retain that life and keep that lifestyle, so it was a peaceful neighborhood. the park was always peaceful, and -- i don't know. i just loved it. i wanted to be here, and i stayed. planning commission regular hearing for august 23, 2018. welcome back commissioners from your summer hiatus. members of the public, if you would please silence any mobile devices that you may have and when speaking before the commission if you care to do state your name for the record. i would like to take roll at this time. [roll call taken] >> we do expect commissioner fong to arrive shortly and

commissioner johnson absent today. first on the agenda, items proposed for continuous, 16531680 mission street. proposed for continuance. 2a and b, 11 gladys street, discretionary review proposed for continuance to october 18, 2018, and further, item, downtown area planned amendment for 175 golden gate avenue, a general plan amendment. staff is requesting a one-week continuance to august 30, 2018. i have no other items proposed for continuance and no speaker cards. >> president hillis: any public comment on the items proposed

for continuance? seeing none, close public comment. >> commissioner koppel: motion to continue to the date specified. >> on that motion items as proposed, commissioner koppel. [roll call vote taken] so moved. motion passes 5-0. places us on the consent calendar. >> i need to continue -- 2b to october 18th as well. >> thank you, appreciate that. commissioners, con sent calendar, all matters under constituted routine by the planning commission and may be acted upon as a single roll call vote. no separate discussion of the items unless so requested. in which event, removed from the consent calendar and considered as a separate item at this or a

future hearing. item 3, 2018-0000948, conditional use authorization and completely new motion was distributed and forwarded to the commissioners earlier this morning. 4, 2018-000, eddy street. conditional use. 6786, seaway, conditional use. and 6, 2018-8th street, conditional use authorization, no speaker cards. >> would anybody like to pull the items off consent calendar? seeing none, commissioner koppel. >> commissioner koppel: motions to approve items 3, 4, 5 and 6. >> second. >> thank you, commissioners.

could you come up to the -- items 2a and b continued. >> second time i've shown up for this and not been told beforehand. >> it's on the agenda as an item proposed for continuance. >> proposed, so no hearing, just a continuance. >> thank you, good day. >> commissioners, there is a motion seconded to -- >> sorry. for item 5. if you would like to make comment, you have to request it be pulled off of consent so you would like to comment on item 5? ok. >> we'll pull item 5 off the consent calendar, we would not normally take public comment but will now because you are requesting it. it will be heard first item on the regular calendar.

>> motion to approve items 3, 4 and 6. >> second. >> thank you, commissioners. on that motion to approve 3, 4, 6. [roll call vote taken]>> so moved. that motion passes unanimously 5-0. item 5 heard at the beginning of the regular calendar. commissioners, commissioner comments and matters, item seven, consideration of adoption draft minutes for july 12th, july 19th and july 26th of 2018. i have no speaker cards. >> any public comment on the draft minutes? seeing none, close public comments. >> motion to approve draft minutes for july 12th, '19, 26.

>> commissioner fong. [roll call vote taken] >> so moved, commissioners. motion passes unanimously 6-0. places us on item 8 for commission comments and questions. >> commissioner moore. >> commissioner moore: with great sadness i like to ask that we close today's meeting in memory of mary gallagher, who unexpectedly passed away on july 31st. and it is with great sadness that not only myself as a commissioner, but hearing from the community we are all in disbelief about this untimely and early passing. mary was the passionate voice for principled and good planning and she will be missed by all.

i ask we keep her in our memory. >> president hillis: thank you, commissioner moore, we will do that. >> commissioner moore: a few additional items i would like to mention. an interesting article which came through on public press, cities are sicking the tax man on ghost homes, unoccupied units and retail spaces. it's a long article. i would be happy to pass it around so that you can see. it is very worth reading article, particular as it also reflects on techniques other cities are using, so we are not alone with this problem but it is nation and actually also known internationally, particularly canada is quoted as an example, dealing with -- i'm passing this around. the second item is european cities are facing many of the same problems as we do.

