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tv   Planning Commission  SFGTV  January 15, 2021 8:00pm-12:36am PST

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call right now but that's too many. much love to all my family and thank you again madam mayor. thank you. san francisco for better for worse, which you are raised, you know? >> thank you so much tongo. just so you know, the chat is blowing up. there is so much love and excitement for what you will bring to san francisco and i just want to thank you so much. thank you for the incredible poem and your inspiration and just everything that you continue to do. i look forward to what you will accomplish as our city's poet laureate. i can't wait. it's going to be exciting, especially when we open up. when you talk about meet me at the library, it's like that's your slogan now.
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[laughter] >> so we're going to take it to another level. that's your slogan, meet me at the library. hitting all the libraries all over san francisco. >> that's right. >> just inviting the people in and really bringing it back to some of the basics. you know, with the way technology is nowadays, sometimes we get away from just picking up a book or picking out a book or looking through an index card. i guess we don't look through index cards to find books anymore. sitting there and having discussions, i'm looking forward to what you're going to bring and really excited about that. i really want to thank the people that nominated you. you know, there was a really compelling, you know, letter of support that you know, went into all the details about your work. you have a lot of fans out there. i want to thank the selection committee, the people who served and had to go through all of those applications because i got to tell you, it was a hard
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decision and i was so excited that so many people in san francisco, you know, really embraced and support poets in such an incredible way. there are so many wonderful nominees. i'm looking forward to you connecting with all of them as well and really the outgoing poet laureate kim shuck, thank you for that poem and your commitment to san francisco and the role you have played over the years. thank you to san francisco public library and the commissioners who are joining us here today and our librarian, michael lambert. so many amazing people and i think that based on your comments today, meet me at the library, that's going to be a new part of the campaign to really bring people together, to inspire and to really you know, set things off on a whole other level. thank you tongo for your work and commitment. we're so honored that you will
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be san francisco's eighth poet laureate and if there is anything left to say, you're welcome to have the floor. if not, we can turn it back over to michael lambert. >> i just want to say much love and appreciation. >> great. >> thank you so much madam mayor. my heart is full, #meetmeatthelibrary. congratulations tongoo. i want to thank all of you for joining us this morning. our public affairs office is happy to help facilitate any interviews with our new poet lawyer -- laureate, thank you all and have a great day.
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[♪♪♪] [♪♪♪]
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on february 25, 2020, the mayor declared a state of emergency related to covid-19. on april 3, 2020 planning commission received authorization to convene remotely until the end of shelter-in-place. this is our 34th remote hearing. it requires patience. if not speaking turnoff video. to enable public participation sfgovtv is streaming this hearing live. we will receive public comment for each item on the agenda. comments or opportunities to speak during the public comment period are available at 415-655-0001. enter access code (146)065-8530.
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when we reach the item you are interested in press star and 3 to be added to the queue. when you hear your line has been unmuted that is your indicator to begin to speak. each speaker is allowed up to three minutes. when you have 30 seconds remaining, you will hear a chime indicating your time is almost up. when your time is reached i will announce it is up and take the next person to speak. that is best practice to call from quiet location, speak clearly and slowly and mute the volume on your television or computer. i will take roll at this time. president koppel. >> hear. >> commissioner vice president moore. >> here. commissioner chung. >> here. >> commissioner diamond.
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>> here. >> commissioner fung. >> here. >> commissioner imperial. >> here. >> we do expect commissioner tanner it does appear he is held up. let me pull her out quickly. >> i am here. >> thank you, commissioner tanner. >> commissioners first item today is consideration of items proposed for continuance. 2019-012567 d.rp, 36 delllano avenue to january 28, 2021. two. 2019-020049 c.u.a. at 1131 polk
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street to february 4, 2021. p of 3a and b. so 21 vannen shia street waiver from development standards and review to february 18th. further under your regular calendar we received request for continuance from the sponsor for item 111145 mission street to be continued to february 25th. under review calendar we received request with project
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sponsor for item 14. 2018-01728 3-d rp at 476 lombard street for two week continuance to january 28th hoping to resolve issues. i have no other items for continuance. we should open up public comment. members of the public this is your opportunity to speak to any items proposed for continuance. press star then 3 to enter the queue. last call for items for continuance. there is one. go ahead, caller. >> good afternoon. regarding the dr at 476 lombard. we have had a productive
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mediation but we were not able to get there. as a result we are seeking a short two week continuance for continuation of discussion so the parties may hopefully resolve this matter. thank you. >> thank you. seeing no other requests to speak, commissioners, public comment is closed. the matter is now before you. >> commissioner imperial. >> move to continue items as proposed. >> second. >> thank you, commissioners. no further deliberation there is a motion seconded to continue all items. on that motion commissioner tanner. >> aye. >> commissioner chung. >> aye. >> diamond. >> aye. >> funk. >> aye. >> imperial. >> aye. >> moore. >> aye. >> commission president koppel. >> aye. >> so moved.
