upper market and castro and the castro eureka valley neighborhood association [speaker not understood] enforced the legislation. on behalf of the supervisor, i'd be honored to have your support. thank you. >> thank you. >> so, i'll just go over specifically what the ordinance would allow. so, first, neighborhoods serving nonprofit institutions with the use size over 4,000 square feet can apply for conditional use authorization. again, to operate in the castro ncd. specifically, it would amend section 121.2 to provide for this use size exception, and amend section 715.21 which is the castro ncd controls. this makes reference to the provision that use size generally shall not exceed 4,000 square feet except by the institution other large as defined in section 790.50 that is operated by nonprofit use and in a -- and is neighborhood

serving. and during the conditional use process, the planning commission will have the opportunity to determine if the proposed use is either necessary or desirable, compatible with the community, meets the definition of other large institution, and is operated again by a nonprofit neighborhood serving use. the department recommends to the commission that you recommend approval to the board of supervisors and our basis for the recommendation includes the nonprofit neighborhood serving social services are in existing and desired use in the castro ncd and are consistent with the neighborhood character. the castro ncd is a multi-purpose commercial district that provides not only goods and services to the immediate neighborhood but to outside of the district as well. therefore, the district can accommodate this proposed use size. the castro neighborhood is recognized both nationally and internationally as a prominent

symbol of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender activism and as such this neighborhood serves as a regional mecca for the lgbt community and for social services specific to this community. letters in support were included in your case packet which include, again, as mentioned before, the castro community by the district merchants of upper market castro, the castro eureka valley neighborhood association, and the small -- the san francisco small business commission. we also received one letter from adjacent neighbor who lives along hollywood. and this morning the department received an e-mail, one letter of opposition from a nearby business owner on castro street and i believe you were in receipt of this as well. so, that concludes my report and i'm available for questions. sophie hayward, staff and legislative affairs is here as well. >> opening it up for public comment. i have a couple speaker cards.

neil julian owe. michael berndon. gustav o sarena. good afternoon, president fong, commissioners. i'm neil julian owe [speaker not understood]. foundation currently operates three [speaker not understood]. magnet, stone wall, all of our prevention services and programs under the umbrella of staff aids project. the need for these services has been growing and we're not able to meet the existing demand at our current locations. for example, last year the magnet organization performed more than 15,000 clinical visits and had to turn away more than 2000 men because of a lack of capacity and space. that's why we're moving forward with the plans to co-locate these services in a larger space at 474 castro which will create the first dedicated facility for health and wellness for gay and bisexual men in the united states. this new center will enable us

to keep work -- keep up with the demand for services, a demand by people who live, work, and play in the castro. in addition, the 474 castro facility will allow us to expand our sexual health substance use and mental health services as well as create two new programs to address the issues related to hiv and aging and young men of color. in our work it prepare for this new center, we worked extensively with the neighborhood and merchants groups the last several months, and have support [speaker not understood]. and as i mentioned by the supervisor's staff member and has been explained, we're under somewhat of a time pressure because of the legislative calendar that exists. along with our architects, we're working very closely with the planning department. i was on the phone call with planning department architects just this morning to finalize the full design packet that will meet the needs of the center as well as blend in with the existing architecture in the neighborhood. and we anticipate that will be

very ready to submit that as early as possibly tomorrow to the planning department, and we look forward to reviewing those plans with the commission in the near future as well. so, we respectfully request approval of the proposed ordinance. thank you very much. >> thank you. next speaker, please. good afternoon. my name is gustavo [speaker not understood] and i'm president of the castro upper market benefits district. i'm also vice president of the honor walk, past president of eureka valley neighborhood association and vice president of the san francisco commission on aging and adult services. for the reasons you just heard, the cbd strongly supports this ordinance and in addition to all the services that will be provided in this location, the proposal will take care to preserve a popular existing and thriving business in that building which is blush. so, we urge you to put this and approve it. thank you. >> thank you.

