van ess. largely because the transportation flow in this city and the parking issue, is so unfriendly for these types of errands and i do think that this issue of adequate parking to support the merchants is a critical issue and i wish that i saw more to that, thank you. >> thank you. >> >> good afternoon, and i didn't come here to speak on this issue, but i can't resist it. my opinion is that you can't really trust mta and other departments as well to use the money that they say that they are going to use it for. i know that there are anxious to eliminate as much parking as possible, which will directly effect me and i have a disabled plaque and it is very, and i am 86 and it is difficult for me

to walk places and so i do drive and i use the disabled plaque the way that mta took the money away from the muni bus and maintenance plans and do what we wanted for the exit of the subway machine is a good example of taking it from one barrel and before you start endorsing the plan for the huge amount of money be careful and make it restricted thank you. >> any other members of the public? seeing none, public comment is closed. any more commissioner questions? >> okay. >> go ahead. >> commissioner white? >> can i get director riskin back up? you know, parking is an issue for small businesses in san francisco. is there any plans in the future in regards to providing more parking?

>> as far as structures or just, you know, keeping parking on the streets in some of the busier corridors? >> yes. and so first of all i wholy understand that parking is very significant issue, and not just for small businesses, but for residents, and for lots of people, who are in our city. and it is the stewardship of parking and management of parking is something that we take very seriously as a result of that. right now, city policy that does not support the construction of the new public parking garages and you know that there is a lot of city policy that actually goes quite in the other direction especially for what is right here at some point last year and the planning department is beginning an update of the transportation element of the general plan, and i think that i have suggested to this body the last time when we talked about that is that that might be an opportunity to revisit that city policy, and we are

proposing here, and it consistent with the city policy and also because our needs for these other modes is so much greater, it is really focused on making these other modes of transportation, particularly transit, but also, other modes of transportation, more attractive so that they are more viable for more people and so that there is more space, and less competition, for those who want or choose to drive. there are some people who will choose to drive and there are some trips for which, for many of us it will make sense to drive, and particularly if you are going to carry your drop off large things. and so to the extend that we can improve the design and the management of the right-of-way, and to make more viable, it will pull the cars off of the road so that those that want to drive will have less

competition for parking spaces and we are mindful and we have a lot of feedback from the small businesses and the small business staff about recognizing parking impact and not just customer parking. but also, yellow zone issues and other things related to small businesses. and every day, every week, we work with small businesses to address issues they have, regarding yellow zones, or green zones. and in the big scheme of things it has been very, very little on the street parking loss, in this city, and relative to the i think that it is 280,000 on the street spaces that we have. and any time that we are proposing any parking changes, adds or subtracts, we are working very closely with our respectful community to make sure that there was no adverse impact and so, kind of the, and in the big picture as we don't have the plans at the moment, and nor would it be consistent

with the city policy to build the parking garages any time that we are looking at parking impacts and we look at those, and in the large part, i think that we have been successful in doing so, and one example right now, we are doing a project on haight street where it comes in on market and converting that last block to a two-way, which will make it come straight into the city as opposing to having to jog around. there was some parking loss associated with that project, but there are also parking gains that we were able to have and the net result of that project was a net increase of that parking space and we do work hard to mitigate or offset any kind of adverse parking effects that we have because we know that that is important and just since i may, and just since the last point in terms of delivering, what we say we are delivering, i think that you can first of all look at the detail that is in the bond report.

and in the bond ordinance. but you can also look at the traffic record that the city has build over the last success of bonds for we have done the two park bonds and the general hospital bond, and the library bond and now, two, emergency earthquake safety bonds and i think that we have been very transparent and very diligent in making sure that what we told the voters we would do, we would do and increasingly we are getting those things done on time, and on budget. and so, i do want to assure you that should you vote to recommend this, that the detail, and the bounds in which to be legally obliged to operate in terms of this being a general obligation bond or very much circumscribed and delivering to the voters what we say we will deliver. >> thank you. >> and any other commissioner comments? >> or questions? >> commissioner dooley?

>> i do want to echo, what some of the speakers said about parking. i do think that the push toward transit first, has gotten to a point where it has become anti-small business. and you know, i think that there has to be a balance in personally, i don't really see it. i see it as a push to push cars off of the street and i don't see those places being replaced. >> any other comments? >> do we have any motions to approve or disapprove the items number 5, and number 6? >> i move to approve. >> >> second. >> we have a motion to approve, its ems 5 and 6. >> commissioner adams? >> yes. >> dooley. >> yes. >> ortiz-cartagena.

