my car. there is no large grocery store anywhere close by. there are a lot of new housing and no grocery store for them, no big grocery store. there are the mom and pops, and some beautiful things, but it's way up the hill. i walk past there three times a week. and i really need to have access to groceries and you have to realize that if they tore it done and made it into a new building with housing, no big grocery store could go in there because the zoning restricts all -- >> thank you. >> thank you. next speaker please. >> good afternoon. and i am stephanie chang. i work with my husband and we have had an office on polk street for 30 years now. and a lot of changes on polk. the street is a two-lane street

and getting busier all the time. and what the impact will be to the street by having amazon's 365 whole foods a block away from where we are. we do indeed have real foods a block away, two blocks north from the proposed site. it's really coming around. the shelves are well stocked now. and the produce is really lovely. you can't say that we don't have a nice, full service grocery store in our neighborhood. please vote no on this application for amazon 365. thank you. >> thank you. next speaker please. commissioner, my name is gavin and i am speaking in opposition of the conditional use

application for 1600 jackson street. i am a resident in the neighborhood and have lived in the city for over 20 years. in 2006 the san francisco voters passed the small business protection act because they were alarmed by the negative impact of formula retail neighborhood small businesses and neighborhood character. the same reason i oppose whole foods and amazon on the corner of polk and jackson. amazon is about profit at whatever means possible. let's keep retail out of the neighborhood and encourage this space for housing and local unique businesses. >> thank you. next speaker please. >> and president hillis and commissioners, i am richard and you have lived and russian hill since 1983. i have long appreciated the efforts of the planning department and planning commission to serve the citizens of san francisco relative to land use issues. that is why i am imploring you

to approve the conditional use application of whole foods 365 at 1600 jackson. please do not be influenced by opposition from outside of the neighborhood, but rather, please listen to my neighbors who overwhelmingly want this market. i believe this is a unique opportunity. you know that if the existing building is demolished, recent legislation would make it impossible for large-scale grocery ever to occupy the site. please satisfy the underserved neighborhood. i just want to say in the earlier 24th street issue, you eliminated a market. if you add one here, then the net is zero to city. it should be very easy for you to approve it because it's zero. thank you. >> thank you. next speaker please. and i will call some more names. [calling of speakers]

>> i am carolann rogers and and our message is simple. we need a full service grocery. our position is neither ideological or hypothetical. it is based on what we actually have heard from numbers in the neighborhood. and this strong support of individuals who live near and benefit from the proposed whole foods 365 project has not diminished during the nearly three years that we have passed -- that have passed since we first heard about it. and there is an an even greater need and you can see tonight that there are many more units that are going to be built. a full service grocery is the

kind of basic infrastructure and that the neighborhood needs and rightly expects to have available. and who would be most impacted and we urge you to give your approval so a long vacant, but still useful building can be occupied finally by a much-needed neighborhood serving business. i thank you for your time. >> thank you very much. next peeker please. >> a good evening, commissioners. as a 23-year-old san francisco native and a resident living three blocks away, i oppose the 1600 jackson street cu. i am hopeful that amazon may be convenient, but it won't help solve the housing crisis and may lock up the ideal location for housing and ground floor retail.

we need to encourage housing at every corner of san francisco for the young locals such as myself who have been highly impacted be i the lack of affordable housing in san francisco. thank you. >> thank you. >> thank you. next speaker please. good afternoon, commissioners. and i am one of the outliers who is commenting today. approval of a cu could have a major long-term adverse effect on san francisco's control over local land use. that is what sb827 from weiner and tang sought to do. it upzoned parts of the city and wrenches away local land use control and is likely coming back next year if weiner is to be believed. if you grant the cu for a high-end store, which is close by a sister restaurant store which can deliver, in the face of compelling need for housing

what the state legislature is focussing on, the message is being sent to sacramento that at least for san francisco, it is not getting the message. while you are not voting today on housing use or lombardi's site but a cu for formula retail. such decision cans not be made in individual silos. after all, since the cu is required, it is a matter of entitlement. thank you. >> thank you. next speaker please. >> a good afternoon, commissioners and to i oppose the lombardi's to a whole foods 365. this is not a unique site for housing. there are four sites within two blocks of the site that are being considered for housing development right now. so i am asking that you support the permit and not prevent the establishment of a grocery store

