a appeal -- an appeal

for 55 look good at. this would have been the first appeal made by the historic preservation commission. but instead dead appellant failed to show up for the hearing and the board upheld the c of a. it that next would create new districts for the lower fillmore area and this item will be before you with in the next three months. that is the report for this week. commissioner antonini: thank you carried a little confusion on the 24th street. he said the board of supervisors reversed the see you and then that the application was withdrawn? >> the applicant did not which

two -- did not wish to defend and go to the board on appeal. since this commission granted the cu, a formal request was needed. >> rather than -- first republic decided rather that instead of going through the appellate progress, they would rather not have the branch? >> that's correct. >> they made the decision not to pursue at the port of appeals? >> that's right. it is beyond us at that point anyway, but that is surprising. i think the vote was fairly overwhelming in favor. >> there were additional complications. the formula retail controls did become effective, so i don't know if that influenced the decision. they would have needed it badly for the financial services

granted -- skip that -- they were grandfathered in because when you heard the formula retail ordinance, there was a provision added week grandfather in anyone with existing applications. i am not sure why they withdrew the application. >> our measure was because of the square footage. >> -- for that particular financial institution commercial district as opposed to the formula retail. what they have to come back to s for that or just have the appeal heard at the board of supervisors? >> they would have been grandfathered because they had an existing application at the time. if a new bank were to try to fill that spot, they would be

subject to a formula retail controls said they would need that for financial services and for retail. >> that is curious, but we can't do much about it. commissioner wu: i was curious about housing production tracking system. is that going to the board of supervisors as well? >> that was scheduled for a monday that it was continued. i expect it will be after the break. >> is there a board of appeals report? >> the item that was on for a continuance today was continued indefinitely. one of the reasons was to allow real notice for the project because its subject to the formula retail use for banks. pat will be before you in late september.

the board of appeals did meet last night. there was the appeal of the local coastal zone for the athletic field. this is the first appeal of the local coastal zone that i am aware of. the local coastal zone permit process was added in 1985 and has never been amended cents. i think the first appeal we had to the board of appeals was that hearing it. it was what a great public comment and the board of appeals did vote to uphold this project. it had been subject to an appeal. other items of note -- it was the last hearing for commissioner hillis who served on the board of appeals.

the board of appeals will miss him and wish him the best. it is the board's loss, but the commission postgame. >> commissioners, we can move forward on your calendar. there is an informational presentation on the downtown plan monitoring report for 2011. >> good afternoon, commissioners. i'm with the city wide group and planning department. i am going to run through a short summary of the results of the downtown plan monitoring report which you have in your packet and point out there is a more detailed summary in the cover letter and a new information graphically developed in the first couple of pages of the report. this report covers changes during 2011 in key land use and transportation topics as required by the administrative code. the annual changes identifies

small changes that basically continue past trends. the downtown area continues to be one of the region's resilient places. a little more of an increase downtown than citywide or the region. downtown did have a net loss of housing units with the demolition of 31 units. the city also experienced a drop in housing production city-wide last year. however, there are approximately 4000 units in the residential pipeline right now, so we would expect production to increase in the future as the economy recovers. transit use continues to be stable and high relative to most

cities. 36% transit use for peak hours downtown. unfortunately, that is not quite reaching the planned goal of 70%. that concludes my presentation. i would be happy to take any questions now or later. >> are we going to take public comment? commissioner sugaya: i have a question about the graphic on page 3 here on the commercial pipeline. 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 coming to work by non-auto means.