chair fong and members of the planning commission, i'm michael berdone. and this is probably why the book went from there to so many ordinances now. i speak in strong opposition to amending section 121.2 and providing a use size exception for neighborhood serving nonprofit institutions in the castro ncd. this action is spot zoning for the sole purpose of doing a single entity greater rights than others in the neighborhood which is already a massive building where victorians once stood. the classic ncd prohibits any residential use over 4,000 square feet and above to maintain the character and vitality of our neighborhood. particularly concerned that as the owner of 4 66 castro, this additional will seriously limit light to my tenants in an already dark lightwell, stain

glass panel that provides light to a rear bedroom and cast major shadows over the patio in the back. ~ i appreciate the character of the castro. not only is the owner of the building, the past owner of the elephant walk from 1985 to the early '90s when a next door neighbor gave our landlord the opportunity to not renew the lease. at that time i tried -- i purchased this building in order to try to move my liquor license there. san francisco laws, because of moratorium, my liquor license did not allow me to do that for a commercial venture. i was also the owner of a valuable resource guide in the community with offices that happened to be at 474 castro street as well. i'm also not a stranger to the issues, pitfalls, arbitrary capricious and unreasonable treatment of a single parcel of land when it deviates from the current plan. although i haven't had the opportunity like you to sit on the san francisco planning commission, i did chair the railway city planning commission two of my years in the late 90s approving projects such as oracle electronic arts

and evaluating our new general plan. i'm also director for the california association of realtors and land use and government regulation committee. there we letteredv in training and seminars the league of issues of spot zoning and the pitfalls and litigation that may result because of that. saf is a fantastic organization. i mean, the community certainly supports it. i support it. but a vibrant retail block should not be the place for expansion of their services. there is no off-street parking and none is proposed which will place a further burden on retail establishment that depend on parking for customer support. commissioner borden was talking about vibrant streets. well, ag ferrari was in bankruptcy after 15 years, a year later -- and then purchased by someone to save it. and a year later it's in escrow again for somebody again to revitalize it. the commercial district is fragile. your intent to amend -- to allow for carefully vetted

community support has not really happened. i reached out to the -- to ginsler. they have yet to see the property. i have yet to see plans and they have not got back to me. thank you very much. >> thank you. are there any other additional speakers on this particular item? your comments on this item, ma'am? [inaudible] area on castro, there were a few, a few planning as well as planning and zoning. this was regarding -- they deal with vacancies and i was interested and i submitted a docket for the purchase. and substantially -- this is what i want to discuss about realtors or maybe unquote tenants that are nearby the castro area because i talk and i spoke with more than substantial amount of community and i felt you would be interested in sponsoring individuals that were business literate. and i discussed issues with

majority of individuals that are tenants -- that are residents there and other counties i did as well. however, significantly there were hmc or whatever realtor it was, however, put their for sale signs. i talked with founders. they put for sale signs on other properties that were vacant. i paid for the contractor to come to remodel the house. i spoke to mayor ed lee as well before even entering. i never entered a premises, keys and locksmith, and however the ownership of the key and locksmith was and ownership i never filed a chapter. an entity has never filed a chapter in my name. so, when i had significantly talked to some of the business entity that was nearby the residents, i did have assistance with [speaker not understood] came out and assisted me right away because she came and she verified that she removed the for sale sign.

so, this is what i'm having problems with. i don't know if they're immigrants or if they're citizens, i really didn't care what color they were. they went inside the premises after i had sanctioned the premises legally and legitimately and unprofessionally, i knocked decently and they came to the door and they said something like they didn't speak english. so, i said, well, i'll have the police here the next day tomorrow. two officers arrived and then they popped up with a deed overnight and this is the same person which i spoke about number 7. so, i don't want to discuss that, but the main significance is be professional. i have some money and criteria. just because i'm on transit, please excuse my transit. i will change to city card and performance. i want to make sure when someone has belongings, personal items, if it's vehicles [speaker not understood] extensive vehicles inside of a residence and they know it is my residence, please