in a vacant building that is perfectly suited for it. >> thank you very much. next speaker please. >> i am a nearby resident and want to show my support. if the planning commission wants to help the neighborhood, they should listen to the people who live in the neighborhood. i talk to many members of the community when helping form the discover polk street. everyone wants a 365 in the location. the support so strongly in favor that, quite frankly t commissioners do not vote in favor of the whole 365 at this location, the commissioners will be completely ignoring the needs and wants of the community. no question we were to poll the member, they would vote in favor. not the merchant who is do not live here. some may ask why it is needed? however, the existing grocery store, the whole foods and

trader joes are too far for regular practical use. despite the large distance to the existing stores, the stores are not sufficient to meet the demand of grocery shoppers. i don't know if you have been into those stores on a weeknight or the weekend, the lines are packed and the lines are even -- >> thank you, ma'am. your time is up. >> please support the whole 365 proposal. >> next speaker please. i have one other card. >> good afternoon, commissioners. i am a small business owner and neighbor on polk street for over 28 years. i am disheartened by the fact we are still year trying to accommodate with this proposal with whole foods also known as amazon. and to keep big box stores out of small business corridors for obvious conditions. this project if approved will surely impact many surrounding businesses in a negative way. i fully support affordable

housing. we do not need another grocery store. this is a complete farce. what we need is affordable housing. i am hopeful you will make the right decision today. thank you for your time. >> thank you. next speaker please. >> i am in favor of whole foods. i lived in the neighborhood for a long time and i have seen tremendous growth throughout the neighborhood with a lot of high density and proposed additional housing as well. and in my opinion, there is not good infrastructure planning, and we do need a grocery store specifically on that corner would be very helpful. i have a disabled sister who can't go to real foods or trader joes or the other and it is impossible to get around.

i hope you will consider this and thank you. >> thank you. next speaker please. >> just a minute. >> whole foods in novi valley is only occupying one floor. this project was continued for the sponsorship that includes housing and in addition to ground floor retail. a plan with five small studios is insufficient. this is an opportunity to turn a vacant site into a large housing project complete with bmr units. as well as 1600 jackson has the option to rent to whole foods and amazon, they will avoid what is needed to be built there. existing neighborhood shops would be put out of business. please reject the cu unless plans to accommodate a large number of residential units that

were initially planned for this site. thank you. >> thank you very much. >> thank you, commissioners. good afternoon, evening. thank you for the time. housing, housing, housing. i am not going to repeat everything that my -- a lot of my peers have said. i want to mention that with the special use district which i think some of us are open to, we can do more density and we can get maybe a larger store. there are options out there if you vote this down, which i believe this is a poor project that necessitates a better use for this site. there is indeed an option to work together with folks in the community and make a better project that works for everyone. please do take note of the notes and handout from the jug shop. this is a project one block away that pencils out apparently because the developer just bought it within the last year and is eager to develop it. and i believe this 1600 jackson site is a better site and is

more feasible and has even more opportunity. and i look forward to working with either the existing developer, somebody who purchases the property, to build a development that meets the needs of everyone in the neighborhood and fights the housing crisis. thank you, commissioners. >> thank you. next speaker please. if anybody else would like to speak on this item, please line up on the screen side of the room. welcome. >> hi. i've had a business on polk street for over 30 years and livered in the neighborhood for 40 years. and impacted the businesses on polk street and it's something that i totally oppose. i think the traffic will be horrendous. we do have grocery stores on polk street. real foods is probably one of the biggest ones and only two blocks away. and i think it's kind of ironic that steve lombardi told me he turned out to be a show room for amazon. and decided that he was going to

quit the business because people were coming in and try the products and order them online. so anyway, i oppose this and thank you for your time. >> any additional public comment. seeing none, we will close public comment and open it up to commissioners. all right. i am happy to start on this. >> one, i hold groceryings to a higher -- they are need as we build housing. i would like to see a grocery store here. i do all my shopping for a family of five. i can't do it at some of the smaller grocery stores. i spend my time going to trader joe's at 8:45 because i know it closes at 9:00 and the whole foods at 8:30 because there is long lines to go to the grocery stores. i like grocery store rs and think we need grocery stores. and trying to eare krutd grocery -- i remember when we tried to

recruit grocery stores to come to the city. i think a lot as happened. i think it would be a good use on polk street. to the merchants who oppose it, i think that is a proi mare pocket of -- that is a primary pocket of opposition. i go to a store almost every holiday season to shop for my wife. it is a great place, but there are many streets -- the only reason i go to because there is a grocery store. and i often go obon my way home to ocean avenue whole foods and will stop at the restaurants there. i think it would be great for the businesses and the merchants on polk street. and i only ask you to look at 24th street where there are two whole foods. yes, they would be much bet we are housing above them. but they've been nothing but beneficial, i believe, to the merchant corridors. the specialty stores there are that. i still go to as well as whole foods.