it is the airbnb, and others, and reading back from the open article how europe is rising against airbnb having a serious impact on housing. the shortage of housing and detrimental effect on affordability. and the cities of barcelona, munich and paris are leading with pushing back on airbnb for the length of permitted rentals, and for fines that are mind blowing. if somebody exceeds 30 days, the fine is 600,000 euros. you may want to multiply that by 1.17, in order to get the equivalent of u.s. dollars. this is a staggering amount, and a great deterrent, i would like to pass that on to our gatekeeper, kevin guy, so we are feeling more emboldened to look

at comparable measures in this city. there is an article in german for those not fluent in the language. and i think those are my comments for today. >> president hillis: thank you. commissioner richards. >> commissioner richards: piggy backing on what commissioner moore said on the vacant taxes. i hope coming under the affordability study that there would be legislated recommendations on how to actually solve the affordability issue up to and including these kinds of things, like vacant taxes and that. i hope that we could expand that to include solutions, too. thank you. >> thank you. >> seeing no further comments, commissioners, department matters, item 9, director's announcement. >> thank you. i also was going to, welcome back, by the way, to all of you. i was going to mention that untimely passing of mary gallagher. she was at one time, for a short period, zoning administrator for the city and the department.

so, mary has a long history of working with us and the community. so, we were fairly surprised and saddened by her passing as well. the second announcement i had was, is good news. you may recall that going back to 2005 or 6 there has been an ongoing series of litigation and lawsuits against the city on the housing element. it goes back to the 2004 housing element. you recall there was a court decision at that time that required the city to conduct a full blown e.i.r., unprecedented at the time, the first city in the state, and the city because of the timing did e.i.r. on the 2004 and 2009 elements, that is just resolved in the court of appeals and found completely in the city's favor. so, we are very, very pleased about that. it has been a long time coming. i wanted to do a shout out if i

might for the key attorneys in the city attorney's office on this. audr audrey pearson have been involved on this case for a decade, thank you for that, and jim, and kate stacey looking over our shoulders for a very long time. so, thank you the city attorney's office for their work on this after all these years. thank you. >> president hillis: commissioner moore. >> commissioner moore: this ruling based on the e.i.r.? it was based on the e.i.r. >> litigation was on the e.i.r. itself, that's right. >> commissioner moore: nothing. >> item ten, review past events at the board of supervisor visors, board of appeals, no report from the board of supervisors and the historic preservation commission did not meet, and no board of appeals report. so, go to general public

comment. members of the public may address the commission on things except on agenda items. that will be afforded when the item is reached in the meeting. i did just have one speaker card for georgia. >> all right. >> good afternoon, commissioners. i was here about a month ago and i want to thank commissioner moore, the director, regarding a case i'm working on pro bono. this is a city residents of i think your sister is outside, about having access to a back yard. having a right to see the sun on your face. prisoners get an hour in the sun, this person doesn't. she needs a ramp in the back yard, it requires a variance. thank for looking into it. there's no way to waive the variance fee of $4,000. to this family, that's effectively no. you can't have right to the back

yard. so, i don't know the solution now if there's no way to waive it. i'm doing this work free. it's, i'm designing it, he's going to build it, it's for just one person, it will go away because no one will use it when it's done. but there is something fundamentally wrong, that a civil right, you need to pay for it. and if you don't have enough money, you don't get it. so, i don't know what the answers are, i know you can't talk to me during public comment, but there is something wrong here. >> i would want to mention a couple items we did not address the last time we were present. we have been thinking about how it impacts my sister and additional impacts as far as health and safety. in a case of an emergency of a fire or an earthquake, she can't get out of the house. the only access that we have currently for her is an electric

ramp chair. and we have had that go out before, and to repair it, usually takes about a month or month and a half, based on past experience. and what i'm worried about is in the event of an emergency there's no way. it's impossible for her to leave. so, it's similar to an elevator. they tell you in the elevator, in case of fire or earthquake, take the stairway. they know that elevators or electric vehicles or devices are not reliable. they can go out during a fire or they can go out during an earthquake. something like that happened to my sister, there's no way she could survive. and lastly, also, we should know that asking for fees ignores the, what we take for granted, that when we want to exit to our

