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tv   [untitled]    July 18, 2014 11:00pm-11:31pm PDT

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the hill there was 80 people standing there looking around and pointing out and looking at the fantastic view over the vacant lot towards downtown looking the other way and trying to fwouth i figure out tout how to get over to coit tower this is where the bus stops people get off and the exact spot where people across the road to walk up the beautiful new steps to coit tower. in the not a safe place to have the project >> while people come up i'll call more names (calling names). >> commissioner president wu and commissioners to supplement
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telegraph hill dwellers we're passing out a letter prepared by lawrence a geotechnical engineering addressing the technical investigation that was used by the planning department to evaluate the impacts of the proposed project. my name is naps i'm speaking as co-chair of the planning committee to talk about this not because it impacts my personal views or property rights but it's a truly unique site that needs special attention we met with the project sponsor and architect 3 times in 2012 during which the project sponsor assured us to incorporate the concerns and suggests. i'm not sure how to work this.
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okay >> although the project sponsor appeared to be receptive and something happened along the way this graphic i passed out shows the difference of the elevation on the filbert steps the first design present on july 12th talked about the heights and without rooftop features the design presented on october 11, 2012, shows two units separated by passages to the approach and no rooftop features we were encouraged by this design and felt progress was being made but 9 months later a completely different project was presented. taller and more bulkier and blocking the views it agreed with the top decks and roof
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topless admittedly they say it was taking advantage of the corridor it was the corridor that was 3 and a half foot higher and not to provide a public view corridor this is a project that is before you today zer a long history of working with the forepersons the better time of the neighborhood and the public while accommodating the development we relevant fully ask the commission to continue this to preserve the public verifies from public spaces and better integrate the typography of the site and neighborhood. thank you. i have one quick comment been the curb cut if anyone has a question i have proof this was no curb cut all the maps show
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>> thank you. >> as a congressional and on a curb cut there was no curb. >> thank you. next speaker. if i've called your name you can approach the podium. >> hello, i'm eric i reernd about this from about a week ago i say the plans and impacted i was going to be i'm here on behalf of the developers of one of the comics we remodel 9 and i'm representing open on behalf of 1454 and 65 kerney and right one house away and also peter on filbert above we're one of the months impacted properties in the neighborhood for this project i only found out about it with a letter from the city
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not contacted by the developer we have 4 mail slots between all of us i'll sign a affidavit we were no invited there's the things i'm not to repeat but i'm downhill and the development is going to dredge down 3 floors next to mine this is going to cause all kinds of earth movement and cracking i'm concerned with not only that when they get rid of the bedrock and soil there's a thing call vibration that causes cracks i grew up in a landslide area, no way an engineer can guarantee there's no movement the other thing no one considered us in the city on shadowing when i did
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my remodel i worked with 5 and a half years to get a cottage of look and feel i even separated the house from 3 filbert even though i have a 20 by 38 side i basically foreshadowing and light i actually did something respectful for the neighbors and when i look up at thirty feet above the roof i'm going to see a giant prison wall and all my light is going to be gone wiring we're going to lose f that and we are halfway out of the day before we get sun the foundation areas and the fact i've placed ball in the neighborhood and
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built something one down from this i don't know why i'm going to be looking at a prison wall i don't know why they can't accommodate because it's a giant building on the top - >> thank you your time is up. >> thank you. next speaker. let me call some additional names. (calling names) >> good afternoon. i'm laps kern's a resident of north beach. and i found out about this thing through a newsletter from telegraph hill hill dwellers and they were frankly stunned that this has gotten this far i was too. i read the long document that was submitted that gave all the
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letters, you know, in favor of and opposition to the development and all of them were eloquent the one that caught my attention was one that showed it was done by an architect called stan i'll show if i could get the overhead. this is - the this is the looking at telegraph hill from the south, southwest you'll see this if you were standing in the financial district chinatown wish russian hill or knob hill. this is looking at coit tower
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when, you know, this project were built and those 3 opted were talking about. and i'm a little bit concerned this looks like a wall it's a huge, you know, imposition on the landscape and i would hope the project sponsors would regroup and meet with telegraph hill dwellers and planning and zoning committee and come up with something less importugal's on the hillside the views would be restored and this would be a huge impact on the city if ir7 on the oceanic i'd hire john here to do a project called no wall on the hill (laughter) thank you for your -