it's doing well. it is expanding. i think it's been beneficial to those streets that have whole foods. so my general rule of thumb is i support formula eare tail where there's -- formula retail where there is community support it to. i think the residents from what i have seen and heard generally support it. certainly there are those who don't. i believe the merchants are mixed. probably most of the merchants are against it for competitive reasons which i think is shortsighted. i think retail grocers are one of the bigger retail sectors that have survived and brought people to commercial corridors. i know there is a nervousness about amazon. amazon is obviously a retail killer, but this is one aspect of amazon that actually is ground floor retail that works and works in commercial corridors. i would love to see housing on this site ideally.

and the whole foods and unfortunately, we don't have that before us. i think it is a roll of the dice to say no to this and hope that is what happens. and i think we can overcome the zoning restrictions and we have approved housing projects, but not a ton with grocery stores. and i amgenry supportive from what other commissioners say. and i was a little disappointed with the five units of studio housing. i would support something that would take half the upper floor and use it for housing. and kind of figuring out what whole foods is doing here with nervousness that it's amazon and kind of try to do away with that, but i think grocery stores are different. they serve a need.

and i don't like getting in my car and trader joes and prefer it to be walking distance. and the one on franklin is close and the trader joe's is close. and you want a walk-in grocery store that i think would help the commercial vacancies on the corridor again. and like the delores or ocean whole foods, but it is not what is before us. i don't know if it will be before us if we say no to this, so i am willing to support this. commissioner johnson. >> commissioner johnson: so as i said at the last hearing, i think this is a difficult case. i am familiar with this neighborhood and in this neighborhood probably twice a week. i have been to the whole foods on franklin and the trader

joe's. i have been there on nights, on weekend, and i know they are crowded. i understand that neighbors at hearing the possibility of something going in that site, and especially a whole foods going in that site is really excited. i think the things that we have to consider is whether one that the formula retail use gives the right trade-off and how the neighborhood feels about formula retail. i also think as much as kind of having a grocery store or formula retail use in that space could improve the amount of support of other businesses. so good housing. housing and density would help the corridor. so i just, again, feel disappointed that we are being put in this position where i

think we could have had a win-win solution in having housing and having some type of neighborhood serving business. i would fully support looking at a special use district if we could get housing density on it. but as i see the proposal here and i don't see a real effort to come back that serves the needs of the city. and from the drug shop and this project in terms of acquisitions, price per square foot to build and what the yield would be. do you have comment on that? the reason why i am asking this

is the last page of the presentation -- i have a lot more comments, too. and the last page hit home with me. and after the condition denied the chipolte to go in on the market t land was developed with 62 units of housing. i was on the other side of the dais here advocating that this low, one-story site that used to be a home restaurant not be allowed to be that because the neighborhood looked it, but now there is 62 units of housing on top of it. any comment on this numbers? and why it didn't work? >> i can throw out numbers and that is all they are, number, but i would recommend taking a look at the article that was written last month in "the chronicle" that he sited 20 developers and the cost and why everything is for sale now. and goes through the numbers and what type of proceeds to pencil wood frame versus steel and

concrete construction. it set forth no fake news there as far as how difficult to pencil housing with 20% bmr now. >> sure. how do you make out or what do you make of the fact that the jug shop project, they want to mover forward with that with those economics? >> it's -- i don't know exactly what the status is. i haven't seen their numbers. i know nothing about it. all i can tell you is there are a tremendous amount of head winds. and to make that project work without without the incentive which i am not aware of what they are doing. >> sure, sure. if we don't approve this project today, what will you do? will you seek another grocery store? >> i would seek another retailer for the existing building that is in excellent shape that is 60,000 feet with parking, yeah. i would.

