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tv   [untitled]    June 10, 2014 8:00am-8:31am PDT

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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.
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>> 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
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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.
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>> 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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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.
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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
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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 as possible for small home-grown business to grow and multiply and create more entrepreneur opportunity and more jobs, any job, whether it is formula retail, or whether it is not. it is still something that is important to the city. and so, we agree with the planning department, that adding the subsitary criteria right now would not only be a bureaucratic challenge, but
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would also stifle the local economic growth, opportunities. thank you. >> now, commissioner questions, commissioner dooley? >> i wanted to ask about can you give me the details on if a business corridor does not allow any formula retail, the new planning that you are suggesting, does that mean that any business that has under 20, it will not be considered formula retail any more? >> that is correct, let's say that north beach, where there is a prohibit of formula retail, if it changes to 20 locations the businesses that now have less than 20 locations that perhaps more than 11, would no longer be considered form formula retail. >> at the planning commission hearing last month, at the end of the meeting your department stated that they were going to meet with stake holders since
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the majority of the people there spoke about their problems with raising this threshold to 20 and the subsitaries, as far as i have known that has not been done, is this and it looks like the same plan as was presented there,; is that correct?? >> that is correct. it is the same that was proposed to the planning commission, we have not done a coordinated fourth round of focus group meetings we have been meeting with the groups individually as they approach us to discuss this. >> yes. >> and hi, anmarie rogers again and this is an effort that is an unfunded effort from the planning department and it is something that we were supposed to do in a quick time frame of three months and we spent the time and kanishka has a full load in addition to working with us and for this particular project, the vast majority of the out reach depends upon the
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public hearings just like this public hearing as well as we have been able to do some limited stake holder groups, we also since the last planning commission hearing that you were at commissioner dooley, we did offer to meet with groups and we have the pending groups that we will be talking with and some of them over the phone and some with the individuals in person and certainly, e-mails and so if you know of the interested parties that would like to talk to us about it, we would love to make that connection. >> any other commissioner comments? >> okay, let's do a public comment here. mr. president, i have two speaker cards, in addition just to remind the commissioners i shared several items of written public comment submitted prior to the meeting and one did arrive just prior to this meeting from mitchell berg in opposition to this proposal. and so with that we will go to the speaker cards, first we have daniel macarine.
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>> hi. my name is dan macarini and my business is macarini creative design which was formed in 1948 by my father and now spans three generations as i work with my daughter proudly and we are the largest ongoing metal arts studio combined with a gallery in the united states, for modernist design. and i am also a board member and i am speaking on behalf today of my association of north beach business association. and recently, our board reviewed the proposal for you this commission to redesign what cons taouts a small business as opposed to a corporate chain and took a very rare unanimous vote opposing any alteration in the current definition, further it is my understanding that it is the mandate of this small business commission, to support small
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business and not corporate chain stores. and in light of that, it behoofs this commission to not raise it from eleven to 90 or 30 or 50 or whatever it is that is the flavor of the day that some corporation may want you to do. and if these corporations are so popular, it should be easy for them to currently get a conditional use permit. and if there are problems and complaints concerning the length of time that it takes to go through the permit process, then reform of the planning department is needed to improve and stream line their systems, not just letting more corporate businesses open with no oversight at all. and most important, it is appalling to allow the corporate spin offs, not to even to have to apply for a conditional use permit, and as if they are independent.