yards, if we are homeowners, no one says we can't go to our back yards. no one charges you to go out to your back yard. and so we take it for granted, you know, then, but my sister, she cannot go to the back yard. there is no way for her to do that outside of having an a.d.a. ramp, and i think it's unfair to be charging her a premium to be able to do what we all take for granted, our ability to go to our yards any time we want during any emergency or any occasion. no one charges you to be able to do that. my sister cannot do that. the only way she can do that is to have access to the yard, to the ramp. but they are foreclosing that as a possibility by asking us to pay a fee we just can't afford. anyway, that's what i wanted to

address. we didn't address those the previous time. thank you very much. >> thank you. >> good afternoon, welcome back. thank you so much for speaking about mary gallagher. i only knew her fairly recently, she was a very fine person and she was very, very, very, very, very ethical person. over the holiday break i sent you a letter, and to the b.i.c., to woodland avenue, the noitra house, apparently the staff was aware of it, on alert, everyone is watching for it, you know. so, hopefully that will work. i want to point out that according to the -- it's rated b right now, even though there is a historical notation that says it's his first wood sheathed house, 1937, and i did go to the

open house and it's really quite spectacular. here is the, may i have the overhead, please? saw the movie "trouble in paradise," kind of like on that level, gorgeous. anyway, but the thing that most impressed me besides the uniqueness and the specialness of the design, the size of the rooms and the programming, and but it's so livable, it's so functionable. you can see it is two levels, it's a pie-shape lot, so it's very unusual in that sense. but, you can see the size of the rooms there, and this is from the handout, i'll give you a copy to put in the record if you want. but you can see the master bedroom is 11 by 12. and there's two other little bedrooms. i guess i shouldn't say little. but certainly add -- adequate

for living. the one thing that's interesting about it, garage convert today a den and it has in the 1970s and has painting by someone who worked in north beach. here is a picture of it so you know, or up there, on woodland. so i hope the staff will work together at 1660 at the pit counter and the building inspection, so there's no over-the-counter permits or anything odd like that. and just to go back to something i mentioned before, before the break, i don't believe president hillis was here, the project that i mentioned where they, the rm1 and got revisions and it's basically one big single-family home now, and the walls were changed after, i guess after the certificate of final completion. it just sold for $400,000 over

asking, and it's rm1. so, that's all, and thank you again, take care. >> thank you. next speaker, please. >> good afternoon, welcome back, commissioners. cory smith on behalf of the san francisco action housing coalition. apologize it was in director comments before i walked in, but a pending housing accountability act lawsuit, it was filed early this week, end of last week. i have no idea what's going to happen in that case, it's to be determined. i hope that one area we can all agree, we can make better decisions as much information as humanly possible to make that decision. i've talked with folks inside the department, and including an h.a.a. analysis and all the housing proposals that come forward to you. i know other cities have done that. i know in talking with other

folks it does not seem overly complicated to be doing, straightforward legal analysis. so, again, if we could get that included in all of these packets, just so when we know coming forward whether or not this is going to be compliant with state law, it just means we remember the conversation now, goodness, more than two and a half years ago at the hearing we had, here until midnight, it was my first-ever one, i was wondering what the heck i was doing at this job. but it's something we have to deal with eventually and if we can be proactive and not deal with it again in the future i think we would all be better off. thank you. >> additional general public comment? had ok. >> when that item is called you'll have the opportunity to speak to it. >> president hillis: additional general public comments, seeing none, close public comment. >> commissioner richards: a

couple things based on what i heard, not trying to start a conversation. i am concerned about the woodland avenue home as well. i did not really know noitra was a big deal until i went to palm springs over the break and in the house i was staying there was a book this thick, and the home was in it, look for homes in san francisco. so we need to make sure it does not happen to the other noitra house, even though it was not landmark rated. i would suggest we contact heritage and write a historical evaluation on the home to see if it's landmarkable. don't need the owner's permission. i don't see mr. bustavich here, i understand the pickle they are in. i feel incredibly sad. i think one of the ways out of it would be a gofundme campaign for the variance, and i'll put the first $250 in, if they

actually start it. and i would suggest in service to each other that we contribute to it to see if we can get her to be able to see sunlight and safety. >> you know, in years past there was a provision in the code that allowed me to make exceptions for fees under certain situations like this. unfortunately, the code was changed several years ago to take away that ability. and so nonetheless, i mean, this is a classic case of why we, that provision should be in the code and i'm happy to look into it further. >> and maybe, i mean, is the budget still being considered by the board, no, that has passed. but any fee legislation that we can tack that on to, it teams logical. i mean, you can do it for accessibility reasons, it would seem like the way to go. >> jonas, we can move to the regular calendar. >> very good commissioners.

