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tv   [untitled]    March 9, 2015 7:30pm-8:01pm PDT

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vulcan on just above ord and lived there for 15 years and moved there because of the character of the neighborhood. i grew up in presidio heights in a large house, 4,000 square feet and most of which was never used and i know what it takes to raise a family in the city. our neighbors at number 3 vulcan have lived there for 50 years and they raised four children in a home very much the same square footage as ours which is 750 square feet so the argument saying that this ordinance would limit the ability of families to live in the neighborhood doesn't ring true. it seems that the controls that are suggested still leave plenty of latitude for existing families and new families to add on as they need
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to while maintaining the cozy and intimate scale of the neighborhood so thank you for considering this ordinance. >> thank you. next speaker is steve clark hall. robert mold followed by nancy peoples, philip crawford and joyce washinger. >> i am a long-term resident in the area for more than half of my life and called home inside the proposed area. i'm going to be the biggest downer in this meeting and with that being said i do support scott and his efforts to keep 6,000 square feet single family resident denses in this neighborhood where they don't belong and i hope you're supportive of this and i recognize it's interim legislation and get the rules to the planning department and achieve what they want to achieve. my two big issues were that the 3,000 square feet limit is an issue for the uniqueness
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of building on high slopes, and i also think there maybe some unintended circu -- consequences and it's interim and probably even people like me can wait 18 months and i support scott and what he's trying to do for the neighborhood and i hope you follow through on the proposed legislation. thank you very much. >> thank you. robert. >> yeah. i moved into the area and purchased a house a little less than five years ago. thank you supervisor wiener for bringing this -- hopefully bringing some sense to what is happening. it just seems there's a lot of growth, development. now we have over development. and it just feels like nobody in the planning commission is -- i know they're over worked; right? there's a lot of projects all over the city. there's a lot of things that people say that are very
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important that we need to grow, we need to grow. ited just be -- it would just be nice if the neighborhood could have a say as the scale of buildings going up next to smaller homes. it would be nice if the commission took time and care and show the concern that we do as a neighborhood for the growth and development in the future of the city. development is good. over development is not so good. thank you. >> thank you. next speaker nancy. >> good afternoon. my name is nanny peoples. i'm a. >> >> nancy peoples. i am a native san franciscan. i live on mars street. i am here to support this legislation. most of the reasons have already been stated by the people who have spoken, and i just hope the
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planning commission can step back and take a look at what is happening with some of these huge homes that are out of scale. thank you. >> thank you. philip crawford. >> thank you. my name is philip crawford and a homeowner on clifford terrace. i have owned my only for 30 years now and i support of supervisor wiener's moratorium to control what i consider out of development of massive homes in the city. this trend that we're seeing all around us risk changing the very nature and character and of course the diversity of our neighborhoods and it further and most importantly it makes these changes permanently. they're irreversible once the developments are put in place. i live around the corner from a
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proposed development where two existing homes totally less than 3,000 square feet are being proposed for replacement by five individual single family homes totaling over 31,000 square feet so a massive change to the very character of the neighborhood there. my hope is what i think is a sensible legislation will pass and give the city some breathing room to reevaluate our development policies. thank you. >> thank you. joyce followed by -- it looks like -- is it chris ponz? >> good afternoon. my husband and i live on saturn street and one of the many reasons that san francisco is a beautiful place to live is because of its charming and unique housing architecture, both single family
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dwellings as well as apartments. unlimited growth will transform this city into buildings simply made of steel and glass. all growth needs limits. there is so much space and infrastructure that needs to accommodation growth. i ask that you take the long view in considering options regarding zoning controls on over development and by that i mean thinking yard your terms in office by doing what is best for the good citizens of san francisco. thank you. >> thank you very much. next speaker chris. followed by tricia followed by carol glenville followed by ozy rone. >> [inaudible]
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>> sfgtv could you zoom out a little bit for the overhead? >> okay. good afternoon. my name is chris parks. i live on state street. i'm the filer against the projects in the area. one of the projects that was a catalyst for this legislation. supervisor wiener thank you for proposing this legislation and experiencing to the proliferation of homes and additions that are out of scale and character in the neighborhood. i believe that there will still be some projects that should get through this and should go back to the drawing board but it will catch some of the largest and out of
