community needs to have input into the entitlement process to ensure that projects are affordable, equitiable, contextual, and that they provide community benefit. these items below are traditionally where communities would have input into the shaping of a project. i oppose this -- this project, and because the community opposes it, and please vote against it. thank you. >> president hillis: thank you. mr. cohen? >> commissioners, peter cohen, counsel of community housing organizations. i wasn't intending to speak on the item, but just to reiterate that, you know, one of the frustrating issues that this project continues to expose is

how badly san francisco got hammered by a state bill two years ago that created the change in state density bonus law, which because of a unique set of circumstances intersects but cuts san francisco's inclusionary requirements. i haven't talked to anyone in an elected position or on this commission or even advocates that think that this is a good thing. there's no fix because it's grandfathered, and it pains me to think that this sponsor is capitalizing on this grandfathering. new projects going forward are at least levelled by paying the additional fee to makeup for it, but i think this is a sticking point, and i hope it never happens again, and i hope you remember it. thank you. >> president hillis: thank you.

mr. marti, and if anybody else would like to speak on this, please lineup on the screen side of the room. >> just to add to peter's points, when we were in the midst of discussing section 415, this particular question about density bonus came up over and over again. and at the time, what the planning department told us is there are very few developments in the papipeline, i think ther were maybe four at the time, that were going to use the state density bonus, and therefore we should not include that in our analysis of the exact inclusionary zoning, how that makes it more feasible to get it at a higher level. as you start to see more projects applying the state density bonus, i think it behooves you to open up and see what is the amount of

inclusionary that all of these projects can deliver because they're getting a big boon by increasing their development. thank you very much. >> president hillis: thank you. any additional public comment? seeing none, we'll close public comment. commissioners? commissioner cloe commissioner koppel. >> i am not in support of disapproving. >> president hillis: commissioner johnson? >> commissioner johnson: first off, i want to thank lisa and the department. coming out of the last hearing, as some of the commenters shared, i think, you know, the board of supervisors had a concern around shadow on these

two neighborhood schools. we had a concern, and some of the numbers, while not significant from a ceqa finding, i think we felt needed to be looked again to really, again, bridge that gap that i talked about in my last comments between the code as it stands and the real impacts that people feel every day. and i think what we're hearing from or what we've heard from the community is, you know, there is pain, there is current and historic inequality that's happened in this community, and there's projects that is taking advantage of some loopholes and other things that's not providing the community input that's needed to desperately in this city. sitting down with some of the planning staff and reviewing this more, there's a few thing i want to name.

first, i hope the community hears that we recognize that this project has an impact, an impact against those children. i also just want to say that i'm grateful for the additional context. i think that, you know, we brought up the issue of being concerned that there wasn't a deep enough look taken at the impact, and the department kind of went to work really looking at both where we got those numbers, how we developed those numbers, what we could do using those other types of precedents to look at those impacts, and then what could happen to the building itself to minimize or reduce some of the shadow. you know, i think it's unfortunate as many speakers

have said that we are in a position where we're limited on how we can shape or sculpt or do other things to the building given the statewide context of this project. but i just, again, want to say that i think -- i'm glad that we paused, that we took a step back, that we listened to community, we listened to the board of supervisors, and we kind of turned around as a staff and got under the hood and explored if there was any possible way to address some of the concerns of the community, so thank you. >> president hillis: thanks. just to echo some of those sentiments, i know this project has had a bit of history here and the board of supervisors. i've always been supportive of housing on this site. i think it's a good site for housing, and it is close to transit, and in corridors, we want to see housing. unfortunately, it's not the

project i would like to see, nor is it the process that i would have liked to have seen kind of come about. i think we've -- the commission community and we have worked with project sponsors to approve housing in the mission that tends to look a lot different and respond to community concerns in a very different way than this project has. so typically, we would see some mitigation to the impacts on the -- on the school yard adjacent to this, whether it's sculpting the building or relocating the playground. we'd see additional housing, not the 11% that's coming to us from this project. so i think it's unfortunate that we're here with this process and with this project, but we're also ham strung in what we can do. i think it's clear from the process today at the board of