if we can wait 30 seconds, i believe staff is coming up the elevators right now for item 5, under consent, got pulled off consent. 11, 2015-010192, potrero presentation.

>> hello, commissioners, good afternoon. john fran circumstance senior planner in the city-wide division and project manager for the potrero power station mixed

use development project. this informational presentation is intended to provide you and the public with an introduction to the power station project. the head of the anticipated mid-september publication of the draft environmental impact report and the draft design for development document. before we get into the details of the project, i would like to introduce my colleague, john lau, from the office of economic and work force development, provides some of the broad context of the project for the southeast quadrant. >> thank you, john. john lau. i'm here with deputy director ken rich of the department, we are able to answer questions at the conclusion of the presentation. so, a few of us in the room today stood at this very podium roughly ten years ago presented

information on various legislative efforts proposed by the then board of supervisors aimed at shutting down the power generating facility that previously operated at this site. so, the fact that we are here today discussing a project of this scale on this site is really speaks to dramatic level of transformation represented by this reuse proposal. not only is it note worthy for the spectacular waterfront setting, we'll get into, but significant in that the project will transform a place that was once a negative presence in and on the community with a new vibrant destination that for the first time will really connect the neighborhoods of the central waterfront to this part of the bay shoreline. my job is points beforehanding it off to the rest of the team. we go to the overhead. the first is the settlement

agreement after several years of work by members of the community and legislators, then operator of the mirin corporation closed the plant at the end of 2010. this ultimately happened as a result of a legal settlement agreement entered into by the city and county in the prior year. so, for the terms of that closure agreement, the city committed to proactively coordinating with the property owner on a reuse proposal for the site, collaborating with necessity agencies and treating that as essentially a priority project. so, that legal agreement is one of the reasons that we are here today. the second point i want to mention, the southern bayfront strategy, organizing tool to talk about the suite of development projects located

along the waterfront in those southeast sector. here you see the projects from mission rock and pier 70 to the north, down to the shipyard, a significant amount of housing, jobs and open space, so they obviously will shape the look and feel of this part of the city for years to come. they will also contribute on a number of important elements of community fabric through the public benefits agreements that we negotiate with the sponsors of each of these sponsors, things from sea level rise, measures, to transportation system improvements. and of course, the provision of housing at all income levels is atop that priority list, and this project has the potential to provide upwards of 2,000 housing units as you'll hear. so, obviously perform well on that front. and in terms of the below market

rate percentage, our aim is provide 33% of all housing produced from the entirety of the southern bayfront project as b.m.r. units. the level for this project is still being negotiated, we can expect the final number to be somewhere around that target. so, before i hand it back to john, let me just quickly note that we have had a very positive and productive working relationship on this project with your staff and the project is now proposed, certainly benefitted from broad and multi-layered engagement from the department so we certainly want to thank you for that. that's john, thanks. >> so, just providing a little bit more context for the site, the potrero power station, roughly 29 acres located on the central waterfront south of and immediately adjacent to pier 70.

situated within the central waterfront plan area and the project includes approximately 24 acres owned by the project sponsor, associate capital. and another 4.8 acres owned by pg&e. and pg&e granted to have it included in the clearance for the project. the project site has been privately owned for roughly 150 years, and has hosted a range of intensive industrial uses throughout its history, from barrel making and sugar refining to power generation. most recently it was operated as a power station by pg&e and then by mirant before being decommissioned in 2011 through the settlement agreement john mentioned. both the central waterfront plan and the settlement agreement stipulated the site's redevelopment would be subject to a future planning process, although zoning designation remains industrial today.