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and as if this proposal will do. and corporate chains have significant financial clout that no real independent does, and it must be considered a subsitary of the parent chain, and thus, required for you to gain a conditional use permit and otherwise, even the neighborhoods that banned the chain stores like north beach can fall victim to what is actually a corporate business opening while not be considered legally a chain. >> finally this is critical for the neighborhoods who have worked very hard to create and retain the unique personals who do not want to be invaded by corporate businesses this is just a loophole for the big business and could lead to san francisco being turned into one giant formula strip mall and the complete destruction of the small and medium businesses
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along with the unique cultural character, whispering to our neighborhoods and our city as a whole. and defend small business, and neighborhood businesses, and please vote know on this proposal. >> next speaker, please? >> our next speaker card was from susan landry if she is in the audience please? >> good evening commissioner and director and i need to follow that. i can ditto everything that he just said. but for me, i am with a small business of the animal connection in san francisco. and in the marina and we have been there since 1986. and there are principles worth standing up for when one does not stand up for these principles the ones with the conscience, probably will not sleep at night, and probably will end upstanding up any way. given that, the principles that
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concern me are what this gentleman before me just said. was that going from eleven to 20 makes no sense at all and who picked out this number. and the subsitaries, and the spin offs i mean, really? i mean, who thinks of of these things? and we are paying these people to do this. and it is, you know, it is unjust, and it is not something that is in the independent stores plan. and i for one, would love to have you know, a sit down, i will be at a meeting and i am willing to go to a meeting to give some feedback, i mean, just, reach out to us, let us know. because, it is, it is just not what san francisco needs, san francisco is unique, in order with the spin offs if you allow
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them in, as independents, what is the point of having a planning commission? a planning department? any more? it is like, everybody is going to play this game and it is, and the ones that are going to... the one that is going to lose is san francisco. and the one that is going to lose is the small business commission. and because there will not be a need for the small business commission because there will not be any small businesses left so please have a conscience and vote for independent businesses. thank you. >> another speaker card? >> so speakers in order, please? thank you. >> welcome. >> thank you. >> i am deedee, workman with the chamber of commerce, we put together a working group to discuss formula retail, and the working group was made up of small businesses, and large
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retailers with the meeting for more than a year to discuss the proposed changes. to study them, come up with our own recommendation and we are pleased with the planning department's recommendations and with the proposed ordinance and we think that it is very balanced and we appreciate the resources that went into the study so that policies could be crafted and recommended based on data, and research. and which means with these recommendations are. and based on facts, rather than antedotes or you know people's ideas of what the impacts might be and they really studied the impacts and so we are appreciative of that and in terms of the specific points, we very much support the proposal to raise the threshold from eleven to 20. before a business is considered formula retail, and we feel that that does give small local businesses the ability to grow, and modestly, really before they fall under the definition of formula retail, but it still captures the large and the
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super large retailers that these policies were meant to, and they were intended for and so we do support that. we also support planning decision not to include the subsitary and that really mostly comes from hearing, the planning department staff, and john ram and scott sanchez say that provision is unenforcable by the planning staff and so we will defer to them on that. >> we think that it is a good idea to perhaps, reconsider that atms will be considered under the formula retail and that the atms help the small businesses because the folks can get the cash out of the atms that they spent in the small businesses in the local neighborhoods and particularly in small businesses that don't accept bank cards or only accept them over a minimum purchase. we think that the people who get the cash are spent in the small business and so we will
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ask that that provision be reconsidered and we also, we question whether it is a good idea to include, international locations and in the threshold of formula retail, i mean, you know, san francisco is an international world class shopping destination, and i think that it is short-sighted to say that international chains, or stores would need to go through the conditional use process and we think that will discourage them from coming here and go someplace else. beyond that we are appreciative of the planning efforts here and we do support their conclusions thank you. >> thank you, next speaker please? >> good evening, mr. president, and commissioners i am here on behalf of boma san francisco and we too participate in the chamber working group and we share, the chamber's support of the planning department's