do not enter the residence. majority of the parcel i do have access on the castro area. my father has eight employees that have been there for substantial years. so, it will be determined and give me time for calendar, that's why i'm submitting information for forensicses. legal, business verbal forensic, okay, that i'm legitimate to enter a premises when i am speaking to the board of supervisors and the members in the business literate -- >> thank you, ma'am. thank you. >> any additional public comment on this item? okay, public comment is closed. commissioner borden. >> i want to remind the public actually what we are considering today is the ncd, the neighborhood commercial corridor size use limit for nonprofit. so, we're not considering a particular project or a particular site of land. this would apply to the entire ncd so that's why it's not spot zoning. in terms of issues with the

actual project, that will come forth when the project is advanced and, you know, it is vetted through the planning process. but i think this is a great, a great institution that we've been talking about in the abstract or in the reality that will be benefiting from that. and actually, going back to the information that i learned from street sense, it was very clear that in a vibrant street, those corridors have an anchor institution in the community that is nonretail, noncommercial because there have to be other ways to drive people to a street. that's one of the critical components that they found in all great vibrant streets across the globe, was that anchor nonretail, noncafe type establishment. that was another reason that people came to the street and then took advantage of the amenities there. so, i think it's very clear that the foundation has a vital purpose in the community serving the community already and it makes a lot of sense to

consolidate their services so i recommend to move approval. >> second. >> commissioner antonini. >> supportive also, but i have a few questions. i would assume that this zoning, of course, as was mentioned by commissioner borden, would apply to anywhere within the castro ncd. so, it could be used by some other nonprofit to find another space of over 4,000 square feet, but that also i would expect would have to come before us for conditional use. so, that is, i guess, a protection for any future instance that might come up. and then my second question, which is sort of in the same relationship as that one, is if for some reason the particular nonprofits that are occupying it were to leave this site, then this would remain and there could be some other nonprofit that could come into there under the -- occupy the same space? >> to answer the second

question, it could be another nonprofit. it could be any other use. and for your first question about -- it would go through a conditional use process and it would have to meet section 70.50, which is either neighborhood serving nonprofit and also could be like assembly, social service, child care, educational services. so, that's the intent of the ordinance. >> but, again, a conditional use on any other -- that might come before us? >> yeah, it would always come before the planning commission with the commission's authorization. >> okay. and then this presently is vacant, the particular space. i mean, we're not considering a particular space, but there is a space that's going to be -- this is being zoned in particular for a particular use? >> right now we're just amending the ordinance. >> i know that. >> the san francisco aidses foundation has a particular space they're looking at. >> a particular space they're

looking at. >> 474 castro. >> okay, thank you. >> you're welcome. >> commissioner hillis. >> i'm supportive also, but a similar question along those lines. the project that is driving this ordinance, it makes sense to do it on a district-wide level. it can occupy the ground floor or ground floor and upper floors? >> it's going to occupy -- let's see. it's going to occupy a single lease location -- with the single -- that 474 castro currently hold 10,000 square feet. the project is still in the works, but they're potentially adding a third floor which would equal 15,000 square feet just approximately. so, it would be first and second and third and fourth. >> okay. so, then, we talk about keeping possibly the retail -- >> yeah, right now there is, there is blush a wine bar and

the other business superstar video which i believe they lost their lease. >> kay. ~ okay. i think they're more serving kind of neighborhood serving. i wouldn't want kind of an office nonprofit on a ground floor. is there any encouragement to [speaker not understood] 4,000 square feet [speaker not understood]? >> the ground floor would have to be active use especially if they're going to get 5 foot additional height limit. i think the proposed use right now is going to be an art gallery with an open -- >> okay. >> commissioner moore. >> i'm very much in support of it, but i'd like to keep it without the particular building. because i think we need to understand the issue on its own and non-building specific. i think the conditional use will give all the shape and forms which make an acceptable location for this type of use. what i'm interested in is that it's neighborhood serving