>> great. thank you. >> honestly coming to this hearing, i didn't make up my mind and still kind of thinking about this. when whole foods came into 2001 market street, i was a neighborhood leader and we are advocating for it because we thought it was a great use of an old car show room. i talked to the folks on 24th street and the businesses over there and i did a survey. i walked around from business to business to business. i said, and if it came whole foods, what happened to your business? and the overwhelming feedback was that it was down between 20-30%. so there were actually a few businesses that went out of business between the time whole foods went in and the time that i actually was surveying it because we had a whole foods coming into our neighborhood. we went ahead and supported whole foods coming in and just

in july after 27-year run, harvest market went out of business on market and 16th and now i have talked to the owners of the golden produce and they're struggling. and that is five, six, seven years ago. i can't even recall how long ago it is. i think a retailer of this magnitude has staying power and wearing down power of local businesses. so we can't just do, hey, a whole foods went in to x place or y place, and i think you have to look at it over time. we asked to do a leakage study and all the nice things and they did and convinced us that it was a good idea. i still goes go to whole foods. i am not not against it, but it has had an impact on the neighborhood over time. i want people to realize that. and safeway is literally across the street and people choose to two to whole foods. and remind me of when trader joers was trying to come in.

[please stand by] >> it is 60,000 square feet.

i understand that the housing may not be feasible. currently this site has zero traffic. what is the intent of whole foods to utilize all the 60,000 square feet? i think we brought it up in round one. will this become a fulfilment center? will there be delivery cars? will there be a lot more traffic then we are used to seeing as though it is pretty much a zero trip location as is? tell us what the plans were dutch are if this were approved. >> i will tell you we did an extensive traffic study and it took us the better part of nine months to fulfil that. it is 60,000 feet including the parking area. there are two levels of parking space. on the second floor, -- the problem when we put in housing,

you need light and air. there is only so many units that we can put along the front edge of the street and the windows. that is why we have a limited amount and we needed to keep a sizable amount of the backspace and some of the window to keep it an exciting story for 365. >> morning, or, good evening, commissioners. i'm the regional president for whole foods northern california. so as mr isaacson said, it is essentially 20,000 square feet on the bottom floor. that is what we are developing. on the top floor, the original intention was we would have some light retail to be able to accommodate overflow from the bottom floor as well as seating and community space for the neighbors. in addition to office space. we have to have administrative space for our team members and mechanical space. so that is essentially what we are at. the challenge with the five units as we have had to squeeze that back. any more than that and we would squeeze it to the point that

some of the offices and mechanicals and so forth start going downstairs and it squeezes the retail space down to what we considered -- it becomes a not usable space for full-service grocery store. that is the thing that the neighborhood has been consistent about. they really want a full-service grocery store. we designed this, it has been two years ago. we essentially finalize the design. it was a full year in advance of the amazon acquisition. this is a whole foods. this is not an amazon store. this is a whole foods market. that is the goal. to provide a full-service grocery store for the neighborhood. that is it. that is what it was when we designed it initially and that is the way it is after the acquisition. amazon is not involved in our design sessions. i designed this with my design team. it was designed at a whole foods that is what the neighborhood wants. that. that is why mr isaacson originally came to us with the idea that the community had spoken after the target attempt and they wanted a full-service grocery store.

we designed a full-service grocery store and we continue to propose a full-service grocery store. not a fulfilment center. >> president hillis: may i just follow-up. how big is the eighth street historically it is probably the smallest when you have. >> it is a little less than 20,000 square feet and i would argue it is undersized spee m.u.n. and that is -- >> president hillis: and that is full-service? >> it is just a hair under what this site is spewing ok. >> commissioner moore: as you were saying, in years protect -- in your his perspective what is a difference between a 36 for a whole foods store? >> whole foods is completely full-service. we call it a full-service meat department, seafood department, full-service prepared food department, full-service special department with cheese, wine, beer and so forth. the 365 is a slimmed-down of a whole foods market. we have seafood and meat.