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scale homes until legislation is developed. for families that are worried about not expanding for children or a family gathering this is nothing to fear because most will not be touched by the legislation. on the graphic you can see these are the backyards circleed in green. the rear protected backyards that development would normally not be allowed because of the zoning. we don't have a traditional midblock open space. instead we have background thases we share and they're homes to large mature trees that are home to the parrots in the area and many other bird species . this shows state street. this aspect of the neighborhood which is the defining feature provides unique transition from the densely lots and open space on corona heights. you can see the trees
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that would be removed that are in the protected yards that are the state street and these large significant trees. we are under siege by developers. on state street and characterized by this [inaudible] nature and in addition to the large projects include fifty three state, more on state street and museum way and [inaudible] stop work due to building permits infractions and on state street or fined for illegal removal as other project. they're not expanding for families. these are dwerps that care about one thing and building the largest building they can get away with and get the most money they k they don't care about the character of the neighborhood or the birds or the people that live on the streets. this legislation is necessary right now. we cannot wait a
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moment longer because if we do because lots will be gone, the trees and birds will be gone expect the working class families will be gone. there's recommend this legislation to the full board for approval. thank you. >> thank you. next speaker please. tricia. >> hi. my partner and i bought old joes house at 212 state street 30 years ago. although we know that progress will alter any neighborhood the recent pace in this neighborhood has been alarming. we support the proposed legislation in hopes to allow the community to reassess how housing is planned and approved in the neighborhood. we are encouraged by the proposal to limit them to 55% of lot coverage. once monster buildings encroach on these lots we can never turn
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back. when massive trees and sprawling yards are replaced by these loom being structuring -- looming structures and birds disappear. at the moment we live next to a construction site under a stop work order by the department of building inspection and also by osha. we believe that the planning department was not being over burdened by the recent break neck speed of neighborhood expansion the current developers would not have attempted to subvert the planning application process dodge the dbi and overshoot existing neighborhood limitations. we urge the board to approve this legislation and allow time to rethink the consequence of building these over sized condos and houses that serve only the wealthy and which will forever eliminate the wooded green open spaces and
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. >> >> expansive neighborhood views that make up our neighborhoods. please support this legislation. thanks. >> thank you. [calling speaker names] >> thank you. i am carol glenville from upper teres and with neighbors and i want to point out many of these neighbors are renters and not owners, but they're renters who have been there for a long time and love the neighborhood more than i can tell you and have been more active than many of the property owners. philip crawford spoke eloquently about the project that is impending with the 6,000 square feet houses and i want to point out if the plans go through the corner of 17th and roosevelt
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would be totally changed in character. as you come up 17th street now you see trees and the rocky out crop. if the project were to go forward you would no longer see any of that because the rock would be removed as would the trees. thank you everyone for all of your concern. >> thank you very much. next speaker will be is ozy and followed by marianne and rose hillson. >> good afternoon. my name is ozy and live on clifford terrace. i am here to commend supervisor wiener for introducing this legislation, and being responsive to your constituents. we thank you. and i also want to extend my thanks to the neighbors and residents from korbet heights and corona heights who banded
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together and put their efforts forward and brought this to the attention of supervisor wiener, and made some waves and got some results. in addition i would like to add that this problem is not unique to corona heights and corbet heights. we here at noe valley are experiencing the same problem if not worse. every other block is spring lelled with the proliferation of these houses which are mega monster plus 500 square feet. they don't add value. >> >> 5,000 square feet and they don't add value for the problem of affordable housing which i am sympathetic to. instead and they're changing the landscape of our 73. i would like to urge you. >> >> city. i would like you to exthis to noe valley which is
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in district 8. we deserve the same protection. our neighborhood has the unique character and charm that needs to be preserved. it's about the preservation. it's about ecology, and it's about affordability. the people who could afford 5,000 square feet at $1,200 per square foot are people who could buy it anywhere in the country but we want to keep the same charm and character of noe valley so please bring this legislation to pass. >> thank you. next speaker. [calling speaker names] >> good afternoon. my name is marianne and i live on ord court for more than 30 years. this legislation is the first start to a problem that is plaguing