nonprofit. and i appreciate the supervisor helping to allow the neighborhood to find a self-determining mechanism to have and track and support those uses which are appropriate for that location. and i think that is the strength of doing something which is missing. it speaks to consolidating health or health related services which are very hard to come by, particularly when they are scarce and one location in one neighborhood. i am very much in support of the legislation as it stand, but i would like to encourage all of us to look at it more as policy and legislation rather than applying it to a particular project, which we don't know anything about. >> director ram. >> thank you. i just wanted to remind the commissioners and the public in particular there might be some confusion, this doesn't change any height limit. it doesn't change any setback requirements or anything. it's only the size of the use within the building. so, this does not allow any user on that street to build a taller building or bigger building. it's simply the size of the use

within that building. >> thank you. commissioner sugaya. >> yes. within that context, then, would nonprofits be allowed on the first floor in the first place if they are under 4,000 square feet? i don't know what the base zoning allows or doesn't -- >> in terms of nonprofit there is nothing in the planning code that would prohibit a nonprofit on the ground. there would have to be an active use that would meet the relevant requirements of the planning code. i believe the proposal they have now would have an active use on -- >> i don't care about the actual building, but in terms of the district itself, nonprofits are allowed, aretionv on the? ~ aren't? >> a nonprofit is just your status, you know, in the eyes of the irs. you could have a nonprofit retail store technically.

function as a retail use. just because it's nonprofit doesn't mean that it's office use. i believe they will have walk-in functions when they offer medical services as well. it's been described. so, they're a neighborhood-serving retail or active uses that are also -- could be nonprofit. >> then a follow-up question to that. if for some reason a use that gets a conditional use under this provision leave, so the conditional use for that use continues to go with the space. >> so, let's say they had 12,000 square feet. so, another nonprofit neighborhood, supposedly neighborhood serving could occupy the space without coming for another conditional use permit. ~ >> so, this is an interesting thing about the castro street neighborhood commercial district and maybe one of the reasons that we do have a 1500

[speaker not understood] code. the castro district has [speaker not understood] this is something like in north beach. in north beach if you are above the use size threshold then you're changing use to have the use which may be allowed principally or conditionally, you have to go for a conditional use in the planning commission. castro is even more restrictive. so, without having more specifics on what may follow, i would say there is a very good possibility that if the use does change that it would probably need to come back to the planning commission, but we would need to see what the change proposal is. it's not -- it couldn't change to a retail, general re tail use and benefit from the use size increase that was afforded to this use and the castro street is very specific in that unlike other districts. >> i was just citing if another neighborhood nonprofit came in,

they could potentially just move in without coming back to the -- >> i think that would be possible if they're similar in form and function, that could be possible, but not going to rule that out at this point without doing more research. >> all right, thank you. >> staff, did you have any further -- >> commissioners, there is a motion and second to adopt a recommendation for approval. on that motion, 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 zero and places you on items 13 a and b for case numbers 2011.0099c and v - 1759 lincoln way. request for conditional use authorization and variance. >> good afternoon, commissioner president fong and fellow commissioners.

doug vu, department staff. the request is for [speaker not understood] to demolish building at the shell gas station located at 17 59 lincoln way and construct a new [speaker not understood] convenience store and 1327 square foot mechanical car wash. the proposed car wash encroaches up to 45 feet into the required rear yard and would require the approval of the variance. no work is proposed for the eight existing gasoline service bays and underground storage tanks, but it cannot be above will be relocated and provided signage. the proposed hours of operation will remain unchanged at 24 hours a day for the convenience store and a car wash will be open from 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. daily. the project is located at the southeast corner of 19th avenue and lincoln way within a mixed residential moderate zoning density district.

