that it takes a village to raise a child and that absolutely wrang true to me when we walked through the daos of nihonmachi little friends and my kids are in high school and college and they are in a family with great diversity and so my husband and i had pondered when they were younger how we were going to insure that they appreciated their rich cultural heritage and as soon as we walked through the doors we knew that we were going to be okay. as with the richness of san francisco there were kids from all different backgrounds, there were a multitude of languages being spoken and our kids made friends with young people with whom they continued to be friends now. we were friends with parents, who we continued to be friends with now. and through that process of being empowered by being part of little friends, we began to explore other resources in japan town and the larger city and we realized that there were a lot of opportunities for families in san francisco.

and through the 40 years since nihonmachi little friends opened the doors there are thousands of family whose have gone through the same process of empowerment and i think that each one of us appreciates how exceptional the preschool and after school programs are. and we appreciate how hard nlf works to make sure that it is affordable because of san francisco, it is very hard on familis if you can't find something that is even though it is wonderful that you can't afford. >> and i think that all of the families appreciate how precious the institution is both to bring vitality to japan town, as well as to offer a hand to familis in san francisco and so this may be just an addition to a building, but to us it speaks to the heart of bringing joy to family and children here in san francisco and we hope that you

support our endeavors. >> thank you very much. >> thank you. >> okay, opening for public comment. and is there public comment on this item? >> good evening, commissioners, my name is paul werm er and i am wearing a new hat here tonight as the jtf board member and chair of the land use committee, and actually there is not a lot to add to what has already been said. it is extremely encouraging to see the first project coming before you after the jhs process that alines so well with all of the stated objectives in the jhs plan and with that i will say thank you.

>> good afternoon, commissioners, my name is alice coahasu and i am the new president of the japan town task force. i am also a resident of japan town. and our church which my husband works at is one block away from the nihonmachi little friends on bush street and so we are only a half a block, a block and a half away from this projected site where they will be doing the renovations. my children, both of them who are one is graduating from college and one is going to college, now. are both graduates of the preschool. from the bush site, and so this, preschool, has definitely been part of the big part of our family. and so, i come here today, to speak not only as a former family that went to nihonmachi little friends but also as a

resident and also as a organizer for the jtown task force and we have been in information with kathleen amatzu and her staff and the architect and they came to present over at our meeting last month. we appreciate everything that they want to do, and it is well deserved and the bush site is getting old and they need a new place where they can consolidate both sites both and bring the families and children together, we are supportive. and they have been very good at communicating to their neighbors on that block and have gotten a couple of really good support letters also, and including from rj town task force and so we ask that you support this project, thank you. >> thank you. >> is there additional public comment? >> seeing none, public comment

is closed. i want to thank you for the presentation and the comment on what a thoughtful design it is. jhs, was adopted and i think that we are still figuring out and we mentioned a number of times together and we are trying to figure out what cultural heritage is, and to me, youlgt, preserving the ability for the neighborhoods to be living and cultural places and i think that having a preschool is probably a important part of that as the speaker mentioned, your children come to a preschool, and you may then go to restaurants, or other shops in the neighborhood, and that, i think that is a really important part of living and breathing the neighborhoods and it is not just about the buildings, although, again, i commend you on what you have done with the building, design. >> commissioner moore? >> i would agree with what you just said, it is also very interesting for us with the majority of us have worked and listened to the jhs and its approval for ad least, two years, to see this building come forward and i am in

support of it and there is only one letter to which i would like to ask miss valva as well as the presenters who support the project and that letter came actually this morning from mr. okaki, cultural japanese center and the reason that i am asking is that project is part of the former redevelopment, correct? >> yes. >> that means that there was no environmental review in the form that we know, that there was also, no historic preservation review of the building as it sits next to the morgan building, and it is going back to the application in my part. >> the new building went through a thorough environmental process, and the morgan building is on the work program, for the preservation.

>> and the commission did not. >> the reason that i am asking, is mr. okaki in this letter, spoke about the many expectations to the years of redevelopment, where we had about guidelines and certain expectations of what this needs to express and he particularly widely expresses the support speaks about a color scheme which is ammonia, which is said carefully was the surrounding and adjoining buildings to all sides, could you comment on that, is that something that you have all discussed and have you read this letter and how he expresses his question? >> yes, thank you, commissioner moore and i have read the letter, and within the jhs process, it is really important to remember that it was not just the total consideration, of japan town's development and

planning, and jhs really started in a big sense, with the development of the better neighborhood plan, and the better neighborhood plan is some of you know and some of you may not, was essentially it came to the commission and at the request of the community was not passed because it had not really gone through an extensive community review. and the jhs process was designed to address that issue of community review to really assess, what does the neighborhood want? what do the people who have a stake in this neighborhood, want it to look like, want it to become, what are the essential elements. and we got so many comments and i say this as the chair of the land use and build form committee, of the people saying that we don't want it to be disneyesque and put in to a japanese village because that

is what people think of us as. we want to have a dynamic community, some people said, you know, our neighborhood the western edition goes to when the victor ans were the predominant building style and it is the home of the preservation movement because of all of the victor ans that were torn down during that time and that was a big mistake. and we recognize that. and people said, that is part of our heritage and so we need to make sure that new construction is compatible with those victorans. and if someone wants to put up a new victoran, we should welcome it, it does not matter that it does not look japanesy. and one of the comments and i cannot tell you how many times people have said that it is not really japanese architecture it is really faux japanese

architecture. and we really wanted something more dynamic, in our planning. and now, as far as saying that there was something, in the redevelopment guidelines, that came out during that time, i have never seen those. but i have seen though, a design plan and a master plan for bucahana mall that was created by rio okomoto but that is for a discreet section of japan town and that was designed to look like a japanese village it was a coherent piece of japan town and that should be maintained and something that we agree with. but as far as the rest of japan town goes, we are taking seriously what our community told us, it does not have to be something with building details, not everything has to be wood and not everything has to be one way and in fact we

have had some buildings that have used those kinds of details. and they don't succeed because they are not in the soul of that building. >> thank you. >> i think it is that level of detail of first hand really making a case for what is in front of us. but which i wanted to acknowledge the concerns, but you answered all and every aspect of that and so i greatly appreciate that and so thank you. >> could you have a motion? >> there is no motion. >> commissioner antonini? >> i would like to approve the project as is. >> second. >> on that motion, commissioners to approve the project as proposed with conditions commissioner antonini? >> aye. >> commissioner hylan. >> aye. >> johnson. >> aye. >> commissioner moore. >> aye. >> richard. >> aye. >> fong. >> aye. >> wu. >> aye. >> so moved, commissioners that

motion passes 6-0, and so the zoning administrator will say. >> enclined to request the variances. >> the commission will take a short five-minute break. [break] >> good evening and welcome back to the san francisco planning commission, regular hearing for thursday, september 18th, 2014, commissioners we left off under the discretionary review calendar of your agenda, on items 17 a

and b for 2013.0831 dv, and request for discretionary review and for a rear yard variance. >> good evening, commissioners michael smith, planning department staff, just one correction, the staff recommendation on this item, is to take dr, and approve the project with modifications. you have before you a staff initiated request for a discretionary review for the project