supervisors and the housing here coupled with the state density bonus law limits or ability to do some of the things that we've been able and the community has been able to do in other projects to boost affordable levels or kind of mitigate some of the impacts that may not be by definition ceqa impacts of these projects. so i wish the developer took a different kind of tact on this, but they didn't. they went kind of the legal route which we're in, and i think the throes we're in, it would have gotten to a much better project that worked for everybody. it's unfortunate, but i think there's not a ton that we can do. it's a site that's appropriate for housing. i wish there was a different project before us, but we have this one before us and are a little limited in what we can do, so i intend to continue to vote yes on this. commissioner richards? >> commissioner richards: so i

guess a couple of things. i would really hope that staff -- i believe that there was an impact here now, scientific, quantifiable, we have to have that written into our planning code, and i would encourage any and all looks at creating more objective standards, rather than just necessary, desirable, compatible. and i urge the community, you know, a standard could be no lot mergers prohibited. i would urge you to rk would with your supervisors to create standards -- to work with your supervisors to create standards that aren't prohibited. the combination of these state laws, the density bonus and the housing accountability act, and soon of come, son of 827, they're really insidious in terms of what they cause to the community, and i think we need to take a hard look at the

impact to the communities. thanks. >> president hillis: any additional comments or a motion? commissioner koppel? >> so i'm seeing there is a disapproval motion. do i need to act on this -- >> >> clerk: commissioners, you adopted a motion to intend on your previous meeting on september 27. to change that, you would have to rescind that previous motion to a motion to rescind the motion to disprove. >> actually, i don't believe that's true. i think you can go ahead and just approve the c.u. i don't think you need to rescind the previous motion is my understanding [inaudible] >> clerk: okay. the comment from the city attorney, you don't need a motion to rescind, apparently. >> i'd like to make a motion to approve the conditional use authorization. >> president hillis: second. commissioner melgar -- or no. >> clerk: on that motion, then, to approve the conditional use authorization with conditions --

[roll call] >> clerk: so moved, commissioners, that motion passes 4-3, with commissioners moor, richards and melgar voting against. commissioners that'll place us on item 17 for case 2018-44644 c.u.a., please note that on september 6, 2018, you adopted a motion of intent to disapprove and continue the matter to september 27 by a vote of 4-3. commissioners fong, melgar, and hillis voted against and subsequently continued that matter to today. >> good afternoon, commissioners. david weissglass, planning department staff. the request before you is arequest for -- a request for

conditional use authorization -- the location -- located in the divisadero street commercial financial district and currently vacant, but most recently occupied by health haven, a grocery store. as commission secretary stated, it was previously heard on september 6 and a motion of intent to disapprove was made. it was continued yet again on september 27 without a hearing. in total, from the -- before the previous hearing on september 6 and since, the department has received a total of 29 letters of support. a support petition signed by 359 residents, and a petition signed by 30 local merchants. in addition, the project sponsor has provided additional documentation regarding the wage

disputes as well as documentation on their work trade programs, and i have some of those documents if you would like to see them. the department has received a total of 120 letters of opposition, including letters from the did i svisadero mercha neighborhood association, and the haight-ashbury council. perthe commission's recommendation and motion on september 6, the department has prepared a motion of disapproval and have carried over my packet from the september 6 hearing. thank you, and if you have any questions, please feel free to let me know. >> president hillis: okay. project sponsor, this is a rehearing, so we're going to go with three minutes and one.

>> i'm not going to review the entire history of the project, but i wanted to highlight a few key points for you. this lease with core power yoga represents the owners sole opportunity in over a year to finally lease this space and enjoy their retirement. as the planner mentioned, we have had over 400 local supporters, 30 of those divisadero merchants, and many of them are here, supporting us at the last hearing. i also want to address the labor wage dispute that was brought up at the last hearing? in 2016, we settled a wage an hour lawsuit by a former student who'd received a free membership in exchange for two hours of work a week, and it really challenged our former yoga for trade program. these types of programs provide participants with free unlimited yoga in exchange for them performing a few hours of light cleaning work a week? even though this approach is