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>> thank you. next speaker. >> commissioners i'm ken former board member of telegraph hill dwellers. i want to reiterate many of the comments by the other you can't approve this location without a broader environmental review. also i've worked many decades with rec and park department on pioneer park projects and the department has recently launched a new commemorationer at the tower and most of the visitors on telegraph hill come up telegraph hill boulevard and the filbert steps we're putting a 10 year lease here for the impact of the business and also from the construction that will definitely impact telegraph hill boulevard and the filbert steps
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so i encourage thoyou to issue right decision >> thank you. >> hello commissioners and commissioner president wu. my name is terry grim i'm the new concessioner we've been operational over two months i can tell you we're seeing at a minimum of two thousand people a day and on a sunny day 28 hundred people the surprise that 80 percent of the people that's a pretty conservative number we wanted to make a study how to make the 39 bus transit system
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more yourself friendly or visible we were trying to curtail all the driving going on up there we were surprised to see the amount of foot traffic we'll be impacted i would to see a minimum so good conditions put on the project that might mitigate something that could hurt us i mean, i'm into this well, i had a two year vetting process went through a lot of meeting to get to this point i have a seer lease nonresponsive of me i've got minimum guarantees this is an impact on the income i he was the surprised a place this sensitive
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could get past an environmental review and i'm a pretty good proponent of people's property rights and done things that were larger than this and also had conditions and impact studies it will be an impact so i hope the commission considered this. thank you. next speaker. . >> hi, i'm stan the architect and the resident living a little bit out of location. i want to speak briefly, of course. i want to make sure we understand this is not a minor project but a major project quantify of 3 lots where 3 parks in the city are invested and has
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a steep typography and has a unique pedestrian and transit corridor the muni bus this street is less wide and a giant curb so there's a lot of things going on so i would hope that and a full environmental review will be done i want to address specifically the two items for the continuance they if need exceptions or approval forces conditional uses and parking. those are those unite are luxury condominiums 43 hundred square feet i believe and total new ones we don't know what the plans for the cottage are like their luxury condos and the
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conditions for the approval are they necessary or desirable for the neighborhood maybe desirable for the project sponsor and the demonstration but not for the neighborhood and impact the city of san francisco and hundreds of thousands of tourists and visits over the years are rewilling to give that up for luxury units. this is a sample this is what they say is family housing i don't see too many things oriented to family and children. secondly, it's been spoken previously about when we were working with the project sponsor we appreciate that over a number of years they have each time we speak to them please reduce the
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steps and create a corridor nothing has happened july and october of 2012 and july of 2014. the project sponsor states in this this is a lot of challenging and a here's the building inspectors you see the elevators going into it about thirty feet this is a major project impacts we're concerned about the elevation, of course, at coit tower but if you look at the rear >> thank you your time is up. >> well, thank you. >> one thing. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> there's a gap in the building. >> thank you. 3 and a half feet wide >> your time is up. >> commissioner president wu and commissioners i'm julie i live a
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little bit over a block in the project and like many of my neighborhood i care about telegraph hill and this site i've been trying to 15 years to interest my neighbors the telegraph hill dwellers i've talked about with the trust of public land our supervisors trying to acquire this site i don't think anything agreed to sit down oh, my god we don't have the money i don't think this opportunity and the president has combined to have a developer interested in developing this site where do we go from here i love to offer my suggestions i think tha there are plenty of opinions but pressed over the last couple of months to weigh in and my intent
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is not to stop the project i'll leave it to you to debate but from my point of view i was looking for tweaks amendments to the project that will mitigate the disadvantages to the neighborhood and opportunity to be for the public realm and the neighborhood 5 things i think we need to control construction as the totally don't believe to minimize the noise it on the neighborhood secondly, smoking gun who was is where with all the filbert stairs not the stairs themselves but the surrounding area rec park have the maintenance people and they can do something about that the 3 architecture views whether their protected or not certainly
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the view to the south is special some view should be part of this project and then the western facade of the building that prison wall that would go up against the cottage and thirdly, the difference in scale between the little cottage to the west and the huge building at 109 and 13 i differ i've recommended to the owner that he put the gap between the cottage and his this that allows the western wall to have windows and penetration i've asked the gap to be widened and the stebt to preserve the glimpseer of the downtown skyline i think all the changes could make that a better project and move into into the realm
