in good faith with the neighborhood to arrive at the current plan. please approve this project as proposed. carolyn's new home will be a significant improvement to what is currently on the lot and she has made enough changes. for brevity i cannot read all the letters by the 11 neighbors on the block that have been submitted, they all make similar points but have the common themes that the house fitness style and the neighborhood, she has been considerate to the changes making changes to her plans to address their needs and they respectfully request you approve the project as proposed. thank you. >> thank you. next speaker. >> hello, my name is alex schroeder and i live at 4534 19th street, two doors to the east of the subject property.

i have also looked at the plans through the various stages and have seen accommodations made to the neighbors' requests. being to the east certainly i appreciate the changes that carolyn made, although i did not request any. specifically she has pulled the building back so on the western side at certain elevations it is equal with the canadian consulate building on the opposite side of that alleyway called lamp sun lane and on the eastern side she has also pulled the building back at certain elevations to match the furthest point out on the building immediately to the eastern side. i think also in front she has pulled the building back 15 feet and those are sort of the usual and common changes to a proposed architecture so it doesn't have

overbearing scale. and looking at the pictures i appreciate the effort and the outcome of the architectural rendering and i, too, have a -- this shows what you've seen already. some of the newer buildings, the canadian consulate and then two others but then some of the buildings that haven't been remodeled they are also in height very high. it is a down slope lot and the other picture here shows my house, i'm two doors to the east, and immediately to the east of my house is a building that also is very tall in scale. so i think the way that the setbacks were created in the front and in the back both setbacks in the back forward and setbacks from the sidelines of the

property inward help bring this into an appropriate scale and address many of the concerns. along the alley she has created a relief for plantings as well as set back on top of the garage, a fence structure as such, i think it says 28 seconds, i'm not sure which is right, the buzzer or me. probably me. and the garage also, it's interesting, the last 16 feet of her property or in the last 16 feet of the two neighbors easterly, of which i am one, we have an easement that affects only our 3 properties that gives access to the immediate eastern neighbor and then one further over, that would be me, access to the back of our property --. >> thank you, sir, your time is up. >> it's not a general turn around parking area. thank you. >> thank you.

>> good evening, commissioners, my name is patrick buskovich, i was retained two years ago on this house and during the last two years this project went from a de facto demolition to remodel so i'm quite taken aback that people have said that this project is big. during my tenure it's been scaled down dramatically to now --. >> are you part of the project team? are you the engineer for the project? >> i was the engineer doing the soundness report but there is no longer a soundness report because there is not a demolition. >> you are not retained by the owner, though. >> when i was retained this house needed over $300,000 worth of work. during this hearing no one said it but it was in the dr briefs that this is an affordability issue. no one said it today because

that's ridiculous. my family all lives within a thousand yards of this house. we own about 6 residences here. we're natives of the city. if you look up this alley you will see probably the smallest house in the neighborhood, which is earthquake shack no. 26. it's not skewed. the problem with this house, and it has a fundamental problem, when they installed the siding they basically condemned this house to need major rehab because they trapped the water in this house over the last 30 years so this house needs substantive work. it's not affordable and when i was retained, this was a dramatically bigger project that over the course of the work with planning it's been reduced to a point where it's a remodel. thank you. >> thank you. any further

speakers in support? >> my name is sky lane again, i worked with ian reed when they were going through the process with the design review team and the neighbor cooperation and i just wanted to speak to that process a bit. this project really started with the design guidelines for corner property. the landmark status of a corner property and developed over two years working directly from the very beginning, from the conceptual stages right here, with both the planning department, the neighbors and the rdt, and you can see how the scale of the building really started to shift over that process and the architects took both the comments of the rdt and the

neighbors into account and in that process were able to get of the de facto demolition by keeping the floor plates, were able to squeak out a little bit more air space above the building to lower it in the process, and were able to really create a prominent two-story volume at the street level that worked with the stepping down of this part of the block. all of the -- the rdt gave provisional approval to this project and all the comments were addressed during this long process, as well as many of the neighbor comments, and i guess that's what i have to say. what we came -- what came up with at the end was a very strong modern statement that fits with the context that has

warm neutral character of materials, that becomes part of this mixed neighborhood of old and new buildings. thank you. >> thank you. any further speakers? okay, seeing none, the dr requester has a two-minute rebuttal. >> is the light on? this is very simple issue. it's really about the topography of 19th street. this is what we currently enjoy right now on 19th street, an uninterrupted pattern of descending roof tops that go down and follow the grade of the street. this house is going to pop out of that topography. many of the other people who have spoken just now are taking pictures from the rear of the building. that's an alleyway that people go to for the garages and so forth,