widely accepted in the yoga community and is quite common in san francisco yoga studios, we eliminated all of those programs in our studios before this lawsuit was filed, before we opened our first studio in san francisco. and since then, we've pioneered a new approach, so today, individuals who clean our studios are paid and are classified as employees, and they also receive certain employee benefits, one of those being that they can elect to receive a heavily discounted membership to our studios, and we really do this so that individuals who cannot afford yoga otherwise have a chance to practice with us. this program is also a training ground for our future managers, our assistant managers, even our chief yoga officer got her start in this program. so our divisadero studio, if approved today, would also offer this program, and it's something that as an organization that we

are proud of and believe serves as a model for other programs over time. so i also wanted to take a moment and discuss community outreach and involvement which is a vital part of core power yoga. some examples in the bay area include support for victims of the recent fires, homeless and youth outreach, donating time to animal shelters as well as beach and street cleanups. and one program we're particularly proud of is yoga foster which brings yoga into classrooms free of charge for students. in our many meetings with the neighborhood groups, with all three neighborhood groups, we continually asked them for their guidance in helping us identify important nonprofits in the area and were met with complete silence. we offered them $4,000 a year throughout our entire lease to help support annual events -- >> clerk: your time is up. >> thank you. >> president hillis: thank you. >> that's all i have.

>> we'll open it up for public comment. i've got a couple of cards. mr. hernandez. >> good afternoon, commissioners. thank you again. so first of all, i don't understand why we're rehearing this. i thought we voted to disapprove. divisadero merchants did a survey -- overhead, please, 63% of the merchants were opposed, and they wanted community input, as well, so alma square was polled, 66%. as you know, all the groups are opposed. i -- i visited core power's website, and i was shocked to see that they have already updated their website to say

that they plan to open a spot in hayes valley. as you know, hayes valley does not allow formula retail at all, and i'm just concerned, you know, what will this map look like once we allow these guys to come in? do we want them in north beach, in the mission, in bernal heights? i would say no, we don't want them in any part of san francisco. thank you. >> president hillis: thank you. next speaker, please. >> good afternoon. my name is ted nassar, and i am the owner of this facility. i have also worked in a small business in san francisco for 47 years, 25 of which have been in the divisadero neighborhood. it has been a three year challenge trying to lease our space to local merchants. unfortunately it has been unsuccessful. we had no viable option left until a strong company, core power yoga, approached us with

interest. i am proud to say i helped the divisadero neighborhood become what it is today by hoping up health haven, there by providing healthy food options in a neighborhood that did not have any. i have had an interest in protecting this neighborhood and its community members for a long time, long before some of these associations were in existence. i am proud to support core power yoga and their mission to continue a legacy of improving health in this neighborhood. if you don't approve this project, you will be responsible for this business to remain vacant indefinitely. >> clerk: sir, your time is up. >> president hillis: thank you, mr. nassar. >> thank you. >> president hillis: next speaker, please. >> good afternoon, commissioners. my name is rama nassar. i am the daughter of ted nassar. i was witness to this long

process. i was proud of core yoga's commitment to provide betterment of the community. they really did ask the neighborhood leaders what issues and nonprofits and projects are important to you. what matters so that core power yoga can actually contribute to these causes to both be a part of the community and so that they can contribute and in a profound and positive manner that can benefit the community. so many times they simply asked what can core power yoga do, so many times, and every time there was no answer, and that was very disappointing. my dad is 70 years old, my mom is 60 years old. i worry about their health and the consequences of your decision today and the possibility of their retirement. >> clerk: thank you very much. your time is up. >> president hillis: thank you very much. next speaker, please.

