>> good afternoon. welcome to the board of supervisors land use i'm scott wiener the chairman of the committee to my right supervisor kim and the vice chair and to my left to supervisor cowen our clerk is a andrea i want to thank sfgovtv

for brooeftd today's 0 hearing particularly charles and jennifer lowe i want to note we have an overflow room in the north lake core so if you're in the north light quarter and want to make public comment fill out a card and we'll call public comment at the appropriate time for each item. madam clerk, any announcements? yes please be advised the ringing of and use of cell phones, pagers and similar sound-producing electronic devices speaker cards should be submitted to the clerk the items today will be on june 14th. thank you very much. madam clerk call item one >> it's an ordinance to into so what on a agreement with panic

embarrass and electric and laura mitch is here. >> good afternoon supervisor wiener and supervisor cowen and thank you for hearing that i want to acknowledging commissioner mazzucco i manage the group at the puc this enters into a long term agreement with pg&e for the north beach library it authorizes the pg&e inform enter other agreements without prior board approval it allows the agreement to start generating electricity for all solar projects connected to the grid it is to insure the

proximately can remain connected to the grid. the puc hats several projects and the board of supervisors has approved each of the intersection agreements we currently have 13 connect agreement and stimulate 9 to 12 additional projects in the next 3 years the terms of the interaction their retained in granting the authorization will streamline the process for the city's labor projects the puc recommended the board of supervisors approving approve this to enter into the north beach library interconnection agreement and similar agreements in the future. thank you very much. >> thank you very much. colleagues questions or comments? i wanted to say this

is a good step forward we finally got the north beach library open and good to debiting get it some power with that, i'll open this up for public comment any public comment on that item? item one seeing none, public comment is closed. and colleagues could i have a motion to forward this to the full board with positive we'll take that without objection.. madam clerk call item 2 >> it's the ordinance amending the general plan of the recreation open space element. >> okay. so i'm going to call up john ram our director of planning to address us about the rose. >> thank you, supervisor it's great to be here john ram we're here for the adaptation of the rose of the general plan.

this amendment is the result of hard for the open space system and also the result of many, many public meetings and hundreds of community members involvement in this process we think it represents a policy that sets a vision for the open space policy for the next 20 years. the note is the general plan and an element is not. general plan elements are high-level policy documents it set a long term vision for the city the city staff uses this and the board and mayor's office use this for a guide for directing decisions the city decisions are quote on balance in conformity in the general plan there are certify of different elements covering aspects of the general policy

and on the face it maybe seen as in conflict but, in fact, that's by design and our job to look at the balancing it's important to note it's not a regulatory document for which we just individual projects but a incite for looking at project decisions it does not regulate project by project basis but guides those decisions we think we've been able to balance a document it guides this decision process. i'll i'm sure you're aware of to kim that will highlight the process but note this is not the end in terms of policy engagement there be on and on with the recession and open space in the city and a policy area that's devoted to that. we believe that parks and open

space and open space of all type of represent a fabric of our city and the plans for the future of our city it's important to note there's 4 aspects of the open space city it's important for the physical and mental health and promote sustainability and helps with the justice in many ways we open space is an economic driver for the city. we want to be sure in all aspects we geology the community and discuss all the important aspects of open space and recreation. in general there are 4 major themes you'll see that will be presented one that the element proposes to california lists on the open space in thecy and to better utility our parks and recreation to expand the system where appropriate to provide a

well-connected system of open spaces and third to promote virile sustainability and enhancing the bio diversity and the sustainable design and nourth engage the community. i said it's important to note this was not done by planning department but hundreds and hundreds of community volunteers and others several agencies that will be speaking shortly to you as well as including the rec and park department and phil ginsburg and peter from the investment and a gentleman from the port. after we present the basis of the elements if you have any questions, i'll be happy to answer them and look forward to discussing that >> i do want to note that one of your staff who worked on this plan for many, many years she's on ma eternity leave she's had a

baby girl so sue congratulations if you're watching. >> sue will appreciate that call up. >> and i also i am going to wait federal or state for the presentation i do have questions first of all about what the rose it and isn't. and also specifically about policy 4.2 which i know hastening gerntd quite a bit of discussion and making sure we understand what it is and isn't i do have some questions >> okay. >> but i'll wait. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> good afternoon, supervisors. i'm kim planning department

