a retail that provides convenience or goods in the neighborhood, therefore the department recommends approval with conditions. that concludes my presentation and i'm available for questions. >> thank you. project sponsor. hello, commissioners and president. my name is dylan [speaker not understood], owner of 550 valencia llc also known as western pecos. thank you for letting me speak today. i first am before you [speaker not understood] this project in june of 2011. our project was not approved at that hearing. and i returned in september of 2011 after performing extensive outreach to the neighboring residents, business owners and community groups in the valencia nct. while we were granted conditional use at that time, our operating hours were unexpectedly restricted. we thought a 1:00 a.m. closure time with all customers off the premises by 2:00 a.m.. we were told by the commission president to return some time after business to remove the restriction and i stand before you to do that here today.

since opening west of pecos we had no noise complaints, no alcohol beverage violation and no police issues. we are in a single story building with no residential neighborses above us and have a good relationship with the neighbors to the rear of the building. to one side there is a single story furniture store that's closed at night and the other side are portable library restaurant and blondie's bar and grill to the establishments on the block during the evening. [speaker not understood]. i have p become an active member in the merchant community and sit on the board of the merchants business association and a newer group known as the valencia corridor merchants association. for the hearing today i personally contacted neighboring business such as kass nova, blondie's bar [speaker not understood], double dutch bar, [speaker not understood] general store restaurant and [speaker not understood] restaurant. i posted signs on the street behind our location and we noticed residents and businesses within 300 feet of

the premises as required by the department. i've had several meetings with captain moser at the mission station to discuss enforcement issues and he has remained in support of this change. the captain was also kind enough to attend a community meeting held in october. it was also attended by the owners of blondies, casanova and [speaker not understood]. i also held a meeting february 6 after the poster went up to discuss any remaining issues and we had no attendees. you will note there are no letters of opposition in your packets and i have not received any comments since the mailing of the poster went up. this change is important to us as a respectable restaurant in the neighborhood. we've had -- we have a comfortable setting with diners staying often 2 hours per visit. [speaker not understood] we had to stop seating at 9:00 p.m. or risk asking customers to leave the restaurant at 11:00 p.m.. this is not consistent with the dining style of the neighborhood and puts a [speaker not understood]. the early closure creates a dead space many times, we have

people taking advantage of numerous nearby night life options. i witnessed people youthxing our gated entrance as a urinal and other activities. we seek a closing request [speaker not understood], with operating hours 2:00 a.m. to give diners ample time to leave the restaurant. we do not plan to extend food service past [speaker not understood] and generally stop seating customers at 11:00 p.m.. [speaker not understood]. please consider removing our restricted hours for west of pecos. thank you. >> is there any public comment? seeing none, public comment is closed. commissioner borden. >> yes, i live near this establishment and have had the opportunity to patronize it. it's actually really very nice and comfortable environment, large dining room and their bar is very separated from the dining room. in fact, i watched the giants win the world series at this location. and you could only see the tv

in the bar area, very separate in the back of the area [speaker not understood]. they do a -- really nicely done, establish it southwestern style, different than the other kinds of restaurants on the street. the doors are always shut. they're really respectful. i don't see any sort of crazy activities, at least nice little fire pits outside that are connected the recessed entrance which is quite nice. i think it's been a positive attribute to the neighborhood. so, i would move to approve with conditions. >> second. >> commissioner moore. >> it's actually a positive experience to listen that something works. and i think extending the trial time the way this was done and coming back and not hear one single voice of opposition is kind of inspiring to me, so, i am very supportive of approving this extension, particularly this customer in the corridor anyway, so. >> on that motion,

commissioners, to approve with conditions, commissioner antonini? >> aye. >> commissioner borden? >> aye. >> commissioner hillis? >> aye. >> commissioner moore? >> aye. >> commissioner sugaya? >> aye. >> commissioner wu? >> aye. >> and commission president fong? >> aye. >> so moved, commissioners, that motion passes unanimously 7 to 0. and places you under item 10 for case no. 2012.1353c, 975 bryant street, request for conditional use authorization. >> good afternoon, once again, president fong, commissioners. cory teague, department staff. in place of diego sanchez who couldn't be here because of a death in the family. [speaker not understood] doing business as orchard supply hardware in a 33,000 square foot building that is currently occupied by another formula