>> hello. my name is randana nassar. i'd like to face the people that are saying to us on the street, we are sorry that you closed your business, we are sorry that you can't find a tenant for your business. in our household, the word sorry does not help at all. it does not take care of my financial security, it does not pay my basic bills. i cannot afford to go fix my teeth. right now, i'm in pain, and i cannot go see a dentist. so we worked so hard during our years in san francisco serving the community, and i hope you don't turn your backs on us, especially at this age.

when our life -- our livelihood is affected by your decision. >> president hillis: thank you. >> thank you. >> president hillis: next speaker, please. >> hello. commissioners. it's great to have a business in the neighborhood, in our neighborhood and to have something healthy, like yoga, and i support this project for everything, and even for the environment. i support it. thank you. >> president hillis: thank you. next speaker, please. >> eric arguello, calle 24. we're here to oppose core power yoga. we don't think this is the right

type of business for their neighborhood or the mission. we're seeing a lot of these types of business moving into the neighborhood which really don't connect with the community. they go after a certain community, and that's where they say. they want to provide more services to working class and low-income communities, but they don't. they are big, they are a chain so it's hard to deal with management because you don't know who's running the spaces. i don't want to see this in the mission and i hope they don't come into the mission because we would be opposing it also, and we wouldn't like to see these types of businesses expand in san francisco. i think if you want to look at the health of it, yeah, we want the health of the neighborhood, but it's the health of the individuals, making sure the community is able to stay there and have the community served with neighborhood types of products. thank you. >> president hillis: thank you. next speaker, please. >> larissa petrucelli.

i was displaced from this neighborhood in the 90's. i know it well. we shopped at health haven, and bought our food at pet haven. core power is not appropriate, and we need to listen to the neighbors in this neighborhood that have said they don't want it. the owners of in this property should lower the price point on their commercial unit so that a mom and pop company can come in just like they were able to thrive, and this shouldn't be an excuse for them to bring in formula retail. thank you. >> president hillis: thank you. mr. hall? >> i support affordable diviz and being against core power coming in here. when i looked at the map that affordable diviz, and i saw oh, they're opening their seventh location, and oh, my fear went oh, my god, they're going to

come to the mission. in the mission, we're fighting gentrification, things like upscale coffee shops and high-end gyms and things like this are gentrification leaders. they essentially attract -- they're attracters, so i would just say please don't approve this. >> president hillis: thank you, mr. hall. next speaker, please. >> hello, again, commissioners. i'm a long time mission resident, but before that, i was a long time divisadero resident. seven years, a block from this site. i just want to voice my opposition to corporate

infiltration. on the other corner, 500, burger king tried to come in years ago. that was opposed and now there's been a thriving art bar that's been there for 15 years, so it shows that things can happen when they stay local. in it a neighborhood where local businesses have shown they can actually out last the chain store life cycle, that should be the thing that we're promoting. we're seeing an increase in the large chain yoga studios, and it's putting a pressure on the smaller yoga businesses that i actually go to. thank you. >> president hillis: thank you. next speaker, please. >> thank you, commissioners. i am speaking in opposition of core power yoga, but of course we support the nassar family. it disappointed me to be on the other side of the conversation. however, we did some outreach to the nassar family in the hopes

of finding the right type of merchants to come in. [please stand by]

>> they're trying to come into divisadero. it's not appropriate. their reputation and their business practices are not supportive of a healthy community or employees. thank you. >> thank you. >> next speaker, please. >> hello, my name is ray. i am a business partner for the past 20 years. for the past three years, we've been trying to rent the space and we have no luck. we were approached by bars, by

massages. we don't want these businesses in the neighborhood. we want to add something. the best opportunities for us to have. they have to provide something good to the neighborhood. like work businesses, work opportunities. they have to bring good people to the neighborhood that will spend their money in the neighborhood. they're going to provide like $4,000 every year towards resources improvements. i think this is a good thing. please, support our core power yoga. thank you so much. >> any additional public comment on this item? seeing none. we'll close public comment. commissioners. >> go ahead. >> so, when we last heard this, i was supportive of core power. while i don't think we should have a city full of formula retail, it's a healthy option.