staff. as director ram men's we're excited for the adaptation of the rose. i'm going to quickly go over the timeline so if we can switch to the tlt of that project it started in november 2007 will 7 years ago we did an open space task force and we are hereafter seven years before you to move forward with the adaptation. and this 7 year process included tons of community meetings and hearing including the task force meetings as well as the neighborhood meetings, rec and park and open space and recreation committee or prozac hearings before the planning commission and preservation

commission we're excited to be here today. so in my presentation i'm going to go over and give a summary of the objectives and the policy and talk about the rose. it includes 6 objectives each of which have flying policies that give more daily direction under those objectives. the first objective is about involving open space system the city has an expressive open space and we consistently score ray and compared to other urban places in terms of open space, however, some of the spaces are underutilized and this calls for highly utilized open space this it mean some open spaces are

busy but people can relax we have a lot of needs for the recreation as a need to increase the recreational facilities so to provide guidance better utility to balance the recreational option with the preservation of open space. the second objective is about meeting long term needs of our open space system so the highlights the need to expand our open space network. this map represents a key policy element of the rose and as part of the theme to insure we seek shoilgss in this city the areas where rec and park open space

should be prioritized it is the laying of a number of factors that led to identifying the highest needs areas in the city and those factors include criteria such areas with the highest densities of population and the highest density of seniors and children and youth with the low income folks and areas not within walking distances of an open space or playground and future growth area that didn't include a specific playground and the resulting map i'm sure you're aware of is a guide you can see areas in high need. this map didn't indicate which of the areas should be prioritized over another and that's a decision for the decision makers based on other factors like availability of land and funding >> supervisor kim has a

question. >> my question there's dark green next week to grandparent what's the factors they're by a huge part. >> as i mentioned there are many factors such as the density of low income people living and the density of seniors and also areas not within walking distances from golden gate park they have a few mraugsdz spread out but areas not within walking distance so that's why i see darker areas around golden gate park so it has open space but not a playground. >> so the accumulation of the factors. >> exactly. >> so over the course we've

received many comments around the priorities vs. future growth areas and we've incorporated all the comments and we think this map is an objective set of criteria for the open space. and i have separate maps of all those factors if you want me to walk you through how we came to this map i can do that later and so the third objective is about a well-connected network of open spaces has director ram mentioned this rose is green streets as a vital supplement to our system and valuable efforts have been kraekd created like the green project this is how streets and open spaces can

provide natural spaces outside our front door. the next objective is our first identifiable focusing on another theme this is the inclusion of bio diversity in the element the rose is the diversity of keeping up with the themes it's high-level you'll here concerns about the objectives i want to say when we have flown many rounds of objectives and we've gone through amendments to those policies it focuses on nature and all kinds of habitats this helps to protect the habitats as well as non-habitats. the policy point to acknowledge the national heritage in a

holistic way in order to preserve the had been titus at that time and the original landscape. but this presents a holistic guidance and appreciating all plant and wildlife habitats and original landscapes of san francisco. within the objective policy 4.1, 2, 3 has the approach by the local exist so the policy 4.2 is nature areas and a 4.3 includes all the natural habitats. so we recognize that many of the issues that are coming up over the existing proposed plans for example, the significant resource area management plan

that project provides a detailed discussion of natural areas we wanted to make sure the rose focused outside the natural plan from rec and park department and further discuss this throughout the city landscape >> this is the good time to discuss this frail mr. ram touched on this in terms of what the rose as with any element of our general plan ex-what it is and isn't. this - does anything in the rose predetriment any project that may or may not be approved >> not rose provides guiding policies for the whole study so it talks about you how the city has all those natural areas and not identified and recognized how we need a coordinated

reference. >> with that said, there are a lot of decisions that will be made at rec and park or the planning department it doesn't rise to the height of board of supervisors even though the rec and park element is not term active on a project i'm assuming when staff goes about day to day decision making that the rose is looked to in terms of guidance and yes, we do general referral so it has to be in balance with the general plan of the city including the rose and all other elements. >> okay although when we look at our housing element under the general plan we'll willfully out of compliance with certainly not