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could support. >> as the next speaker comes up i'm call names (calling names). >> good afternoon. i'm davie crockett the tour director at coit tower i wrote to supervisor chiu to talk about the waiver of the complete eir i'm here to reinforce my opposition while previous aspects of the irs may not have changed the number of red-legged frogs or native american sites other aspects have and those spanks deserve mitigation planning through the use of a comprehensive eir i want to see the best and highest
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use of the site would raise issues worthy of consideration the environmental impact and chiropractor and the culture impact on the city at large and the visitor to koifrt and the park this will potentially harm many and benefit few. this has no impact on san francisco's housing shortage there is no weighing folks waiting for the luxury condos to be built those will be purchased by overseas buyers. the trade off for this ego gratifies is disappointment and inconvenience and economic loss please reconsider our decision
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our city deserves better >> thank you. next speaker. >> good afternoon. i'm john stuart a resident of telegraph hill i live about one hundred yards from the site. i'm here representing myself and my wife. so we're immediate neighbors and we both are pleased with the design we like the fact it mercies a garden style we think the architect has done this right on my focus isn't on the architect other people will speak to it i agree with julie there's improvements to be made but my focus is on a statement
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in t in the bulletin said this is not about views and public interest fair enough. if it is in the public interest this thing should have been not generating revenue for the city my perspective pates i what's the uses commercial, however, retail didn't preponderate with the zoning and it's uniquely unstudied u suited for a park with all the wind and it's freezing and i forget to mention the park above it hud rental you could put hud but only section 8 that doesn't exist could you do
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a tax credit no how about a 202 and 811 for the sdald you might quality but there are casket issues you could argue that a market rate rental would work but no economy of scale that leaves the option for the market rate for for sale product indeed it's luxury as all the other housing along the rim it purports with that there are some site that country utility for mixed use this is not one. this site will generate tax revenue of 2 hundred you thousand dollars a year occluded busing plus transfer tax that's y what i suggest in the public
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interest i'll hope you'll take into account and what the last speaker said the $200,000 it goes to potholes and heath and safety and fire and first responder and homeowners. thank you. >> thank you. >> commissioners, i represent myself and my wife. we've been resident on the hill a few blocks away from the site for many decades we were members of the pioneer park project that renovated the park i take the 39 bus and get off at the bus stop i know the area very, very well, i'm here in support of the project. there were buildings there before and now the site is an
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empty space with garbage and chain linked fences i'm glad there's a project proposed and johnson stuart said this is an appropriate project, of course, it's with all the zoning requirements and oh, by the way, i was on and on up at pioneer park the other day and this project will not block views from the park up on the top level there's 0 so much vegetation up there all the views have been street levy and telegraph hill level not from the park. i repeat what john said we need the housing and the revenue for the city i strongly support this
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project go ahead >> thank you. next speaker. >> good afternoon, commissioners. my name is joan wood i've lived on north beach and telegraph hill for 52 years and i'm opposed to this project it must be dangling clear point project as before you is totally out of style of telegraph hill. you've seen the very convincing pictures i can't stand how it got this far without an eir. the impacts on traffic as well as the views is perfectly obviously. i'm a member of the planning and zoning committee of telegraph hill dwellers even though i don't live on the hill i,
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guarantee you this project has been at least 3 times before the committee during my term on the committee and during the 17 years probably more than that different developers and architects and each time it comes back larger and different you've heard other people testify. please don't approve it today at least ask for an eir >> thank you as the next speaker comes up i'll cail more names (calling names). >> good afternoon, commissioners aim justin i'm a neighbor and owner of the resident on unity. >> can you speak a little bit louder. >> i'm a neighborhood and owner as well as an employer i've reviewed the plans of the project sponsor i believe it meets all the height and bulk
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and architecturally okay for the surrounding neighborhoods. further more i know it will provide much needed jobs therefore i support the project and urge the planning commission to do so as well. thank you. thank you. >> thank you. >> good afternoon, commissioners. i live nearby on kearny street. i'm excited finally to see activity here. for many years it's been overgrown vacant lots people loiter you can through our garbage over the fence tourist wonder why san francisco if have open spaces they're not aware
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this is a partnership. i believe in maximizing the potential but i welcome the facelift by adding manipulative needed housing to the land therefore i support 24 project and urge the planning commission to do so as well >> thank you. >> next speaker >> good afternoon, commissioners i live on the hill as well and go by those places endless i hike peninsula in all directions everything else that's been said i agree with but there are many ways to get to pioneer park. and you can go up greenwich and there's filbert steps and