the nasser family deserves a right to control their private property. i think this is a tenant that will be good for the area. i don't think this is over saturation of formula retail currently. i would like to ask people who spoke in opposition, and i'm just curious, how many live in the quarter currently? >> three. thank you. so, i'm in support of it. there are many private properties in san francisco that are owned by families that are really struggling. you think that they're wealthy but it's tough. it's tough to own property. there's challenges and expenses that come along with that. it looks all fancy and wealthy but it's not. this is a family that has been trying to keep the health physical and food health of that street. they came in and i think they

were letting them come in and not opposing that. you maybe had a right to do that. if you had known what you knew then, you might have opposed that. but i think you are neighborly and letting them come in thinking the entire growth of the corridor of this divisadero would benefit and you would been fit as well. i think you are doing the same thing by bringing in healthy choice. there were unhealthy choices to bring in and you chose not to go that route. i want to make sure, i'm not in support of this approval and would like to see core power yoga go into this site. >> i voted to oppose this item previously. i lived in the neighborhood for about 10 years. i know the area well. saw the openings of establishments. i was in favor of core power on

lombard. then then and this hearing i found out about the wage disputes and it hit a nerve of me. i made a mistake of not allowing the project sponsor to not address the issue. since then, the issue has been addressed. it's always going to be important to me, making sure workers get paid. and also that businesses don't have an advantage over other businesses by skirting those wage laws. i will also admit, i'm not a yoga industry expert. i was not aware of how normal exchanges and so knowing this neighborhood very well and knowing the vacant store fronts that are there now, i'll be supporting the c.u.a. today. >> i want today ask questions about things brought up from the project sponsor and some of the

neighbors. you know, i think it's clear, and i said this during the last hearing, there was a breakdown in conversations between the community and the projects sponsor. and i would just love to hear one from the project sponsor. he got a little bit cut off as you were talking about the community benefits you want to provide. two, mr. hernandez, if i can ask you to share a little bit about -- there was the assertion they wanted to work with neighborhood organizations to really come into the community and support the community. somewhere along the way, there was a breakdown. i would love to hear from your perspective how they tried to work with you. and two, if this were to come into the community, what would you want to see from an

organization like this? to address some of the concerns that you and others have raised? we'll start with you. >> yes, thank you, very much. so, we met on multiple occasions, with all three community organizations both separately and then even there was a sit-down with the three leaders. two of which are here today. unfortunately i wasn't at that meeting. there was another core power representative there along with taylor jordan, to talk about what core power can do for the neighborhood. what we wanted to get names of schools where we could bring in yoga foster. enables teachers to teach yoga and mindfulness in schools. we wanted to know if there was a particular teacher in the neighborhood we should be talking t what organizations are important to you? we also then submitted to, we

wanted to give them $40,000 over the 10-year life of our lease to use towards community benefit projects that they felt were important. i'll say core power is an organization, when we were approved in the triangle neighborhood, we are active members of the castro merchants and in fact are presenting there next week. we're excited to open our new studio. we really value community and being part of the community. i know we're a big organization. i know we have a lot of yoga studios. our studio managers generally live in the neighborhood that they work in. our debos manager lives in that neighborhood and excited to bring the studio. lexie, what would manage this studio on divisadero, lives in the neighborhood. it's very important to us as an organization. i was surprised that all three leaders were not able to tell us

or give us any feedback around what we can do. we really were just met with a door that felt like it was being closed in our face before we even had a chance to really tell them who we are and show them that i understand that the mistrust is there and we need to gain their trust. if they were to -- if you were to approve this project today, we want to work with them. we don't want to have any kind of negative relationship with the community. we understand their concerns. we want to sit down and meet with them and talk to them. >> thank you. >> you are welcome. >> mr. hernandez. >> thank you, so much. so, the way we learned about this project was through our neighbors. our neighbors immediately researched core power yoga and

found, not just one wage dispute but a history of wage disputes. so this kind of really concerned us. which is why we did approach them with caution. core power asked to meet with me individually and so instead i said no, you need to meet with us as a group because one thing you can say to me you can say to all of us. it was charles, myself and giselle. i don't recall who the core power yoga representative was. why think there was one. taylor was there, the public affairs person. and we were asked, you know, what would you want from a business such as this. what are your concerns? and we did answer. charles said diversity and inclusion. he wanted to make sure that the stavro reflected diversity of the neighborhoods and the