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proposal. and we think that it is incredibly well thought out and it is well vetted as miss rogers or burns alluded to, there were focus groups, with various people in them and i know that they set them up so that they will have all sides of the issue in one room and working step wise with the planning department staff and the consultants and came up again with the balance and i don't want to abuse that word, but it is a balanced approach. >> what i want to focus on is that i am a land use lawyer and it is incredibly unusual when you see a piece of legislation driven by this much data, i mean a real drill down, let's look at what the data sources say, and let's try to assess the impacts kind of analysis, and so in, and the number 1 1 to the clear, came out of thin air and i don't think that anybody who historically has been around formula retail and the planning department with point to any source where the number eleven came from it was truly pulled out of thin air and here we are after a month long study with a lot of public input and a lot of analysis
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with the number 20 really does represent something and as miss burns said as well, we mo*fd up to 50 again, and we would not have that kind of tremendous impacts and i think that there is a lot to be said for standing behind the number 20 as getting us to where we want to be as a diverse economy in san francisco and as they said and the department said, if we can, and we want to encourage our phil and our lee and soup company and we want to have the businesses grow, and move beyond san francisco, and the greater bay area and perhaps northern california,. and i think that the related issue of the subsidiaries is the same and we want to have the subsidiaries that are made by people that are creative like super duper and the other restaurants that are owned by that same entity and we want to have that in san francisco because that is what makes us san francisco. and, to reiterate what the folks have said, you cannot with any ease or facility always follow the chain of a corporate entity and so from an
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enforcement standpoint, these guys are not the security and exchange commission, they are land use planners, what their focus really is on is land use and tax and to the credit the main things that come out of the proposal is the aesthetics because that is really where much of the objections to the formula retail, i think comes from in many of the neighborhoods is, the formula retail, the facade do not fit in with the neighborhood character and i think that the proposal will enhance that and we will actually see some wonderful formula retail stores coming out of that process and the people will go, oh, that is a chain store i didn't know. with that i thank you. >> next speaker please? >> hi, commissioners, my name is jay change and i am here representing the san francisco board realtors and we are representing over 4,000 agents and from 4,000 small business owners, and each real estate practice is its own company.
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we are here because our livelihood is depending on connecting people to the neighborhood character that fits them best. and so our interest in having the merchant corridors that are vibrant and exciting and diverse and unique and so in that, and in that vein we are here to support in the recommendation and i echo the previous comments, 11 to 20 is really a smart decision and it is data driven and it shows that the beloved institutions like blue bottle coffee can grow and establish themselves before becoming larger institutions and limiting the subways and the places that make the corridors boring and the second that i think this we want to talk about is the conditional use and the expansion of conditional use, and it takes into account the neighborhood and the retail uses and it is over all a smarter program for us to put,
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our small business people through. the one thing that we would like to caution around is the expansion of the formula retail use to include business and professional services and we speak that because the real estate broker actually does fall into the business and professional services and we know the damage that can cause, we sell merchant care, and in the neighborhood character and our architecture reflect that and we believe that we have some of the most interesting storefronts that you can find in the city, having us put on the formula retail use severely limits our ability to do that and our ability to do good business and we are neighborhood centric institution and we help to find the people in the neighborhood in which we serve and so for us, we believe that we provide a real service, the current and future residents there. and finally, we fill large vacantcies that are difficult to be filled anywhere else, van guard on mission street filled an abandoned bank, no one else
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but a bank have filled that space, and we fill in the large vacantcies that will normally become a blight upon the neighborhood and we believe that we fill a unique role in that. so we encourage you to broadly support the planning commission's recommendations and also carefully consider the expansion of the formula retail to business and professional services thank you. >> next speaker, please. >> welcome again. >> thank you. >> my name is joan wood, and i live in north beach, and i have lived there since continuously since 1962, and i represent a whole lot of people just like me, that love the character of north beach, however, it seems to me that north beach has recently been discovered by the powers that be in the city hall and it has become yours and others favorite neighborhood also. however, this proposal seems directly aimed at us, and it
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was definitely change the character of north beach, i see no virtue in it whatsoever, except including formula retail in the proposal, just directly aimed at in the independent businesses or mr. macarini said something kind of obvious he thinks that you are here to help small businesses. i really have not thought about it that way. but i hope that he is right and i hope that you will listen to people like me. we have lost our hardware stores and we have lost shoe repair and that does not sound related to this proposal but i am getting at the changes that are happening to north beach for reasons like the proliferation of formula retail and also high rents and other agencies that besides planning, mr. ron