it's not 19th street. 19th street is the public part that people are going to see. i have not heard the sponsor counter how this is going to not disrupt the topography and that's really a very crucial issue for us, it's going to really change the profile of 19th street forever. also they are taking, they are using, they are trying to qualify, this is a corner lot to give them license to build a gigantic structure that's deserving of a corner lot. lampson lane is not castro street. lampson lane is an extremely narrow alley and i don't think it justifies putting such a large structure there and qualifying as a corner lot to do that. i'm going to leave the remaining time for ken, another dr requester. >> i'm ken calstein, i live at 4565 19th street across from lampson lane and i want to do

two things. one, i want to show you the front of the canadian consulate now, this is how it was before. same height, same width. also when they talk about a habitable space of 2600 square feet, this building in reality is 5,000 square feet. there is 570 feet of garage, 470 square feet of garage, rather, 350 feet for a workshop, two storage units of 660 square feet, so what started out as an absolutely huge building is now 5,000 square feet. thank you. >> thank you. project sponsor, you have a two-minute rebuttal. >> thank you, vice president wucommissioners. michael smith from the planning staff and his residential design teamworked pretty hard with this project architect and the owner to come up with the best

possible house for this setting. and i think they have done a really good job with it. they have created a house that is both responsible and respectful of the character of the block. it follows the contour of the topography. the setback at the top is very respectful of pedestrian experience along 19th street. but what it also does, it presents gifts to the block just as the corner block -- corner houses on the other corners of the block do. the front setback area gives us an open notched courtyard with the terrace above so light will come through. it is not a maxed-out property by any stretch of the imagination. there are opportunities to create living space where architectural details were placed and placed carefully. the rear building wall was sculpted very specifically to

address view issues that were of real concern with the canadian consulate. we met with them several times before the application was filed and discussed exactly what their view quarters were. it is important to them because they view them as being an important reception area for their governmental duties so we are being very respectful of that and we did not extend beyond the point at which their building wall ends, despite the fact that our lot extends considerably further. this is a well designed project, it's a project that needs to happen to this house, it's not habitable in its current sense and it does not meet the level of exceptional extraordinary circumstances required for you to take dr today. thank you. >> thank you. the public hearing portion is closed. commissioner hillis. >> so first cunningham, it was

a fairly civil dr from what we normally hear. you can all get along after this process. what's more to the -- i mean, it is a big addition and a big remodel to the home, but i think it kind of works with what we see as very different size of homes uphill in smaller homes, downhill, it has a set back on the side and a decent set back in the front. so i am generally supportive. i mean i think i could look at kind of addition of a setback, additional setback in the front along 19th street, that's the only thing giving me a little trouble, but generally i don't think there are exceptional or extraordinary circumstances here, i think it's generally well designed and kind of responds to the homes around. certainly have been major changes to the housing stock,

especially to the uphill side of the building. i'm generally satisfied. >> commissioner moore. >> i would say i'm generally supportive, i just have one question and that ultimately goes more to the area of the jurisdiction of the zoning administrator. i'd like to ask the architect, as you were observing the neighborhood, the adjoining buildings up and down the street, is there rear yard open space on grade? >> there's a mix. uphill there are one or two that have a portion of rear yard grade, but by and large the newer developments have a stepped-down yard that steps down to the garage. >> appreciate you having observed that. question i like to ask the zoning

administrator, as we are identifying the city it is very difficult for me and i think also for some other members of the commission to give up that open spaces as required are on grade. we just took the 1601 larkin to mention the second time today, a major redesign in order for that to occur. my question, is it a fact that this particular project by choice is larger than perhaps an addition would allow that would provide the required open space on grade not to inflict a difficulty by which it might be a little more difficult to step away from a variance? >> thank you for the question. so first, just a couple of things on usable open space. the code does not require that usable open space be located at grade, it can be located in

numerous ways, either by a roof deck, a balcony, at grade. in this case these open spaces are being provided by the garage, on top of the garage, they are developing that as usable open space and also an underground connection or near connection from the main living level of the building to the rear garage. in reviewing this and reviewing the variance request i'm actually quite supportive of the proposal and think it's a clever way of dealing with usable open space issues here for this lot and if we were to have usable open space at a lower level, in fact it's actually at the main living level here at least for the unit that's being added so i think that it's a reasonable solution. additionally it's been noted by the neighbors that the rear most portion of the lot, and it is a large lot, a longer lot, is dedicated as an easement for access to adjacent properties so that's an at-grade area that