>> yes. >> yee riley. >> yes. >> commissioner tour-sarkissian. >> yes. >> commissioner white. >> yes, the motion carry and we recommend approval with six votes in favor and none opposed. >> thank you director. >> next item please? >> item 7, discussion and possible action to make recommendations to the board of supervisors and planning commission on bos file number to be determined, planning code formula retail and large scale retail controls a planning department initiated ordinance related to the formula retail, this is a discussion and possible action item. >> welcome ann marie. >> commissioners i am ann marie with the planning department and i am joined today by the commissioner burns who is the project manager as well as amy cohen from the office of workforce development. thank you for inviting us here today. in the early of last summer there were approximately 9 pending or recently enacted

proposals to change the way that san francisco regulates the formula retail. in response, our planning commission recommended to the board of supervisors that they take a pause so that we could have an opportunity to study the issue. we recognize the success and seek to build upon the framework and we are talking about the changes around the edges. we would expand the process, in some geographic areas while reducing process in other circumstances, the formula retail definition itself, what makes you a chain store, would

expand in some ways and contract in others, over all the effect will be tilted in the direction of ex-expanding regulation, but we believe that it will be in a measured and balanced manner, that said, formula retail and chain stores evokes strong responses and we can expect to hear the passion today, we have already gotten feedback from those who want the more control and those who want less control that they would like the see the changes, this is a package that responds to input from those on all sides. and it may leave some folks seeking a different reaction. so, with that, let's begin. i would like to turn it over to commissioner burns who has been our fearless project manager and will give you the bulk of the presentation. >> good evening, commissioners, commissioner burns, planning department staff. >> welcome. >> thank you. >> so here is the outline for our presentation today and i am going to take you through the

four key aspects of our proposal. the first topic is changing the definition of form law retail and where the controls apply. over all, this aspect of our proposal will strengthen the formula retail controls by expanding the definition, these changes will target large established chains while allowing the small businesses to further develop in sff. the number of businesses that will be captured. and in response to data, our concern, and professional analysis, we are proposing three changes to the definition of formula retail, and first, increasing the number of location, and intitled and permitted locations, and second, continuing to not count the subsitaries and apply the controls to the accessories, and third, adding the unlimited service and professional services to the definition of

form law retail and these changes taken together will capture at least, 150 additional san francisco businesses as formula retail. while it was not based on any data, we now have data on how many locations that the san francisco formula retailers operate, this chart, shows that by raising the number from 11 to 20, only five percent of the existing formula retailers will no longer be captured by the definition. and however, other changes we are proposing will increase in number. we are also proposing to count permitted or entitled locations, which will allow us to be able to effectively regulate companies that coordinate mult tell u.s. openings, and raising it to 20 establishments will limit company and capturing larger chains, phils deli has eleven locations and they are significantly smaller than well established chains, raising the

threshold will allow for greater development of small business, some have voiced the concerns that businesses with more than eleven or up to 20 are not small businesses however large established brands are we can see a clear difference between phil's coffee, which is only recognizable in the bay area, compared to subway which is recognize all over the globe. this leads to a lack of since of place, the formula controls are aimed at addressing. we also recommend expanding the definition of formula retail to count international locations towards the threshold. this slide shows that only 10 percent of the formula retail in san francisco are head quartered outside of the u.s. which we can use as a proxy for the international chains, the vast majority of these have long established in the u.s. and long been formula retail,

surprisingly, including international locations will expect to have little and no increase by the businesses captured by the definition, we have heard that the concerns that counting the international locations will hinder the appeal san francisco as an international market place, we believe that the flag ship stores that are more compatible with union store where they are permitted by right, second looking at the combination of raising the threshold to 20 and including international locations we expect fewer existing national retailers will be removed and most of the businesses that are head quartered outside of the u.s. already have the multiple locations by the time that they come here, if this definition had been in place over the last five years, it would have treated each man, and all as formula retail. the last change to the definition, would be increasing the land use categories captured and which will certainly increase the businesses regulated as formula retail and we recommend including the financial for the

check cashing establishment and limited financial which are atms located at the street front and business and professional services such as h&r block and the ups store and the state farm, now let's talk about a definition, change that we don't think is appropriate for make. we do not recommend including subsitary companies in the definition of formula retail, based on the businesses that are already located in san francisco, this proposed change is unlikely to have a wide ranging effect. the study found that only about 3 percent of existing businesses with 12 or more are subsidiaries. most of them will qualify. and the proposed definition is problematic and the current way that it is written, it is at least 50 percent owned by a company that is in itself a formula retail use and the subsitary itself does not need to have multiple locations or any standardized features, this