retail use doing business as pacific sales that sells domestic appliances. orchard supply hardware primarily serve retail do it yourself and commercial customers and core products consist of merchandise needed for recurring home maintenance and improvement in categories such as hardware, paint, tools, and garden. as part of the project plant nursery will be added -- also be added to the roof. other changes include a change in signage, change in paint, added landscaping in the parking area, a new bryant street entrance and an opening of the windows along brie street to increase transparency. orchard supply hardware projects to hire up to [speaker not understood]. within this configure with us zoning district consisting of four blocks and one partial block stretching from bryant street to barry street, there are several other formula retail uses although there are no other hardware stores, formula retail or otherwise. since the planning department packets were published, the project sponsor sent updated plans to the planning

commission and department staff. these updated plans include a larger entrance and greater overall transparency along bryant street. regarding public comment, the department did receive comments from jim miko requesting the project to increase transparency into the building along bryant street and generally improve the pedestrian experience and the updated plans that you received this week were in some part related to that. the department also received comments from a property owner along kate street in the rear with concerns about the timing of loading and activities for the new business. and finally, the department received comments from the alliance for a better district 6 opposing the project and requesting a 30-day continuance to allow greater community outreach for members of the surrounding community. i was contacted by their executive director who said unfortunately that he could not be here today. in order for the proposed formula retail use to be approved, the commission must grant conditional authorization allowing the formula retail use within this umu zoning

district. the department believes that it is a necessary or desirable project because it will not affect the concentration of formula retail uses existing within the contiguous umu zoning district because it is replacing an existing formula retail use. because the project will improve the pedestrian experience along bryant street, and because the project is consistent with the planning code and showplace square, potrero area plan, and the general plan overall. therefore, the department recommends approval of the project with the inclusion of the following conditions in addition to those included in the draft motion, and this is what's listed on the handout that we presented. new condition number 1 would be planning department staff shall continue to work with the project sponsor on the design of both the bryant street facade and the facade facing the parking lot to assure harmonious corporation of the proposed signage, entryways and proposed changes in [speaker not understood] into the existing building elements. additionally the planning department staff shall work with the project sponsor to ensure that the final interior

and exterior designs significantly increase in transparency along the bryant street facade and that the entryway will operate as a functional entrance and exit. the second recommended additional condition is that off-street freight loading activities on kate street shall be limited to the hours of 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. daily. that concludes my presentation. i'm available for comments. >> thank you. project sponsor, please. you're not going to be able to unplug that, sir, no.

[pause] good afternoon, mr. president, members of the planning commission. i am anthony cataldo with [speaker not understood] architects. we also have here our civil engineer, al with ams associates and tad anderson our construction manager with open end representing orchard today. i would like to take a moment to thank the city staff,

especially mr. diego sanchez in guiding us through the response during our preparation with this application. the group of 30 farmer approximately 50 miles south of here got together in the 1931 and formed a cooperative. this cooperative was an important part to the bay area horticultural industrial [speaker not understood] and the first decade following world war ii. in the 1950s it evolved into a retail operation. by the time it transformed into a corporation, it had about 2000 members. in the 1960s and 70s it was acquired and started an expansion program that started orchard supply hardware that we see today. orchard's main focus are household repairs, garden supplies, and home improvements.

our project is located at 975 bryant street. it's currently occupied by pacific sales and appliance shop. the building footprint is ideal for our use as it's linked to debt ratio works very well for the retail environment we'll be providing. our project has many amenities for the community, including a revitalization of an existing building which i'll get into more depth on the architecture. 16-year local full-time jobs and 14 part-time jobs along with many landscape improvements along bryant street. this is our proposed site plan. i'd like to point out the new pedestrian path from bryant street to the entrance off the parking lot. along with the reconfiguration of the parking lot in general

to allow for new landscapeing ing, along with accessible stalls, a new loading zone in the back for customers who might be picking up bulky item. we will be maintaining the loading zone off of kate street for truck deliveries to our store. its was brought to our attention by mr. jim miko at one of our neighborhood outreach meetings that customers will be arriving here by bicycle quite frequently. so, from our initial application to the current one we've overdoubled our bicycle parking stalls and those are located on either side of the entrance. the exterior of the building has many enhancements, including the near warmer paint scheme. there's new trellises with vines around the building facade to soften the edges of it along with a rooftop nursery. we've added an elevator to

access the rooftop nursery along with -- you can see the additional glazing at the top of the building. we've also worked with staff in order to increase -- to help activate the street frontage. initially we did that through switching out the opaque glazing on this street to vision glass so people can see what's going on inside the store and help activate that facade. and our neighborhood outreach meeting it was brought it our attention this wasn't enough and we should provide a pedestrian entrance on the street itself. so, we went ahead and we did pedestrian entrance, both entrance and exits to the store at the corner of bryant street and our parking lot. based on community feedback,

especially from mr. miko, they wanted a more prominent entrance. we developed a secondary scheme where we added the trellis element over the front door along with the new columns. we changed out the color scheme. the secondary scheme that you see at the bottom of your screen has not been approved by staff, we'll be willing to work with staff to further develop it. the scheme on the top is the one that was in your original planning department presentation and has been reviewed by staff. we're available for any questions if anyone has any. >> thank you. opening it up for public comment, i have one speaker card. terry aston bennett. [speaker not understood]. >> okay, you can leave them right there.