we have specialty but we don't provide the service that you might be accustomed to any standard whole foods. the goal behind that is that we are providing the groceries at a lower cost. we are able to manage the financials because of the simplicity of the format. a lot of the service department his cost that much more money to do production in the store and to fit the store with all it takes to produce food within the story cost a lot more money. in bringing that down, we are able to manage it in such a way that we are able to lower pricing structure. part of the goal here is not just fresh, natural feuds to the community but affordable fresh and natural foods. it is something we have heard consistently from the neighbors. >> commissioner moore: thank you for explaining that. i would like to comment on that for my own observations. eight years ago, when whole foods was in front of this commission, i don't think any of the ones here where they're at the time. it was an exciting moment to see a new model of store start to break the big dominance of

safeway and lucky. when he moved into california street, it was a breath of fresh air in terms of quality of foods and excitement of employees. a lovely marketplace. it was somewhat unknown in this part of town. that said, particularly since the takeover of you joining amazon, that particularly -- that particular atmosphere has disappeared. i am sitting as a commissioner as commissioner and speaking as a resident who lives in the area and uses the story. the store has become, basically, the purveyor of 365 in all areas where we normally had choices. we -- there are more and more people buying homemade food to take it home because cooking is often time-consuming and

sometimes more expensive. the quality of the store, as a place of choice and a place of variety and novelty has completely disappeared. in addition to that, the services that were originally creating short lines, 50% of the check outlines have disappeared because they are serving people who are calling in or doing something else. so the quality of what was has been changed to a more call in, computer-based type of an order and left -- aside from his limited options and variety, left at a very different story. 365 becomes the theme of the new store. i can see that the prepared food offering this, which is what you normally do in a restaurant, can be fined for many but it does not really contribute to what the vitality of the retail corridor and adds something that

really is a full fledge grocery store in the manner that i expect from a traditional point of view. there are no choices. there is a certain amount of similarity and i'm concerned that it does not meet the expectation that i hear people are expressing but have not fully examined it. that is my personal opinion. it does indeed affect how i look at the need of this type of story store in this location. thank you. >> can i speak to that? >> commissioner moore: i don't think it was a question. >> president hillis: if commissioner moore would like a comment back. >> commissioner moore: if you could make it short, yes. >> two things. the 365 is a more simplified version of the whole foods market. that has been one of our proposals. it is ironic because the small business owners that we have heard from, at their fear is we will carry product just like there's and that will put

pressure on their revenue. our stance, all along, has been we are carrying a basic grocery assortment at whole foods. all-natural, focused on organic, affordable pricing, and that was a perfect complement to the existing businesses. i continue to put that out there as a point because i think that is a goal that we bring more people to the neighborhood and we bring more like-minded and food oriented people to the neighborhood. we provide a shopping experience for the folks in the neighborhood. and a good complement to the existing specialty businesses. the other point with regards to the busyness and the lines within that story, that is part of the reason why we want to open the store. currently people from this neighborhood, we know this from our surveys, go to the franklin story. it creates more traffic and creates more consent -- congestion. both within the store and around the store and part of the goal is we will take pressure off of

that store and they will shop at this store and bring more people into our neighborhood who are like-minded to shop with the other specialty markets. >> commissioner moore: thank you for explaining that. i think it was explained that the smaller stories, i know, support local farms and local produce and foods and vegetables it was the 365 brand all of a sudden. there is anonymity about who it comes from and who does it and et cetera. that model has been compatible with this particular location. thank you. >> president hillis: thank you any additional comments, questions, motions? >> commissioner richards: to just a comment. we have heard cannabis dispensaries before that are just delivery only. can we put a condition on this project that it would not allow

delivery? >> president hillis: sure. i'm sure we could, whether it is viable or not. >> commissioner richards: i'm not trying to deprive anyone of a grocery store, i don't have any personal vendettas against anything, i just don't want to see the existing businesses hurt i don't want to see this business have an advantage over other businesses because they do offer delivery. the california and franklin store does deliver. >> correct. >> commissioner richards: in the spirit of not trying to deny the neighborhood and some of the near neighbors of what they want to, if i am getting to the heart of what i would want to see, that is what i would want to see >> president hillis: i think we are still -- you all can have a seat. we will call you up if there are questions. i certainly support that. as well as i think we should require that half of the upper floor is housing. that is what i would support.