that planning process commenced in the spring of 2017 after associate capital purchased the site from the previous owner, which had acquired mirant, and began engaging with city staff and the neighborhoods. over the last 16 months, the planning department staff along with our colleagues from numerous other agencies have worked collaboratively with the project sponsor in the design for development document, or d for d, establish the project design and program. and previous of this scale, published subsequent to the draft e.i.r., however, in order to provide the public with greater information and more context, the city and sponsor are publishing simultaneously. considerable level of detail upon publication in september, it should be considered as a work in progress that would be subject to ongoing refinement

and engagement. at this point, i would like to introduce enri and christa, to give you an overview of the outreach they have done and overview of the major proposed project elements. >> thank you. welcome. >> thank you, commissioners. enrique landa, the project sponsor. potrero power station is about reopening what's closed 160 years. much needed housing, office, life science, hotel, community facilities and open space without displacing a single person. it's a part of san francisco that fueled the growth of the city from the gold rush until this century and now it's our chance to weave it into the fabric of the city. this is the site context where the site is immediately below pier 70. located at potrero point,

bedrock that existed into the san francisco bay. ideal site for uses serving a growing city, first as a pasture, potrero, and then one of the first sites zoned, gunpowder manufacturing was outlawed in the city and moved to potrero .1850. several industrial uses ening obviously in power generation. as you can see from the site just before world war ii, the site was dense, tall, and very active. even while places at potrero and dogpatch were still empty and vacant. 2011 through the work of many, the power station was closed when it was decided that burning fossil fuels to create electricity was not the best idea for san francisco. this is our site, which is john mentioned, 29 acres. the areas in purple are owned by the port, 2.8 acres along the

waterfront. in black friday by our company, and then pg&e. as we mentioned discussed and started a robust listing process for the community that had quarterly meetings with the community, monthly site tours, more than 100 stakeholders meetings, developer office hours and wildly popular tours. these are some of the images from the power station being opened up, culminating, welcomed 10,000 san francisco people from the site. kristin will take you through what we learned from the project and question afterwards. >> i get to take it home, and vision of the site, and respectful of time so will maybe move quickly. my name is kristin hall, urban designer at perkins and well. working with enrique and his team over the last two years on

developing the concept of the site, along with city staff. as you know, true collaboration takes a lot of work, a lot of communication, a lot of time spent together and john francis in particular has been doing a fantastic job leading that process. so, just to pick up where enrique left off, we worked with the community to identify a vision for the site and out of that emerged a few key points. first of all, housing. obviously a huge need in the city. the site will generate a lot of housing, bring people to the neighborhood and serve what we hope the second key point to create a livable neighborhood. dogpatch does not have a grocery store or services that people want in a livable, walkable district. we also heard people want an active urban waterfront edge. not a lot of places you can have a coffee by the water. the ramp is one of the places, it's a favorite place in dogpatch to set up something we want to build on, that character here. also, open spaces that offer recreation, that's not something

that you can do on port property which is a lot of the central waterfront is port property, unique opportunity of this site to offer recreation. also, in order to ensure character, the character is the stack is a huge icon, so keeping the stack is something people wanted to see and wanting to see a neighborhood with a diverse urban form, not like an overscaled neighborhood like we have seen in mission bay, but building on the character of dogpatch and the interesting mix of sizes of buildings we see there. so, how do we bring that vision to ground? a series of connections. pier 70 as one neighborhood and picked up every north and south connection and that's the grid, that which we then refine with east/west connection. humble street exists as an easement, and connect it to the waterfront and about getting to the waterfront and luring people

across the 300 to 500 feet of switch yards, call the unwelcome mat. so, trying to get people out to the waterfront and make sure and finally it's a series of open spaces and ways to move through the site that reinforce the site undenybly as a waterfront neighborhood. going vertical, we thousand about three ways. looked at three different options. the first, 90 foot height limit across the site. people agreed with us it looks like mission bay, does not allow the variety of urban form we heard people asking for. then looked at ways to increase height and open up more open space, exploring the tradeoff. middle option here, a little more height, and more space, and the third a little more height and a little more open space. so what we landed on was a plan where we had 300 foot tower that matches the height of the stack, so these two buildings in