both lincoln way and 19th avenue are major arterials that serve as cross town thoroughfareses whose primary function is to link districts within the city and to distribute traffic from and to the freeway. ~ these are routes of city-wide significance and varying capacity demanding -- depending on the travel demand for these specific direction and adjacent land uses. the subject property is 19,246 square feet and it is developed with a 23 34 square foot building that currently contains four service bays and a convenience store. the property has 132-1/2 feet of frontage along lincoln way and 150 feet of frontage along 19th avenue. this particular shell gas station was constructed in 1970 and is a legal nonconforming use. land use is located within the immediate vicinity of the project include predominantly

three and four-story multi-family dwellings, a religious institution, a clothing store and an eating and drinking establishment along the south side of lincoln way. golden gate park is located to the north side of lincoln way and located one block south of the property of both the inner sunset and irving street commercial districts, which function as shopping areas and provide convenience, goods and services to inner and outer sunset residents. these ncds are also frequented by golden gate park on weekends and by city residents for eating, drinking and entertainment places. as of today, the department has received a petition with 112 signatures in support of the project and four letters in opposition to the project from the public, the mid sunset neighborhood association and the outer sunset merchant and professional organization. the opposition primarily cites

traffic related problems [speaker not understood]. the department has found the project to be on balance, necessary and desirable for the following reasons. the project will provide a mechanical car wash that will serve residents of the western portion of the city. currently the nearest car wash is located 2-1/2 miles away at the corner of divisadero and oak street in the western addition neighborhood. the board of supervisors has previously recognized that service station operator $and those who own property on which such stations are located are entitled to earn a fair rate of return on their investment, where a fair rate of return is not being earned service stations should be allowed to expand or intensify if it would benefit the public. if this conditional use is not approved, the potential conversion of the service station to nonservice station use will result in the curtailment including automobile refueling and services and is contrary to the public health, safety, peace,

and general welfare. the project complies with section 187.2. in particular it will provide a queuing area outside the washing facilities to accommodate at least one quarter of the anticipated hourly capacity of vehicles. the wrote jetctiontion will also comply with noise ordinance and in no event will noise from the mechanical car wash exceed 65 decibels as defined in article 29 from 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. ~ or 60 decibels from 10:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. when measured at any location on adjoining residential property. the project will be constructed so that automobile washing and drying will occur entirely within an enclosed building. the project will also meet water use and reclamation criteria established by the zoning administrator in consultation with staff from the public utilities commission. and the project will not cause a new significant impact on traffic and adjacent streets as

evaluated by a traffic study that has been completed for this report. based on these findings and those outlined in the case report, the department recommends approval of this project. that concludes my presentation and i am available for questions. >> thank you. project sponsor, please. >> like to take this opportunity to remind the project sponsor this is for the project sponsor's team, the project sponsor and architect to speak. >> i will be brief. my named is mohammed [speaker not understood]. i am the architect for the gas station. i am here today to introduce you to our project, the station's owner is also here, nick and his son, sonny. in addition, a transportation engineer is here. he conducted our traffic study and is available to answer any technical questions about traffic and i expect there to be some. before i take you through the project i'd like to thank planner doug vu. he's been great to work with

and his comments through this process has made our project even stronger than it is. we started working on this project in 2010 when the goyals asked us to look at this aging station. it was under performing in a financial sense [speaker not understood]. my charge was to relocate the building, add a car wash and modern convenience store and to design a building that would stand out adds an example of green design on this prominent corner. it's important that you consider the owners are not planning on selling alcohol here. what we've come up with, and if i can show a graphic -- is there anything i need to do besides wave my arms? i'll just hope it comes up. but at any rate, what we've come up with is an attractive building that takes advantage of the site, allows circulation, tuck a car wash

into the corner and creates a green buffer for the neighboring properties. it's a good deal more pleasant to look at than the existing station. we planted the roof with native grasses which you can see here, that will screen the corner and provide both a visual and inclusive buffer. what they look at right now is roofs. what they will look at in the future is native grasses. i'll briefly go over the site plan with you. you'll see that the station is located on the inside corner of the site with the car wash nestled behind it. we landscaped the southern portion of the site, a site that has no landscaping to speak of. it is sealed by concrete [speaker not understood] and taken additional measures -- we've taken additional measures like a screen wall and curtain to protect the environment while ambient noise is more than the car wash itself. we spent a fair amount of time in conversation th