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many neighborhoods in the city. the qualities that we appreciate, scale, historic character, integration of trees and landscaping with a mix of housing types are being threatened by developers who are singling out the smallest and often the quaintest and most affordable homes for redevelopment into monster homes more than 4,000 square feet. trees are ripped down and neighborhood character is being paved over. if the smallest homes are removed from the housing stock and only 4500 square feet homes are being built in the few remaining lots where are families just starting out supposed to live? conventional wisdom says that only people who earn close to a million dollars per year can afford a $4 million house. if you're going to allow these
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monster homes into our neighborhoods you're excluding everyone except those people that earn a million dollars a year. the residential development market is only serving the top of the economic spectrum right now. the city is a magnet for the rich and nobody is stopping them. the city is spending all of its planning efforts on producing new neighborhoods east of market street and on no time on preserving the culture and scale and architecture of our long established west side neighborhoods. what wrong with this picture? we hope this interim legislation is the first step in the development of a number of area plans, not just in corona heights but every neighborhood that is suffering from the on -- [inaudible] >> thank you. next speaker is rose hillson followed by
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michael moore. >> good afternoon supervisors. i am rose hillson. i'm on the coalition for san francisco neighborhoods land use and transportation committee. although we haven't signed a resolution yet because this is a last minute announcement to our group what i would like to say is i thank supervisor wiener for allowing his constituents to bring forward this piece of legislation because planning commission has many ordinances and it's not just that rh-2s are supposed to have 45% rear yard. to planning credit and i am not going against anything here believe me it's about facts and 45% is rh-2 however in the code in rear yards and talks about
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exception to the rules and that creates all of the various pop outs that negate the open space and rear yards so you have to dig down into the legislation because i am always into the weeds. i think that neighborhoods are going to have to approach this very carefully because of various loopholes as supervisor wiener mentioned. there are loopholes and that includes building inspection department and what they are allowed to do, so just as a warning this is great. that you have this heard before this committee today because many other residential neighborhoods are going to be affected with neighborhood character and this needs to be taken on a serious level throughout the city. thank you. >> thank you. next speaker michael morris. >> my name is michael morris. i have been a resident on state street since 1978. state street
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is a narrow widening street and the longest block in san francisco and usually parking on both sides of the street. in a recent year i noticed a big increase on the traffic on the street and loring of the quality of the driving on the street. i now see that just up the street where there is a sharp bend there is a multi-unit apartment block going up with garages opening right on to the street where there's a bend. therefore i am glad to see that some legislation is going to be introduced which will control -- look at all aspects of the development and try to control the character and preserve the kaish of the neighborhood. thank you. >> thank you. next speaker. next speaker please. michael morris are you up? not here. okay. sonia straus. i have a
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long stack of speaking cards. you can speak to the item afterwards. sonia straus. >> hi. there's some question about whether this legislation will stop housing or not. we've already heard neighbors mention specific projects. if neighbors felt they already had the level of control that they want over their neighborhood we would not be here. we also hear a lot of anxiety. like i hear the word "arksz larm" a lot. definitely the neighborhood is alarmed. everyone in san francisco are alarmed. if we get to 30,000 units by 2020 that means 5,000 units a year and more than we have done in the last 20 years. it's going to be hard for every neighborhood. we have heard people asking for this legislation to be extended which means that even if once it's
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passed here it could reduce the uncertainty of the process. the uncertainty of whether it will spread to other neighborhoods has its own level of uncertainty of the process. i ask my members of the sf renters barriers association it's not just enough to ask for development in other areas and really achieving our goal how we act in a drought requires a personal commitment on every person's part to realize that there's going to be stuff happening they're not comfortable with. like nobody is comfortable with the face pace of -- fast pace of development in san francisco or victory gardens or drought relief or if you think it's small and doesn't make a difference every little bit counts and to be comfortable with the change we're under
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going is really the only way forward. i have a letter from somebody else. can i read it? >> sure. >> because i am out of my time. >> then no. sorry. >> it's okay. i mean it's from someone at work. >> but if you want to forward it -- if you want to email it i will look at it. >> michael morris. all right. cool. eric you're up. sue vaughn you're next. leslie collij. her roashy -- i can't read the last name. >> i'm not sure to speak on this matter. i am here to speak on the second item. >> thank you very much. looks like erica is speaking on the next item. leslie. >> good afternoon the i am leslie and live on cobet off