conversation across the site. kind of point, counter point to one another. we have a wider central open space, a little larger than south park. and then you can see the height coming down in scale as it approaches the waterfront with the nice hotel activating the waterfront edge. thinking about land use in this diagram, yellow is housing. we have 60% housing. so, majority housing project. the blue here is for r and d or office, brings a daytime population to the site to hem activate it during the daytime, another thing we have learned from mission bay. when you segregate land uses, you don't get the around the clock activity, so make sure we were doing it at a finer grain. and bio tech can grow and relieve pressure on neighborhoods. humboldt street in pink along the edges, the neighborhood retail street, grocery stores,

services, and these lead you out to retail at the waterfront, the cafe on the waterfront or the coffee. the central open space will be the location for community services like childcare, media center or library, those kinds of neighborhood uses. and then 23rd street lined in blue at the left side of the slide are the p.d.r. street. so, lining that to be a compliment to the p.d.r. on the southern side of the street. in addition, we have some -- we have a generous waterfront open space. you can see it's about one and a half times the size of a spray park, that's the highlight. but in order to compliment that, and other scales of open space we have the neighborhood park and also soccer field on a rooftop of our district parking garage, for an opportunity for dedicated recreation. you can see this is the character of the central park and how the stack features as a prominent icon there in the kind of feeling of the neighborhood

and views to the waterfront. and some other important public amenities, the childcare and the grocery store, the promenade, obviously, along the waterfront is a key component. we also have a pretty robust t.d.m. strategy. three key points. first is the xx bus route. we were having to have the terminus on the site. even closer that a district parking garage, so having a bus layover means always a bus waiting, a clear and visible persistent reminder of transit on the site, we are excite abouted that. also a shuttle that opens day one, cal train and 16th straet bart station and a forward approach to curb management. it's not the most exciting topic, but a lot of us are frustrated by the bike lane. allocate plenty of bike space, and also thinking about

universal access and of transit dropoff and making sure everybody can use the curb. an image from one of the neighborhood streets. we talk a lot about open space but the streets are part of the public realm and right now the site has no streets. so, thinking about inviting wide sidewalks to create the experience, this is consistent with what we have heard. also an opportunity to lead people out to the waterfront. you can see the waterfront in the background, and also on 23rd street, you can see the streets slope gently down towards the waterfront. so, as you are walking, you'll get a great view of the water sheet and the east bay hills beyond. so, thinking about moving people towards the waterfront. and some 3rd street industrial controls, you can see in evidence here in the rendering, thinking about an industrial kind of character and scale. architectural elements, the

materials and also an interpretive plan that will help kind of illustrate and bring people into the history of the site. we have speaking of the history, we have several existing structures on-site, three of them are district contributors, the 3rd street industrial district and three are significant with import and events, not with architecture. we propose to keep the stack and redevelop unit 3 into a hotel. so, a little more about that, the stack, we are all familiar, the great icon of the central waterfront and it's going to play an important role in the site as a gathering place. unit 3 is the metal structure, and envisioning it as a hotel. mostly because it's a public use, you can get it through the ground floor of the building, people up to the roof to enjoy the view and open up the waterfront. this is how we imagine it might look in the future with the

blue-greenway trail, access to the water with the recreational pier to the side, and skip over this plan and mention quickly we are planning for 66 inches of sea level rise, the most conservative approach for sea level rise. we can talk more about that if you have some questions. and -- >> go ahead. how much longer do you need? >> two slides. >> thanks. >> two minutes. >> i just wanted to end by saying we are back here in two months for a hearing on the draft e.i.r., and after that we will be -- we are continuing to do tours, everybody who has not come down yet, we invite you to come down to the power station. also another la cocina food festival, and talk to enrique, any member of the public, come and ask questions and hear your thoughts and get nerdy with you on the details. thanks very much for your time.