also the says 55 percent of affordable housing or thereabouts. so in terms of section 4 and 4.2 in particular i think one of the concerns that and i think the reason why we're seeing the concerns about this section is there has you know, i think everyone agrees we want - we've got an amazing park system and want it to be a nice mix and good active recreation in terms of president hasz fields and we want there to be good public access for people to go on hikes or picnics and we want to, of course, preserve and imbrass bio diversity and the devil is in

the details we see something there is attention there are times when some people might think this area should be preserved in terms of a and a half plants and not be an area for active recreation other people might want to have a different kind of access with or without their dogs whatever the case so it to this attention the city ramp hadn't come forward and there is a concern this is somehow going to pit us further open the path to having more of our park system off limits to recreational use and public access and i think that's what's behind some of the opposition we've received so and

specifically 4.2 i understand the motivation behind there are natural areas that are not within city ownership whether it's another agency or private property but it's a little bit unclear what this means. it's one thing to say let's look at whether or not a there's an existing area we don't own and how do we deal with that but language here about sites that are private property that are adjacent to natural areas it's a little bit vague and there's a concern this could cause some sort of dramatic increase in areas that are not accessible to for general public use and recreation could you comment on

those concerns >> sure. for the specifics of projects like this i would ask phil ginsburg director of remark to talk about it or another gentleman that is working on a bio strategy but i'm going to leave it to them and policy for how this effects private property there is language in here that talks about how the planning commission should may ask a developer to preserve porlgsz portions but provides criteria for a natural area is and how also that the city has limited resources to purchase those and theirs also calls for an assessment so it's not just like, you know, we identify

those natural areas and ask them to be preserved to be held assessments on if there's natural areas and how valuable to preserve in rem amenities of years you know of history then the planning commission may ask the developer to preserve that and it doesn't again prescribe anything it leaves that possibility open >> but also talks about there's a under 4.2 the site is adjacent to another protected historic area it will support a larger habitat i'm not sure what that means it might mean when a site is adjacent to a natural area we're going to be doing quite a

few large developments in the city whether hunters point or schlage lock and how this decision is going to be made what's a natural area and not a natural area and off limits to the public for recreation. >> right so again, i think the details of how the decisions are made will be laid out later maybe as part of the bio diversity strategy and the department of environment is putting together by this paroling policy is a guiding policy that recognizes there's needing to be a balance of preservation we mention if the site of the adjacent is basically an example also needs to be accessed for the natural easier. >> if i may supervisor your

point is well-taken the language is meant to say when we're looking at sites adjacent to natural areas we might look at a landscape area differently then if it's a site this is next to a freeway for example, in terms of they don't have to be permanent natural spaces but we analyze that site perhaps a little bit differently if it was not a natural ear and what a investment development is proposed we look at that maintaining the landscape to be comparable with the natural ear. >> okay. and just to sorriest i think one of the there's a concern giving given what we're looking at the golden gate

recreation area there's dog access and a number of areas of recreation we note they're trying to achieve a balance we voted unanimously at the board of supervisors it was not an appropriate balance undermining the recreation can you comment on this in terms of how we strike that balance and address some of the concerns that have been raised. >> at the heart of this policy is preserving the natural areas quote in the city but didn't mean they can't be developed we might look at a development project differently like what the types of bio diversities and look at it differently than it was not up against a natural

area it simply helps us development our analysis. >> supervisor cowen has a question. >> you can both stay up there i have questions that relate to rose specifically i don't know. i guess it's between 4 and 4.4. but you know, i wanted to bring to your attention u braushgs i've seen a lot of questions from folks around the entire city if visitacion valley and katrero hill this is come frz the open space on katrero hill and you bay of background that's a nonprofit organization not owned by the city the executive management of the team articulated the concerns of the

amendments to the rose and requiring require them to remove eucalyptus trees from the property. they themselves have indicated they're committed to prevent fire sdaurj so making maybe you can talk about the rose in privately open space and requires them to remove the eucalyptus trees or alternatives to the space >> the short answer there's nothing saying you have to remove eucalyptus trees. >> let me interject because the eucalyptus is not and a half to policy i'm glad you described as a guide in making planning decision so this is how this question is - >> i understand where the

question is coming from you're correct the elements of the general plan is a guide not setting aside a regulation how a particular a piece of property is handled there's a goal of natural species not removing them but conserving the natural areas and to look at areas that we can encourage bio diversity and sustainability practices it helps to guides those positions not regulate such as the star space. >> so how does something that seems like on the surface a pretty decent policy b