students as well. that's very important. i said affordability. i was concerned about the price points. $189. you say a significant discount. the discount is like $150 a month. i don't see that affordable for me or my neighbors. a lot of people in our neighborhood it was employee treatment that was a concern. i think that's when they came around and said we'll offer you $40,000. the other thing we told them was, we can't make the decisions for the group. we have to take it back to our board, to our community advisories, to our memberships and say you know, this is what they're saying, what do you all think? we don't make the decisions for this group. which is where the survey came out. so the divisadero said all right, even though we're already kind of not too sure about this

company, let's survey the merchants and th the merchants d let's see what the community says. that's when the community weighed in with over 60% opposition. so then, divisadero felt ok, you know, weighing all the things, $40,000 sounds great but you know, we're going to go with the community. that's why they opposed. does that answer your question? >> that's really helpful. thank you. >> i'm just jump in. i'm a resident of this neighborhood. i have two blocks off divisadero. i go to divisadero five times a week. i've seen the change on divisadero. it's been significant in its a neighborhood that is rapidly

gentrified. certainly, it's not been due to development. there hasn't been a ton of volumement. it's not because of chain stores on divisadero. the one that has lasted is chase bank and pop eyes is there, which is a mainstay. it's expensive. the corridor is expensive. the restaurants, the shops are more boutiquish. it's not as neighborhood serving as i would like to see these days. i certainly can't go in and do my shopping for my family of five at buy right or go to the restaurants often. it's an expensive corridor. i think a lot of people go to these days that go to the restaurants who may not be residents of the neighborhood. so i like the fact that this will be neighborhood serving. i don't think people will come from out of the neighborhood to core power. i also like the fact that its use is a day-time serving use.

because divisadero tends now to be more evening uses. i don't particularly like the fact that it is a formula retail. the like the history on divisadero where the neighbors have turned against or fought back from the formula retail, burger king being the most notable. batteries plus i didn't know was a formula retail. we've seen rapid change of the district. you have to weigh formula retail. i've asked my neighbors about this. most of them are puzzled that this is even before the planning commission. most of them do know anything about t it. i know you've surveyed members. i know most of my neighbors aren't members of those groups, i would have liked to seen a more broader look at kind of when people think. i think there's general indifference about this use. so what tips this for me is the nasser family. you said it's not the issue. to me it is.

i mean, again, i remember walking by mr. nasser's shop on a daily basis. if you were there at 9:00 a.m. he was there. if you were there at 9:00 p.m. he was there. on saturday or sunday. he did all the right things. he bought this store. he bought the condo and he is trying to do the right thing now. he was put out of business by buy right. some of the competition there. so that to me tips the scale. i'm willing to support this to support the nasser family. i don't think it's a yoga. i don't think it's a big change of character of our streets. it will make things more expensive. it's already pretty expensive there. i'm supportive of this. i hope that we can help the nasser family and approve this. >> so, interesting enough, commissioners hillis talked about the transformation of divisadero and i thought, wow, we just had this item of stabilization on communities and i looked where divisadero is and this business and it's the blue

and orange areas that are changed from low to moderate income. the question is, when the voters passed prop g in 2009, the beauty of prop g, which was the formula retail amendment to the city charter, was it -- you did get neighborhood input on whether business was necessary or desirable and as well as compatible. i don't think of yoga as a big business. apparently i'm wrong, 180 locations is big. when supervisor mar had included all subsidiaries globally under his 11 locations i thought it was a big stretch. we're not dealing with the business that is 20 locations where you kind of go well, it's not that much. they're going to have as many locations in this city alone to trip up the 11. we saw a map with seven on it. in this commission, i thought it was very fair, neighborhoods such as the triangle they

approved it in and i was unaware there was one on whatever the street was. i may have even approved it without thinking. we did hear from folks in where blue bottle wanted come in and it was clear they were not a good thing for the neighborhood. a healthy spot was another one. just recently. we listened to the neighborhood. i'll be honest with you, you know, as much as i detest amazon whole foods, i didn't come out swinging at the last hearing against amazon whole foods because the neighbors wanted it. applying prop g the way it's intended is the issue for me. maybe they didn't cast a wide net on their poll but the merchants opposed it and the neighbor association opposed it. certainly we don't want a vacant forefront to sit vacant any longer. we don't want the nasser family to have any financial troubles, which apparently they're having. i worry about this business