and a motion, i don't know if there is support for that. my fear is, again, i would prefer housing here. i would prefer housing with a grocery store. my fear is we deny this and we get a yoga studio upstairs in a restaurant and a shoe store downstairs. that may sound good with no housing but i don't think it is as good as what we get. there is a dire need for grocery stores. you may not like whole foods or trader joe's, but i know i am not shopping at bayreuth for my family of five. i am driving to franklinton and sitting and waiting in line. >> commissioner moore: you're making a great comment. i would say there is gross pressure for whole foods. why don't they start on the franklin street side? there is an underutilized building from what i can tell that would be an ideal location for them to really fully grow into what they need to be instead of trying to do this little island store, where

indeed the small-scale nature of business and support for them is far more important. >> president hillis: all right we are down to five commissioners. boy, we need to -- commissioner johnson? >> commissioner johnson: so you said you would support half of the top floor being housing. i'm just curious how we make that happen without seeing plans and with what the project sponsor has shared about what they think is feasible or not. >> president hillis: i mean, it is a bit of a crapshoot. it either works or it doesn't. i think that project sponsor is trying to figure out what works and what doesn't work. there is a fear that amazon creeps up to the upper floors and becomes more of a distribution space.

but they either can do it or not i know, physically, you can bring that upper floor with housing in some configuration and use what faces pulp and jackson as housing and put the office and what other -- whatever back of house uses that are required for the whole foods store, upstairs. there will be the fears of this turns onto -- turns into an amazon distribution center. it gets more housing and gets a grocery store that people want. >> commissioner johnson: thank you. i want to go on record in saying that the issue here for me, is truly whether we meet a city need and a community need. i just want to see if more housing on the site. >> i want to bring to your attention, we have not reviewed the plans that propose the housing. we need to verify that it would be consistent with the planning code. there may be a need for a rear yard modification or something else.

just so you are aware of that. >> president hillis: thank you commissioner richards? >> commissioner richards: it is interesting. i just wrote down two things here. who benefits from this and who pays? i wish we had more of a tilt towards who benefits. the local residents clearly benefit because they can walk a few feet and grab an item and check out whether it is by robots or the one where you lift it up off the counter and you pay for it. the technology is so whizbang. the amazon shareholders benefit. there clearly people who benefit who pays? local merchants pay. there will be an impact on local merchants. one thing i forgot to say on the 24th street survey i did was business is down because people wanted to shop under one roof. they went and they found everything they needed at whole foods, granted in a different format than 365, but they did not want to go across the street to the cheese store. it was in another stop in a busy

day that they did not have to make. i agree with commissioner johnson. the city does pay eventually. we can't have it both ways, which would be the best thing for the city to have housing and a retail, vibrant retail -- retailer here. i would love to have -- explore an s. ud or something to make it work if we could. i'm still not completely convinced. i mean, we had an offering of mr rubin not to sell alcohol. we had commissioner koppel saying note deliveries. commissioner hillis sang half the upstairs has to be housing. at this point, are way down to something that doesn't work for amazon whole foods? we have all of these things in a bag and you shake it up, what happens? >> president hillis: that may be the case. but i think it's -- again, if the developers are correct, i don't know if the housing will work on this site. we may be stuck with a retail in a form of lombardi sports.

into the who benefits, there is a reason the city has a c.u. to remove grocery stores and wants grocery stores. there is a need for grocery stores. we are underserved for grocery stores. and of course, is this a good location for it? it is a pretty good one. what i rather go on van ness, sure. but i don't know if there is a site on van ness. >> commissioner richards: one more question. when we had president breed going to get a grocery store for the hayes valley, she went and found a retailer up in portland. so then we had molly stones and all these other great grocery stores that just don't make jokes -- don't raise my fear level as much as an amazon whole foods. >> president hillis: commissioner johnson? >> commissioner johnson: questions for staff. are you sure you haven't been able to review the plans for

housing at this site? is that true? >> that is correct. we do a full plan, on the modified plans with the five units or more but there could be a rear yard modification dwelling expenditure. there's a number of basics that we have to ensure for four basic co- compliance but it could be done quickly but it has to be done. >> commissioner johnson: how quickly? >> i would like to make a motion i could approve -- i could support this project with -- like i have stated again and again, i would love to see housing on the site but it sounds like we should take time to look at the potential of what has been proposed in housing on this site. i am not a huge fan of continuances, but i do think

that given where we are in this conversation and the need to look at this option, i would recommend that we consider continuing this and make a motion. >> president hillis: like a month out? november 1st? >> could i ask the commission. considering that the direction is keeping the building the way it is and the proposal was five units, that clearly sounded as though people did not like the five units. and commissioner hillis said half of the second floor. is there a number that you are looking for? are you giving direction to them or suggest the five units? >> it sounds like we both need