>> president hillis: open this up to public comment. i don't think we have any speaker cards, but i'm sure there are some members of the public that would like to comment. you can just line up on the screen side of the room. >> good afternoon, commissioners. j.r. epler, president of the potrero neighborhood boosters association. the power plant is an exciting project, promises to return land language scarred by industrial uses to the community. and linked to the port, offers an opportunity for creative thinking and design. today you will hear from a number of community members. the comments you'll hear will reflect the excitement we have about the possibilities of the site and the trepidation with the issues that remain open, and discussed in the report in the packets. among those open issues, ratio of affordability. ideally it will contribute

better to the balance of jobs and housing, and not dig us further into imbalance. timeline for the pg&e, planned for a quarter of the total residences, it will affect how it affects the job housing balance. we hope to see project with pg&e prior to project approval. the commercial uses will help sway the balance. a substantial life sciences project, pressure off dogpatch and commercial use. also advocating for the life sciences overlay in dogpatch to funnel such uses to the power station site. we are a little concerned this late in the project design that the affordability mix is yet to be determined. continue to advocate for on-site affordable housing and know that pier 70, and mission rock 40% availability, offer a great

range of outcomes for the site ultimately. and look forward to seeing the design for development and the development agreement for this project. the boosters have been engaged since planning for the site began in earnest and thank you john francis for reaching out and the engagement with the community. we hope these documents adequately address our concerns with respect to the design and the project impact on the neighbor's infrastructure. we have asked to limit parking than what it has designed, also asking the city to make the investment in transit and community services that will make for this rapidly changing part of the city to serve all its residents better. >> president hillis: thank you. next speaker, please. miss heath. >> good afternoon, commissioners. i am speaking on behalf of the potrero boosters. i do have copies of the report

if you need them here. we recognize we are still early in the process but draw your attention to a few key points. if i could have the overhead, please. first up there's the street grid, ultimately define the character of this development. the proposed design does a good job of connecting to the, to pier 70 but our development committee feels there are some unsettling similarities to mission bay with large unbroken blocks of buildings following a predictable pattern and open spaces that are more like boulevards than plazas. one only needs to compare this to pier 70 to compare site lines to the waterfront, and a variety of outdoor rooms that invite gatherings, passageways and ministries that don't follow a simple grid.

anticipated d for d looking for design at the power station that emphasizes neighborhoods in the neighborhood. you'll note that the best use of the development are from the bay. the massing of tall buildings on the west side of the project is problematic with sight lines to the bay, blocked by what some may characterize as a wall of buildings. we strongly encourage the developer to consider views from both the immediate street level and from potrero hill. a number of neighbors are raising concerns that the proposed 300 foot tower would greatly diminish the iconic nature of the stack. while we recognize that costs and the ability to provide a comprehensive package of community benefits are crucial to the success of the project, we would like to see the density and design of the project better compliment that of pier 70. open spaces should be reimagined to provide more varied use with gathering spaces as well as

programmed areas. interior open spaces need to be oriented from north to south, to take advantage of sunlight. and we need more open space, please, particularly along the bayfront. an area that done well could provide a tremendous public benefit. finally, let me step back and say that both the developer and planning department have been fantastic on communication with us. and we look forward to a continuing dialogue with them and you as the project evolves. thank you. >> president hillis: thank you. next speaker, please. >> hello, commissioners. my name is peter linenthal, and i direct the potrero project. we have collected material for the neighborhood's history for almost 30 years. could i use the overhead?

i'm here to call attention to the four historic brick buildings on this site. they are station a, that's a on my map, the gate house, e, the gas meter shop, that would be d, and the gas compressor building, that would be c. both the gas meter shop and the gas compressor building are completely hidden from public sight, so i think most people have no idea they are even there. these four buildings are the only buildings on this site which link us to the in credibly important explosion of industry on potrero point from 1870 to 1940, the same period when pier 70 developed. and although i'm excited about the preservation of the stack in unit 3, those buildings only

date from the 1960s. these brick buildings are connected to the beginnings of pg&e, the rebuilding of san francisco after 1906, and the growth of industry on potrero point. the gas meter shop and the gas compressor building were identified as eligible for the california register of historical resources, station a and the gate house were identified as contributors to the 3rd street industrial district. i was very glad to hear from the historic preservation commissioners that they recommended creative approaches and an open minded approach to preserving these buildings. also associate capital presented several alternatives with different degrees of preservation percentages. i know there are going to be other interests that compete with historic preservation, but i think we should look at each

of those buildings very carefully and not move too quickly. it's often said that we should maintain the industrial character and the history of the power station site, and demolishing these buildings would mean that they could never be replaced. i just want to add, there is excellent testimony from 2002 by dr. paul growth on the significance of buildings on potrero point. quite a bit about the potrero power station site and i'll make sure you get a copy of that testimony. thank you very much. >> president hillis: thank you. next speaker, please. >> good afternoon, jared domini,

treasurer of the dogpatch business association, not representing them today. [please stand by]