definition is difficult to apply consistently and may negatively impact the districts, this slide shows a recent example, jack and kate spade are owned by a location that has no brick and mortar locations, and the proposal is to count the subsidiaries may not even capture the retailers that it intends to regulate. further, while there may be the economics of scale for the businesses the formula retail controls are premised on the standardized features, it can also impact the small business owners that create the unique concepts this is an example of such a case, the owner of super duper burgers owns the six other unique restaurant under the intent of the proposed legislation, when they reach a threshold to become a formula retailer, and any future businesses proposed by the owner will be subject to formula retail controls. each of the other businesses are truly unique and do not

contribute to a uniform asthetic including that they will have a negative number of impacts and including limiting business development, and the change will likely be inconsistently applied as they will be unable to verify the ownership of the structures of corporations and they buy and sell their subsitary and we feel that the definition changes are balanced and slightly more restrictive. moving on to geography, market street is the premier street and the department believes that it should retain a character, and this part of market street known as central market is a burning neighborhood, last year, supervisor kim authorized the controls in market street between van ess and 6th street, the controls require conditional use for the five use types that are also formula retail and the financial services and the restaurant and the homemade restaurant pharmacies and only when they are visible from the street, due to the importance of market

street, the planning department recommends an adoption of permanent retail controls for the formula uses that funds the market between 12th and 6th street. >> so this is a summary of our recommended changes to the first aspect of our controls, just covers the definition and geography changes. >> the second is designed to strengthen the conditional use process by adopting the performance based standards, the planning code establishes these five criteria and directs it to develop and adopt the guidelines for reviewing the formula retail cus without these today, we have seen the inconsistentcies and assessments that are not paired with data and some of the key terms are undefined which inhibt hibts the consideration by decision makers and we recommend to adopt the

guidelines against these criteria. and we believe that staff should articulate the minimum standards for the design of the formula retail so that their standardized features are moderated and for this reason, we are recommending the specific controls for the signage and the pedestrian an oriented design and first let's take a look at signage. and signage, creates visual impacts that play a role in the attraction of visitors who are important to the city's economy, the standards will focus on minimize size and one central location and compatibility with the neighborhood. >> the department recommends adoption of the storefront standards to protect and enhance the character of a neighborhood by having high design, the storefront standards will focus on maximize the visibility in the store, and transparent shelving and no ground floor window coverings and also addressing

pedestrian accessibility. right now this solid block is only accessible through one door or walking through a parking garage, adding a performance standard for the people oriented design could dress this by requiring more pedestrian entrances or in this example, opening existing doors for pedestrians. >> as we saw earlier the five criteria correct us to address the compatibility and it will provide the clarity to staff and characterize the district and neighborhood and it will add context to the proposal by providing a comparison to the city wide trends as well as other districts, and the department recommends a wholistic view of the district.

in this approximation, we can see that if the quarter mile radius was applied to a proposed use on geary boulevard, the analysis will capture the uses on all of the cross streets in that radius, and we will continue to look at the over all districts for discussions of general content and character and consideration of compatibility with the character of the district but using the quarter mile for the commercial uses will provide a car geted analysis of the proposed retailer in terms of concentration and use mix. >> the 5th existing criteria allows us to evaluate the city wide and neighborhood serving uses, the neighborhood commercial districts are intebded to service the needs of residents, they provide the goods and services that the residents within walking distance of their residence or workplace, this definition of

daily needing serving will be added to the performance based standards and it will help to determine if the important uses are being displaced or are missing. sxe. over all, the changes to conditional use review will look like this, wholistic review of the district and neighborhoods and specific review of the immediate area. >> the third aspect is the performance based administrative review, we are not voting to remove the review where the voters require it in the commercial districts but it will provide an opportunity for the review but only if there is no controversy, any controversy will result in a full commission hearing >> this new performance based admin review will apply to the sites that have received the approval. and indicating that the use has been evaluated for its compatibility and if the

formula retail use is changing operate and her retaining the same use size and category, they will be held to the performance use standards and the signage and the pedestrian accessibility. if the product is unable to meet these standards or if it is controversial, a single person could request a commission hearing where the full criteria will be considered. >> the final aspect of our proposal is requiring the economic impact report for large scale retail uses, we have heard the concerns of the study and the proposal don't address the economic impacts. economic impacts are tied to the size of a store. studies show that super stores initially bring in an influx of jobs and however, the gains are nullified over time as the smaller businesses close due to the inbility to match the prices and they can rise the prizes because the competition is minimum, this is tieed to large scale in particular, which is why we believe that the impact reports should be tied to large retail uses. >> super stores are generally