putting another yoga studio out of business and creating another vacant space. it's a balance of all these different competing interests. i'm hearing the neighborhood and i feel for the nasser family but applying prop g the way it was meant and given our track record of how we've disapproved and listening to amazon whole foods in north beach, it's clear that i can't support this. >> commissioner melgar. >> thank you. so i was going to say some of the things that commissioner hillis already touched upon. i voted to support core power. i was asked about it from several -- a lot has changed since we passed prop g. i am worried about the change in

retail and what it douse our commercial corridors. the thing about yoga is you cannot export that to india. you know. it's something that happens here and it brings traffic to the corridor. i think that that is generally a good thing. i think that each corridor is unique and it has a unique ecosystem. divisadero and north beach, they all have different ecosystems. for this particular corridor, it would be a net value. also, i have not heard from any other yoga businesses worried about being displaced by core power yoga. this is very different than what we heard with the pet foods store, for example. so i just am not seeing it.

i also want to support the nasser family. i think they've contributed a lot to this retail corridor. and i'm generally supportive of the project. >> commissioner moore. >> i'm trending towards the summary that commissioner richards gave. there's a place and there's a place that i strongly supported core yoga in its location in the castro. that was the location that was correct for this type of use. however, as it starts in very short distance wants to be some place else, i start to say, something is a little bit off here. i happen to know a number of small boutiques along the corridor who have been there long before the discussion about yoga was as bredly discussed as it is today. most people have developed very, very fine practice and rely on where they are and support that

this particular corridor gives them. my tendency is to see this is not for the retail of this kind and it happens and it would be set up before the formula retail that i believe is not the place in this corridor. this particular corridor has spent decades on pulling itself up on this boot straps from something which was extremely marginal to be more and more desirable. not to talk about the street scape improvements which transformed it and the planning department played a strong role in that but also by neighborhood initiative and activism, which step-by-step fought what is to be here and not every step of the way, including going all the way up to the refurbishing of

d.m.v. i remember all of those discussions. all were worn-out by people from this neighborhood. it's for that reason that i will not support the core power here and i do have to say that my full empathy is with the nasser family. this is not about the family. this is about the right use and the right place. i need to remind myself that that is why i'm sitting here. we have many personal decisions behind most of the things we do, but we're always reminded by the city about land use and not the specifics of the people or individuals behind it. i apologize but that is a position i will take. >> commissioner johnson. >> i'm going to try to bring this home a little bit. thank you both for the project

sponsor and community members for coming out and speaking and answering some of my questions. i support the nasser family. from a land use perspective i am worried about this corridor. i do think it's a good day-time use. i do want to say, and i just want to drill this home to the project sponsor, that i hope that this case is a learning lesson for how to engage community in san francisco. it's not about pleasing, it's not about murals. it is truly about listening to and responding to the request of the community. it feels like there were three clear asks. one around diversity. diversity and inclusion of your staff of who gets to use your studio and who has access to your studio. i don't think you did a good job of addressing that. the second was affordability and saying you are not the most expensive service is not addressing affordability in the

neighborhood. knowing the demographics of those neighborhoods. and employee treatment is something you could have gotten out ahead of. it sounds like you can continue to work to do. so, while it sounds like this project will ultimately get approved, i think i and i would encourage my fellow commissioners to continue to watch what you do to engage this community once you move in. if you do move in, you still have to work with this community. i think that they have provided you a framework that can help you more easily move into other communities should you pursue that in the future. and the absence of that means that you will not be successful in other neighborhoods. i'm happy also to talk to you about that in the meantime. >> is there a motion. >> if i want to make a motion to approve, do i feed to make a

motion to rescind according to the city attorney's office. >> we don't need to do that. >> i would like to mack a motion to approve this project. >> second. >> there's nothing further. there's a motion that has been seconds to approve this project with conditions on that motion. [ roll call ] >> so moved. that motion passes 4-3 with commissioners johnson, moore and richards voting against. >> that moves us to our discussion calender. >> items 18a and b for 2015-00737drp and var and 60 clifford terrace. you will discussion the review and the zoning administrator will consider the request for

variances. >> as i request for discretionary review. a variance request for encroachment to the yard for planning code section 134.