>> -- of the power plant site and pier 70. this will be a huge asset to our neighborhood and san francisco at large. the neighborhood sees this project as helping unite and expand dogpatch to the waterfront. who can resist the grace and beauty of the stack, our neighborhood icon? frankly, i'd be happy if this project were referred to as the dogpatch power plant.

thanks very much for your support. >> president hillis: thank you. hello. >> hello, commissioners. my name is karen baselini. because i've been in the dogpatch for 13 years, i've real he watched the site line and it's changed dramatically, and i've seen the waterfront from the ground pretty much be obliterated. and also, i've adopted 22nd and 23rd street. i'm pleased to come here because associate capital asked

for opinion on what their proposed project was thus far. i'm pleased to say i'm pleased with their plans. the breadth and the depth of their communication within the neighborhood has been outstanding. they've done it, they've had multiple invitations to tour the stack and the parcel, and they've provided the neighborhood with a lot of current and historical information i find very insightful and informative. it created a bit of a community just in their gatherings because they've offered to provide local food vendors and information, and that's been a valuable blessing to us. as the dogpatch association says, they've updated them regularly and enrique provides a very animated presentation, so it's very easy to watch. they've provided access to march management. the meeting times are very accessible. they range from the day times

to late evening hours, and they genuinely seem to care about the way the space will be used and preserved. they prepare thoughtfully detailed plans. i met enrique in august of 2017 when i went to the smoke stack tour, and i recall asking his team to really recall the beauty of the waterfront and really expanding that, and the development of the piers to look out, and he said he would research that. i'm very disappointed with the obstructed view of the water from dogpatch, and i wish more protection of the waterfront visibility existed. thus i'm very excited about his hotel plans and the associations overall plans to preserve and open up the waterfront. it would be helpful if the commissioners would consider further incentives to change

the waterfront because some of the challenges are economic from the developer's point of view, and there may be some new creative solutions to that to help preserve some of those other buildings that are much more expensive to maintain, and i thank you for your time and attention. >> president hillis: thank you very much. next speaker, please. >> good afternoon, commissioners. nice to see some of you. and i'm here to state my support for the potrero station as i believe this is a terrific and an amazing project. some of you may know me, i'm a native san franciscan, living in the dogpatch for 15 years, and i'm also a part of the dogpatch association as the membership coordinator. i'm here to speak for myself, and i've lived in the neighborhood -- sorry. i've been on the board for the past nine years. here's why i support potrero

power state project. it has been very active in our community. enrique and matthew in our neighborhood for the past year or so, hosted some of the -- as some of the previous speakers mentioned, hosted numerous outreach workshops, public tours, community events to engage and being involved with the community, as well as office hours at various dogpatch businesses. what i find exciting in the future is the future access to the waterfront, the businesses, and the future housing there and open space, which is very much needed. we all know that. and the historical meaning of the area. as a kid, driving 280 friday always overlooked the east and the potrero power plant, and i always wonder what would happen there as a kid growing up, and now that i'm an adult, i'm just really excited to be part of this change in dogpatch and in

the area of the waterfront. like pier 70 project, potrero power station project will create future full-time jobs and public open spaces, and i thank you for your time. >> president hillis: thank you very much. next speaker, please. >> good afternoon, commissioners. i'm keith goldsteen. i'm the chair of the eastern neighborhood c.a.c. you're the president of the potrero boosters association, and i've been the president of the dogpatch homeowners association for 12 years. i've known in the neighborhood of potrero hill known as dogpatch years for 44 years, which you can probably discern from my access. i'm glad to see the development of this site. i'm glad to see more of the southern waterfront opened. there's been numerous