could otherwise be developed for usable open space except it can't because it's dedicated for access. so they are taking the roof, dedicating it for usable open space and i see this as a fine way of satisfying the requirements of the code. certainly i would be supportive of the proposal. >> if i may engage for another minute in a conversation, i think the joint agreement for not having land locked lots which do not have rear access is a discussion between three neighbors who i don't believe that the turn around itself is de facto open space any more, it is an agreed-upon circulation space by which all people together reduce their lot widths in order to have the garage with rear access. the only question i would ask, that's not only looking at this property but looking at other properties and similar circumstances again reflecting on what we had on larkin where

in the larkin case the adjoining neighbors were seriously impacted by the lack of open space on grade and do you see that possibly in other circumstances to be an issue? >> depending on the project, certainly having usable open space at grade may be preferable to having it located elsewhere. i think this project that's before you now the location of usable open space is appropriate and satisfies the intents and requirements of the code. >> i am in support of this project for all of the reasons but i like to send a message to the department that we're starting to look more carefully on the larger patterns of sun and light and collective open spaces including the wall effect on narrow properties it creates to either side. in this one case we have an alley

which was green which makes it greener on the alley side but generally i am concerned about that becoming a standard way of doing things. thank you. >> would anyone like to make a motion. >> i'd make a motion to approve the project. >> second. >> not take it up. >> second. >> commissioners, there a motion to not take dr and approve the project as proposed. roll called. that motion passes unanimously 5-0. >> on the variance, the public

hearing (inaudible) grant the requested variance. >> commissioners, that will place you under your last angendized item, public comment. i have no speaker cards. >> is there any general public comment? seeing none, public comment is closed. meeting adjourned. (meeting adjourned).

>> good evening, everybody. let's hear it for the san

francisco display men's anchors. let's hear it. (clapping.) >> i'm your any objection c for today's hearing thank you for being here for the thai annual harvey milk and encountering moscone. i want to thank you he thank our interpreter for being here and mayor ed lee for soobl us here tonight and reflect autopsying all that happened in november in 1978 and where we are today. i want to recognize in addition

our public defender jeffrey is here. defense attorney george mukdz from your city college board of trustees and walt is here from senator will keenz office and a gentleman from nancy pelosi office. and the amazing teresa sparks as well >> so we are here to remember and to honor two extraordinary men mayor george moscone and supervisor harvey milk. who together literally changed the face of san francisco. we're here to keep the flame of

their violation brp and their memories alive. or as ted contend would say the work goes on the cause endures and the dream shall never today. george and heather were two different people living two different lives who strangely found their fate historically intertweend but they found they had in common was a passion for justice. and a soulful commitment to fight for civil rights aid workings right and customer rights and at that particular time and seniors and fought for children and the disabled they

fought for muni any. 1978 was quite a year i want to share with you a short list of those efforts that began in 1978. the council of community you housing organization the chow chow leader in the affordable housing housing unit formed. the pro-choice california was born in 1978 and gilbert acres rain both flat and the newspapers at the john sims gay marching abandon and was off and on and, of course, the san francisco gay men's chores who

had their first impromptu performance before a crowd of 37 thousand people 37 years ago from tonight and performing though lord has been our refugee and there was the brings issue the proposition 6 and anita bryant save our children caption and the joan town tragedy. it was a year for those of us who we will never forget and those who have arrived since that will come to remember. i wanted to share just two harvey milk stories that are part find my being. feeling it's been an

extraordinary honor and privilege to serve in the state legislature while harvey race to serve 26 years before a gay man would serve in the assembly. i want to take a moment to remember all the 4rb community who have served on the san francisco board of supervisors supervisor harvey and roberta and tom. leslie devon and scott wiener david campos are serving successfully as county supervisors and supervisor susan

so every year in sacramento we assist high school students to come by but the inform sacramento to come to coerce lobby day it's an opportunity to get a civics lesson and how to lobby a lover so they get a little bit of training and those are kids sometimes 13 and fourteen and 15 years old their high school students always pressed more and more kids are of the themselves to come out as gay or lesbian and seeing people coming out as transgenders people as well. amazing to have the insight to take on the world at a young angel. i remember