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that motion passes unanimously 7-0. that will place us under consent calendar. this is your concept calendar routine by the planning commission and may be acted upon by single roll call vote. no separate item unless a member of the commission, public or staff requests. then it shall be considered as separate item. 4 at 801 phelps street conditional use. this is your opportunity to pull this off concept calendar. press star 3 to be entered in the queue. no request to speak, commissioners. public comment is closed and this is before you. >> move to approve.
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>> second. >> on that motion to approve item 4 under concept commissioner tanner. >> aye. >> commissioner chung. >> i. >> commissioner diamond. >> aye. >> commissioner fung. >> aye. >> commissioner imperial. >> aye. >> commissioner koppel. >> aye. >> that passes unanimously 7-0. that places us on item 5. commission comments and questions. seeing no request to speak we will move to department matters item 6. director's announcements. >> no matters. thank you. historic commission did not meet yesterday. >> aaron starr.
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management affairs. there was a long hearing with the parnassis heights plan and memo of inning urging regents to postpone expansion plan. the hearing on these items went to about 8:00 p.m. the concerns expressed were those that you heard on this item last week. the hearing was notable as supervisor melgar's first meeting as the chair. the other two members are peskin and preston. it was to allow time for details to be worked out. it did pass with nan vote. melgar wanted i's dotted and ts crossed. similar concerns by preston and peskin. next was the resolution for landmark designation for the
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murals at the art institute. there were some concern that the institute was planning to sell to settle debts. the landmarking was to make sure the art stays where it is. this was disputed by representatives of the art institute. initiation resolution was passed unanimously. the committee considered the interim control resolution to require authorization for expansion of new construction projects, expansion that did not authorize density. the control placed 2000 square foot threshold on units as well. these do not come for comment. however supervisor peskin did draft the resolution and edit suggestions to the final roll.
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public comment was interesting and challenged the motions. members for established neighborhoods controls. there was considerable objection to the controls from those that classify themselves. one complaint they added more regulation to planning process and did not contain carrots with the sticks. fair point in something the planning department is concerned about. however if controls are temporary. there will be opportunity for permanent controls and not discourage projects. they allow that opportunity. there are arguments this was an up zoning to impact the mission which it is not. the zoning districts not widespread and it can only add process to address immediate concern. it can't up zone properties.
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after technical questions and no comments from preston they voted to forward to the full board as committee report. at the full board this week supervisor peskin's resolution to landmark designation for 447 battery street passed its -- it was adopted. the resolution for 1 montgomery street was also adapted. interim controls for rto districts were adopted. initiate for the murals was adopted. finally asking for delay for the campus was adopted. that concludes my report. i am happy to answer any questions. >> thank you. seeing no questions. i spoke too soon. commissioner tanner.
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>> a question for parnassis do you have any information about the m.o.u. or if that will delay that? >> i don't think it will. i think the regents from what i read aren't delaying the meeting. it was nonbinding resolution and also the m.o.u. that we are enters is not legally enforceable which is one of the complaints in the hearing. >> commissioner tanner, this is scheduled next week. we couldn't execute the m.o.u. until after they act. they need to certify the e.i.r. >> any sense in the pathway forward? it seems like the board's actions may or may not impact
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the regents and may not impact the m.o.u. is that accurate? >> there is an ability to, you know, dot i's and cross ts and make changes on the m.o.u. i.doesn't look as if that resolution is going to change the course at the regents. >> thank you very much. >> if there is nothing further we can move to general public comment. at the time members of the public may address the commission except agenda items. your opportunity will be afforded when it is reached in the meeting. each member of the public may address for three minutes. when it exceeds 15 minutes general comment may be moved to the end. this is the opportunity to speak
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under general public comment by pressing star then 3 to be entered into the queue. >> good afternoon, commissioners. this is georgia shootish. the focus on the project you are going to see on the screen specifically and then as an example generally for similar projects so the commission can consider using 317b2d as allowed under the planning code. the slides which could be on the screen. if not you have copies. it is not to cause enforcement action due to the potential loss of legal rent control unit but rather to encourage the commission to take proactive position by looking back at this project and our similar projects and their outcomes.