hello, thank you for allowing me to speak today. my name is terry aston bennett, [speaker not understood] market and castro. our business association represents over 600 merchants in the upper market and castro area with over 250 paid member. i'm here today on behalf of [speaker not understood] to ask you to reject the request from orchard supply hardware location at 975 bryant street. orchard supply is not as large as home depot and lowe's, but has a similar [speaker not understood] pulling people from not just the city [speaker not understood]. it would hurt discount builders, speedy hardware, hundley hardware [speaker not understood], providing full-time jobs to san francisco residents. but along with them, it would also severely hurt a great number of independent paint, electrical, house wear, plumbing, garden and nursery

stores as well. these small businesses are the backbone of our city and to be completely frank, this area is already being served by quality small businesses. and the addition of an orchard supply here only serves to hurt those businesses, not improve access to residents. thank you. >> thank you. next speakers, shannon brundit, david peterson, jerry wolf. good afternoon, my name is shannon brundit, i'm with discount builder supply. we are located a short distance from the proposed orchard supply. we carry the same products, similar products. we have the same size store. we have been a local family-owned company for over 50 years in san francisco. our staff consists of approximately 95% full-time employees with benefits, and this hold true for most of the family home improvement business he in san francisco. our decisions are made at the local level, not another city

or state. i would like to discuss how important our local family businesses are to the community. in doing this, we must first look at the current evolution of chain stores in our industry in san francisco. lowe's opened a few years ago and now we're looking at a proposed orchard supply, and also a home depot. these three chains could open within a few years of each other. this is an unprecedented -- this is unprecedented for a small city like san francisco and will greatly affect our family stores in the home improvement industry. the area proposed already has over 30 home improvement stores for such a sparsely populated area. the proposed orchard supply has been referred to as being similar to the pacifica miens sales which is just not the case. the traffic will be at least 10 or 20 times what it is currently and it's not a fair comparison on products that are

being sold. the result will be a loss of jobs and businesses. our family businesses had over 90% full time long term employees. these are career positions that allow you to raise a family in san francisco and take pride in your community. the proposed orchard supply will have far fewer, less than 40% full-time jobs. the rest will be part-time, high turn over, low paid positions, not positions that allow you to raise a family and live in san francisco. that's 90% full time for our family stores and less than 40% for the chains. san francisco is currently successfully being served by our local family-home improvement stores. we supply prideful service to our customers and to the infrastructure of san francisco. we offer careers for people living in our communities. many of our family stores have been in business for over 100 years in san francisco.

orchard supply and these chains in the short period of time will further destroy the things we have come to expect and rely on from our local family home improvement industry. thank you. >> thank you. next speaker, please. my name is david peterson and i own the property on the end of kate street, 52 kate. and i have the largest piece of property on kate street as well and i have not been contacted by anybody from orchard supply. i have two issues that i want to discuss, and one is the use of the loading dock and another is the traffic issue. i'm sure you guys are aware that 88 brannon has reorganized their main entrance to their parking lot to decatur street, there will be a much larger

volume on brannon and [speaker not understood]. one of the biggest problems with kate street using it as a loading dock is the street is very narrow and along that street is everybody's driveway and entrance to their building. in the past sfpd has recognized anybody using that loading dock is blocking my driveway and we have ticketed and towed cars in the past. it is not a legal loading dock and it's not really designed to be a loading dock because of how narrow it is and how it obstructs everybody's ability to go from their property. i'd like to see a traffic study done at least to understand the impact of what's going to happen to both our area and 88 brannon street has changed their traffic, and there is both entrances to free ways there and many other things that have changed and will be changing in the next six months.