the product site located at 60 clifford terrace on the north side. the d.r. requester is the adjacent property to the east at 50 clifford terrace. subject property is located on two separate lots. the main front lot is 27 and a half by 83 feet and contains a two-storey over garage, 2,304 square foot single-family home and constructed in 1917. the product contains anna jays enter substandard lot to the rear of this main line and it contains an existing garage structure. there's a walkway providing access to a garage on top of the roof. the product proposed to construct a one-storey vertical addition and rear horizontal and side addiction to the existing single family home.

and the legalization of the existing roof deck on the non legal conforming garage structure on the adjacent rear property. the addition to increase the building by 953 square feet for a size of 3,257 growth square feet. the product proposes to raise the elevation of the rear yard by three feet with a new deck into the rear yard. however, this is a permitted obstruction for planning code section 136c25. and eight foot tall fence along the east property line. the product seeks a variance from the rear yard for both lots. the project proposed to create new access to the proposed roof deck on the garage structure by means of a staircase and landing, located at the rare property line of the main lot as well as a portion of a landing

that would be within the required rear yard of the separate garage lot. the project proposed to remove the unpermitted elevated walkway and the current stairs. and to remove an eastern portion of the existing deck side. this is based on a notice of violation from the department of building inspection. there's a bit of history to these permits and this d.r. the original 311 closed in july of 2015. and a d.r. was received early that month as well. that project pro joesed just the vertical addition to the existing single family home. the d.r. had complaints of privacy concerns with the existing walkway and deck on the garage. however, at this time, the department considered those to be existing legal structures. they reviewed the proposal and found no exceptional or

extraordinary circumstances with the design. based on a complaint, d.b.i. investigated the existence and permitted history of these features and determined that the walkway was not permitted structure and in response the project sponsor submitted a variance to legalize the structure and give access to the roof deck on the garage. in review of this, they did not support of the legalization of the walkway but stated they would support stairs to access a, if to be permitted, roof deck on the garage. in response, the sponsor has worked on several designs and landed on what is before you today. into legalize the roof deck over the garage, and additional addition on the eastern side of the property, the product went through 311 again over this past september and the d.r. sponsor amended and added to the d.r. application on september 25th of

this year. the amended submittal was missing a page and i've provided to you that and i e-mailed it to you yesterday. the d.r. has complaints about impacts to privacy and neighborhood context of the compatibility and context of the use of a deck. on this garage as well as a roof deck at the rear of the vertical addition to be put on the existing single family home. i have received one letter in support of the project from a neighbor across the street. since they've filed a case report to submit to the record. this time staff recommended not to take d.r. and approve the project as proposed. this concludes my presentation. >> thank you, d.r. requester. >> good afternoon,

commissioners. mr. sanchez. at august 8th, there was a hearing on eye roof deck. relevant conversations by the commissioner moore, one roof deck can destroy the quality life for many. need to balance how much of a roof deck one should have. commissioner richards, backyard is supposed to be where open space is. roof decks facilitate large living and large profits. roof decks are good for multi-family buildings. this is a single-family house. they're increasing it 41%. we're not saying a word about the house. they have an existing backyard. they want to build a new deck off the back of the house. we're not saying a word about that. they have an illegal garage roof. they're going to legalize it. and they want to have a proposed fourth deck on the top of the building. one of the decks, the second of three decks they need a variance for. so right now, they're in front

of you for two roof decks, three decks, four open spaces, adding up to 900 square feet. they're claiming the garage deck is for their family. i don't want to get involved with the mother, although they have a deck right off. the question is, how much is enough and how much is too much? and that is what you guys talked about in august. >> good afternoon, my name is elizabeth gordon, i, along with my husband, own 50 clifford terrace, immediately to the east of the subject property. that home is owned by dorrian and julie stone. we respectfully ask that you exercise the special power of d.r. as an exceptional and extraordinary circumstances associated with this project. no other home in the immediate area has a roof deck on top of a back garage. much less one thats