-- we would need to look at the five units. while we are at it, i think it would be useful to look at half the floor. at the second floor. >> president hillis: commissioner richards? >> commissioner richards: to the project sponsor, all the different things in the bag that we heard our delivering alcohol, taking up half of the second floor, how does that work for you? >> if i can comment on the half of the housing, president hillis , it is a square. it is 100% coverage. so you need -- if it was a residential building, it would be shaped like a u. or n.l., et cetera. we don't have the ability when you have a square like that on 100% coverage to provide 50% of

the gross floor area to be housing. do you understand what i'm getting at here? and if you take a look at your packet, it will show you where we put the housing. >> president hillis: you can put that on the overhead. >> we have the housing, presently on pulp street and we have arranged it so it has access where the elevator and the stairs are along with a core door that reusing the corridor dose excuse me, the stairway that is presently there. so it also has a little bit of an atrium there. as you can see, and then it has a window frontage along jackson street. so the only ability to provide light and air is to put the units along jackson street. that is the only additional area we have that would be accessible

by the fire department and so forth. >> president hillis: and you could go deeper. >> we could go slightly deeper. the problem is that to make them bedrooms, they need to be accessible. so you would have to lop off the roof and it becomes -- yes, they could be larger, but it basically is down to the frontage of the both streets that we have available to us. >> commissioner richards: and the comments on the different -- >> none of our 365 stores across the country do delivery and they are doing just fine. i don't see that as a prohibiting factor. the alcohol, the hard alcohol, i had already confirmed that with my counterpart at 365. he agreed to make that concession. >> commissioner richards: and beer and wine? >> we had not taken that off. we took the spirits off the table.

>> the question, if you continue to cut out grocery mix, the question is more better suited towards the community. because they have been very clear they want a full-service grocery as we start to limit to that, then it becomes less of a full-service grocery. >> commissioner richards: thank you. >> thank you. >> president hillis: i second the motion to continue. >> commissioner richards: a month out? so that would put us around november 8th. november 8th is pretty impacted. >> president hillis: what about november 1st? >> clerk: november 1st we are scheduled for an informational hearing. >> president hillis: let's go november 8th. >> november 8th? very good. on that motion to continue this matter to november 8th. [roll call]

>> clerk: so moved. that motion passes 4-1 with commissioner moore voting against. that will place us under your discretionary review calendar for item 19. d.r.p. at 1871 green street. this is a discretionary review. >> president hillis: mr winslow? >> good evening, president hillis and members of the commission. i am the staff architect. the item before you is a public initiated requests for discretionary review for building permit application 2017 -12045366.

to construct a two-story horizontal addition of the side and rear of the existing three-story family home. the addition is within the buildable area and not visible from the street. this block of green street consists of three story wood clad houses that back on the street with a fairly consistent pattern of open space. which the project respects. as proposed, the site and felt addition -- addition would extend 3 feet past the d.r. requester's rear wall. a code conforming bay window setback two and a half feet from the side lot line protrudes an additional 3 feet from the rear wall. the reason for the d.r., the d.r. requester his of 1877 and 1879 green street, the adjacent neighbors to the west, concerns three primary issues. the first, to existing property line windows would be blocked by the proposed site addition. to, primacy and light impacts on the neighbors rear deck from the

rear bay window and three, roof drainage impacted by the new construction. to date, the department has received no letters of support or opposition. a recommendation, in light of the d.r. requester's concerns, that department has reviewed the project with respect to the issues and found that on item number 1, the planning department policy does not typically protect property line windows as they are noncompliant features. by the description of the d.r. applicant, they are not required for light and air to habitable rooms and therefore this is not an exceptional or extraordinary condition. number 2, the privacy impacts by the projecting bay window setback 3 feet does not present any unusual or extraordinary impacts to privacy to the adjacent rear neighbor's deck and three, roof drainage and property line disputes are not a planning department issue in this case. the planning department recommends that the commission not take d.r. and approve the project as proposed. the project has been modified

further minimizing privacy concerns and does not prevent any -- present any conditions of justify further modifications to a code compliant project. this concludes my presentation. i am happy to answer questions. >> president hillis: thank you d.r. requester. who is the d.r. requester here? who is the d.r. requester? >> i received an e-mail that the d.r. requester, three of the d.r. requester his might not attend. they may not make it. >> president hillis: there is only one, right? >> there were four parties on the request. >> president hillis: is a project sponsor here? all right. do you know the d.r. requester? [laughter] >> president hillis: do you know where they went? ok. why don't we hear from you.