large, free standing single floor structures with a large parking lot they don't provide the highest and best use of land, as they don't maximize height and density. and there by, creating a loss of potential revenue. >> conditional use authorization, is already required for various sizes of retail. the code requires that the use for the large retail uses consider the parking active street frontage and the traffic impacts and the employment related impacts. and in order to fully evaluate these uses the department recommends adding more studies for proposed super stores, the economic report will require an assessment of the effect that the proposed super store will have on retail and employment in the area. and a projection of cost and public service and facilities resulting from the concentration and operation of the store and including the cost of any public assistance that the employees may need and an estimate of changes in sales tax to be paid for the city. and a leakage study to determine in the super store will be recapturing sales that

are outside of staoet city and a study to estimate the changes in the recirculation of local dollars. our proposed changes when evaluated and applied as they will be represent a strengthen of the formula retail controls in a way that will balance the small business development and retain and create active neighborhood and foster strong commercial activity and strengthen the ce process by adopting performance standards. and the new definition is balance in a way to capture more formula businesses while allowing for small business development to continue. the control are being expanded to the central market to safe guard the character of this area, it is a balanced area to foster the development while retaining character and allowing for a more focused evaluation on a case by case basis, that said, they evoke, strong upons and look forward to continuing with the public

and this concludes the presentation and i am happy to answer your questions. >> thank you very much. >> commissioner dooley >> actually, if you are from oewd would like to make some comments. >> go ahead. >> good evening, commissioners, sorry i will not be too long, i am here from the office of economic and workforce development. and i know that many of you and i am representing our invest in the neighborhoods team and i think that you are familiar with this program that we have in 25 commercial corridors across the city and we take a customized approach to supporting small businesses in those corridors. we are strong advocates for small business, but, as invests in the neighborhoods we come at it holistically and so we are not just trying to direct the services to the small businesses but trying to improve the corridors to support those businesses as well as support the neighborhoods. and, in invest in neighborhoods, we started off

with a corridor assessment for each of the 25 districts. and that looked at business mix, and vacantcies, and other factors and actually it was a good starting point for the formula retail study, in which we participated quite subsequently with the planning department and we are very glad to have the data and the analysis that the planning department study provide and we distributed a lot to that as well as to the policy discussion, that resulted in the proposal today. >> and we recognize that this is a very nuanced issue and we are con that scent of the fact that everyone can sign something in the proposal that they do not feel comfortable with and that said we are supportive of the package of proposals. raising the threshold will go a long way. and even going up to 50 will not alter the landscape of

formula retail. we think that it will be a benefit for two reasons, one, it will relief some of the cue that exists for the cu applicants and i think that you all know how long it takes and it is a minimum of four months right now for a cu hearing and we think that for small businesses who generally have to sign a lease and start paying rent and then wait for the cu and anything that makes the bureaucracy a little bit more efficient and so the smallest of them will be beneficial and second of all, the increased emphasis on the design and storefront design, acknowledges what the study found is that many of the concerns that the people have about formula retail is about the character of the corridor and we think that the additional regulation beyond what is proposed could have an adverse effect on a number of things and one is the ability to recruit the desirable neighboring serves small business to corridors and

especially those attracting retail and some of those have the high vacantcy rates despite the fact that the city is in an economic boom and we need as many incentives that we need to get to recruit these businesses a neighborhood would like to sell coffee and we don't want to create more hurtles but we are comfortable, like i said with the package today. we also think that additional regulation might make it harder to meet the daily needs of low and moderate income people, in some of these neighborhoods that support very diverse population. i have spent a lot of time personally working on grocery stores, and grocery stores as you know, are hard to recruit, and retain generally, whether they are formula retail, or not. >> i think that you will see a presentation in a couple of weeks by ted and he did his study shows that in certain categories, the prices of formula retail goods are 17 percent below those of independent retailers.

and i don't think that, i will go into that any more. but, it is, there are... and one example, is like subway sandwiches too and not just grocery stores and he did not do food, did he other goods. but any way there are neighborhoods where they wanted a subway sandwich and it is an afford option and it is formula retail. and another hurtle, that we are trying to solve for, is the ability to fill long term large footprint vacantcy and many of you that have the study and there was an example there that commissioner adams knows and ocean avenue and walgreens space and there are challenges attracting a new tenant and the study pointed out that in cases like that it is possible that the regulation on the formula retail will make it even harder and finally, we want to make sure that there are as many opportunities