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and since 1977 and the owners of a house that was -- (low audio) and had occupants so 300 feet seems adequate for. >> >> 3,000 feet seems adequate for one family and i appreciate the legislation coming forward and i thank supervisor wiener and hope you approve it. thank you. >> thank you very much. next speaker. >> before i start a point of order. the third item for the housing element i got a letter saying it's going to be next week. >> yes it will be. >> my name is [inaudible] and coalition for san francisco neighborhoods. we haven't taken this matter up in regard to these homes but i think it's long time coming and i'm --
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well, a little surprised that supervisor wiener has [inaudible]. i strongly urge you to pass this today. this is something that the people in the neighborhoods very strongly value. [inaudible] for san francisco neighborhoods are strong and preservation of quality of neighborhood and the preservation of the character of neighborhood and this will be a good start in that regard. but hello -- we in the other parts of the city also want protection too because monster homes are not just in corona heights. it's already started and going on for a number of years throughout san francisco, so i hope that the supervisors take this very seriously, and will support this and eventually expand it to other parts of the
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city. thank you. >> thank you very much. john. >> thank you. i am also with the san francisco bay area renters federation. i think i wanted to sum up some of our concerns that we have been discussing on our online forums. the first concern is will this spread to every neighborhood in san francisco now being titled to legislation to preserve their neighborhood and visual and economic character? we think this could be an impediment to adding the housing that we need in the future. we should think about the controls we are using to keep giant homes out could be used to keep poor people out. not only does this legislation -- not only this legislation but existing law in zoning do keep poor people out of the neighborhood in question. no one without a massive income could afford to buy or rent in the area without the current
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legislation and i say this with respect to the people who are neighbors there. you guys moved in and bought your houses 30 years ago and you moved out of the middle class because of the appreciation of the houses in many cases. okay. as a basic issue of fairness a lot of other neighborhoods are being asked to take things out of character for those neighborhoods. they're not generally as white or miss class as your neighborhood or up ermiddle class as your neighborhood. i understand the opposition to big homes. that is the motivation here but a fenced off yard is not the equivalent of open space. i upon skip that part. if economic diversity is the goal of the legislation and residents support affordable housing in the neighborhood as some said let's add additional protections that allow multi-family exemptions and increase density and remove the
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requirements and high percentage for affordable developments. all neighborhoods -- not just other neighborhoods in the eastern side -- [inaudible] side of the city -- >> next speaker is hector martienez. followed by richard goldman followed by fred bovey followed by milliony palmer. >> hello i live on state street. obviously i am opposed to the monster homes. the argument that you need certain amount of space to raise a family i think is misleading. i have two young children, one and three years old, and we live in a home that is less than half what is proposed for these homes and that is more than enough space so this whole argument that more space for the family is completely misleading. the other issue that i would like to raise is we went through this
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process with a proposal at fifty three state street at the planning commission and i felt as far as the planning department and the commission there was no importance placed on affordability and that's the big issue here. it's not simply about they're not wanting more homes. we want existing afford annual homes to stay or be built. these are monster homes. i don't think anyone can afford these homes unless you're in the upper strata as far as income and that is very few and between so obviously i support this legislation and i encourage that further legislation include all of state street and the surrounding areas and wherever else there is concern in the city. thank you. >> thank you. next speaker. >> thank you. my name is
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richard goldman and my wife and i live on state street under this area in consideration. i want to thank supervisor wiener for addressing this problem. as mentioned this legislation is a reasonable approach allowing some new development but giving us time to take a closer look at the rapid growth in the neighborhood and allowing for input from the neighborhood. our neighborhood has many through lots with open space on one end and the housing on the other and it's something that gives a unique character to our neighborhood as having this much open space and visibility to the neighbors opposed to the midblock open spaces and this is something that many of the neighbors have said already and want to preserve. i just want to bring up one other -- not constituent but one other group that is interested in preserving the tree and it is open space. two other projects that have been part of this the impetus for