take three minutes and tell us about the project. gets a little awkward without the d.r. requester or you could tell us how you would have voted on the whole foods project. [laughter] >> that was really interesting. i thought your points were really interesting. and the whole delivery thing was interesting. if you are sick or disabled, -- >> president hillis: i was only kidding. >> anyway. [laughter] >> good afternoon or good evening. thank you for your time. thank you for your opening remarks and recommendations on the project. my name is david heath. i'm the owner of 1871 green street which became my home ten years ago. since then, i got married and i am blessed to have three very small children, which keeps me awake at night. in response to the d.r., we approached our project with

fairness, respect and consideration to our neighbors and our neighborhood. being mindful, thoughtful and deliberate, we engaged with the building department in the planning department very early on in the project and continuously through the process we did that respecting the needs of the process asked of us. at that neighbors -- the neighbors to our westjet comments at the preapplication meeting of november 2017. we managed through those with the planning department and by individual -- individual letters that i wrote to the neighbors in mid-march sharing observations capturing compromise, common tree -- commentary on the discussions we had with planning and building departments. [please stand by]

i believe my wife and our

actions exemplify that spirit. it is not just words. and the neighbors speak about being neighborly, but regretly, the actions don't demonstrate the words. and with the hearing with a proposal shared with us and rather than comprise, what it proposed is the ideal costs. we talked of the timing of the hearing which was only three, four weeks after we were having this meeting. one of the neighbors a gentleman by the name of rob phillips, who is an attorney by profession, when he was talking through this, he said if we, quote, unquote, win, that might be in our interest to pay that cost to ensure their future cooperation. it is obvious he was threatening us to baring the costs and i thought that he had delivered a veiled threat to obstruct our

project. the rebuttal is they wouldn't do anything unethical or illegal, but the track was clear and obvious. >> you are out of time. so if you want to wrap up quickly. >> yes. by all mean. my family and i are seeking approval for the project. we respect the planning and building department's processes and the commission's determination of our application. our architect is in attendance and exemplifies our respect for the process. we hope you approve our project. >> thank you. is there any public comment for the project or against the project? seeing none, we will close public comment. commissioner richards. >> i think the project sponsor exemplifies everything in he wants in the project and the d.r. requester hasn't shown up. i move to not take d.r. and i a prove the project. >> a second. >> i second that. >> okay.

new other comment, commissioner moore? >> commissioner moore: i wanted to add that looking at the plans, there is indeed nothing which is exceptional and extraordinary. the windows that are on the property line as being closed off on nonessential to the building. they are not windows to a bedroom or to a major living space. and i think the addition is modest and very much in keeping with the type of expansion we support. >> good evening, commissioners. a motion seconded to not take the d.r. and approve the proposal. so moved. commissioners, that motions passes 5-0. item 20, 2015-014892drp, discretionary review. >> good afternoon again. the item is a public initiated

request for a discretionary review. the building permit application 2016, 1024, 1031 to construct a one-vertical and side horizontal addition at the rear of a two-story -- let me slow down. two-story single family home on a 25 foot wide by 100 foot deep lateral and upsloping lot. this con viss of three story -- consists of family houses with the exception of the d.r. requester who is a two story. the vertical addition is set back 14 feet from the front and 5 feet from the south side of the d.r. requester's property. the second floor hath to be raised from 8 foot to 12 feet high. the horizontal addition at the rear fills in a 5-foot setback away from the d.r. requester's property but adjacent to the open space. the reason for the d.r., the requester of brief 53 rivera, the adjacent neighbor to the south, concerns seven primary issues. first, that the building height

is out of scale with the neighborhood context and disrupts the visual character. number two, the facade is not come patable with the neighborhood context. number three, the addition will impose a serious seismic threat to the downhill neighbor. number four, it will involve an excessive it canback of a tree which is a bird refuge for hawk hill. the roof deck and additional glazing on the side will invade the privacy to the d.r. requester's living spaces. number six, the additional residential capacity will create inconveniences caused by parking shortages, on-street parking shortages. number seven, the noise from construction will be disruptive to the neighbor's health and well being. to date the department has receive nod letters in opposition nor letters of support. the staff recommendation in light of the d.r. requester's concerns is the department has re-reviewed the project with respect to scale and massing of the context and recommended that the height of the upper floor addition be