and please consider the kate street access for all of us. thanks so much. >> thank you. next speaker. my name is jerry wolf. i own a property on kate street also. i was going to come to this meeting today to talk in favor of this development, but then i tried -- i reached out through diego sanchez and through anthony [speaker not understood], the architect, to talk to orchard. we had an agreement about kate street until about one hour before 12:00 noon today. the agreement was [speaker not understood] they want to use kate street from 9:00 to 5:00. the original plan was 6:30 in the morning to 7 o'clock at night. kate street has three residential buildings with 18 people living in those. all the commercial business on kate street is a small business. the profile is a far different thing than having an orchard

supply hardware type of business. if they were to use kate street, kate street has got -- it's an 18 foot wide alley, has parking on one side with no limitations. you can park there 24 hours a day which means there is only 9 feet left for a vehicle it get down. they're talking, if you heard his words, he said that the trucks will come to load from orchard supply hardware down kate street and that the little door that's on the other side in the parking lot will only be used for customers to pick up. do you realize what it takes to supply an orchard supply hardware store with the merchandise that's in that store and the amount of trucks that would be going up and down the street that's only nine feet wide? it would completely change the profile of kate street. not only for now, but there are three [speaker not understood] on kate that are under used buildings and some point in the future i guarantee would like to become residential which will add to the south of market mixture. and that will not be able to happen if kate street becomes orchard supply hardware street.

and if you allow them to use kate street for that access -- there was a loading door on the other side pacific sale. pacific sales blocked that doorway with bricks thinking they could use kate. they had difficulty getting a truck down kate. they used double doors for deliveries also because -- that's why they're going out of business. i've been there, maybe 30 people in that store. orchard supply is going to have about 300 people in the store. so that alley, our little kate street alley is going to change forever in the fact that, that it's actually ludacris for them to even think that should be the only way to get all the material in and out of the orchard supply hardware, that 33,350 square feet. please think about that. thank you. >> thank you. sam [speaker not understood] lee.

good afternoon. my name is nori lee. i own speedy's hardware and independent local hardware store and member of the [speaker not understood] co-op. i'm also certified by the city as a micro local business enterprise. our store is located at 1061 folsom street in south of market two blocks away from the proposed orchard supply location and i find it funny they said there's no hardware stores around so i guess maybe i should do some more advertising. i'm strongly opposed to orchard's moving into our neighborhood because it will be detrimental to us and many other small businesses in the area. not only hardware stores will be affected, but other specialty shops as well such as the -- because they're proposing their street, the flower mart is close to us, too. i think they will be greatly affected as well as appliance

shops and paint stores, et cetera. we've been -- we've been in the neighborhood for four years and the neighbors are just starting to get to know us. we're not opposed to competition, but there's so much -- there is a tremendous amount of competition here already. if you let orchard's move n you're telling us essentially you don't care about the small businesses in the south of market. you know many of us will lose business and we'll have to layoff employees and eventually shut down. what you think the city will gain in additional payroll and sales taxes you will lose many times over when you see effects of the mom and pop shops like mine and many others close up. is that the intent of the city, to drive out local small businesses, especially women owned businesses? i hope not. please do not let orchard's or any big box move in. thank you. >> thank you.

hi, good afternoon, commissioners. i'm sam lee and i'm nori's hz band. -- husband. i own a contracting business on folsom street. and i find it funny that i did not get notified. we did not get notified for this project. i found out this project maybe a week ago from the grapevine. i finally got the, i guess the, the proposal and looked it over today. and i find it funny that the planning code specifically says a formula 1 retail is limited to 25,000 square feet. well, the building is 33,000 square feet. the gross square footage of the property is 51,000 square feet. that's well over -- that's double. and on top of that, they said

they're not adding more square footage. that's false. they're adding another 8,000 square feet on top of the roof. so, just looking at those two items on this proposal, it doesn't make sense. and when mr. diego said there's no hardware stores around, i chuckled. come on. you know, center hardware has been there for over a hundred years, you know. yes, i moved in 15 years ago when the south of market, you didn't want to be in the south of market. but now south of market is thriving because of all the small businesses that moved in. so, you know, we took a risk of opening our hardware store to south of market, to serve the south of market. and now it's thriving. people want to move in because of the uniqueness of it. and if you let orchard's come

in, that's the first big box. what's next? home depot. what's next, wal-mart? i mean, it's not going to stop. and the funny thing is that, yes, pacific sales, who owns pacific sales? >> best buy. best buy, correct. so, something is going on there. what happened? how did that happen? they took over the lease, they took over the business. was that their way of coming in, you know? under the radar? so, i just urge you not to grant them the conditional use. thank you. >> thank you. is there any further public comment? please come to the podium. thank you, commissioners, president fong, vice president wu. good afternoon. jim miko from south of mark