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then to look forward by adjusting it. adjusting can preserve housing afternoon relative affordabilities includes rental units the legislative intent of section 317. everyone reading or anyone reading it architecture for our city in if january 10, 2021 real estate section should have broad questions. i will add this is an area that is what you are considering for the high opportunity areas in your upcoming item. that is it. thanks a lot. take good care. be well. good-bye. >> thank you. members of the public last call for general public comment. press star 3 to enter the queue. no further or additional
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requests to speak that will conclude general public comment. we can move to the regular calendar. item 8. 2020-008417cwp for housing recovery. informational presentation. >> good afternoon, commissioners. rachel from the planning department. i just want to kick this off to put it in context for discussion we had in december. as you remember we came in december and were joined by the directors to talk about how our work is to respond to the pandemic and economic recession as well as longer term changes. anything we broke into four categories. not meant to be discrete there
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is overlap between the categories. they were housing, small business, neighborhood life, ensuring neighbors are equitably served and resources and workspace and looking at potential changes. today we are back to go into nor depth on the housing recovery. we have the upcoming month for the other topic. in each of these areas and i think especially on the housing recovery topic, we recognize we impact the pandemic and the economic downturn are being disproportionately felt by those of color and low income communities. our work is to develop those inequitable impacts and in line with the resolution over the
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summer to work on racial and social equity. you know all of this work can't be done by the planning department alone so we are working across the city with other agencies in partnership in some areas we are the lead agencies and in others we play a supporting role. today i am joined by other members of the city agencies participating in the housing effort, and i will introduce them in order of their presenting here today the operations secretary for prevention at the command to expand on housing and public house. the community equity division will talk about critical condition in the city today related to pandemic and how things are.
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the manager of policy and legislative affairs for hss. will talk about the city's response to the feeds of people experiencing homelessness during the pandemic. ocd will talk about how the city is responding and stabilization efforts and affordable housing production. the changes to our program. the director of community equity. i am available also to answer questions as well as the entire team. i will turn it over. >> and de, i think you are -- andy, you are showing the presentation? >> yes, i would like to share my screen. >> you have been made the
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presenter. you should be able to share your screen. >> the presentation slides are visible.
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>> your slides are up when you are ready to begin your presentation. >> i am deb born. i am the my day job is head of policy for the homelessness for the department of public health. currently i am the deputy for operations. it is exciting to get to talk to
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you about this because the work we have always done are the things that housing and food access and education and impact on the individual and public health and safety. really covid has been a really hard feature showing us where we don't address these we are seeing more virus. in public health we have known that housing quality impacts health. with covid we have seen this even more. congregate sites have a higher risk and dense households have been seeing five people that live in a place for one or two people. someone's ability to shelter-in-place is the ability to add here to public health guidance. if they do not wear masks, they
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should not be in a shelter. social workers need their space. where we have been seeing some of the biggest challenges are where we do not have some program social service or other programs with the public housing. dense households we don't have existing programs in these situations. it is harder to get in and sros don't have very strong programs to partner with. i do want to talk about successes. we have had great success and have been able compared to other large jurisdictions is food access for folks sheltered. it is hard for them to get out
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or up able to afford food. for the unsheltered. people travel around the city to get things they need. we take a lot of traveling around the city that increases. the right to recover program is critical. there used to be able to refer to right to recover so they could quarantine in their homes. we have seen significant changes. i would love us to get masking out to people. it is a partnership between the agencies. we had shelters. other jurisdictions had massive outbreaks. i got off the phone with la. they had huge outbreaks in the shelter. in the shelter-in-place hotels and safe sleeping.
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those are the points i made. what would make a difference where they overlap with housing we have programs. i will hand it over to andrea now. >> good afternoon. the critical conditions cut across housing types and conditions. the level of homeowner stability. i am sharing a few of the many key indicators to demonstrate the challenges. the disproportionately impact black, american indian, latin x and communities of color. housing crisis is not new or unique. it is exacerbated by it. the upcoming risk is the end of the temporary residential eviction moratorium on january 31, 2021. approximately 15% of tenants have partial or complete unpaid
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rent. at this point the supervisors are confident there will be an extension of the eviction moratorium. we don't have details an the this point. today we see the impact of decades long housing discrimination based on race and ethnicity and the low percentage of black and people of color who own homes in the city. the city agencies have been asked to decrease budgets 7.5% for the year adding another challenge. agencies short staffed and under resourced. today we will share how the recovery efforts underway. the team have identified by using specific populations who have been the most under
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resourced. the city will have an equitable environment for all in san francisco. we seek to grow the pie for all efforts rather than be forced to choose one over another. the proposed efforts we will share are designed to prioritize stabilization, housing affordability and wealth building opportunities among other aims. the recovery strategy memo when it came to november 25 last year. here are the metrics for selecting the recommendations. since november we added three quality categories on the slide. these are the types of outcomes that will be tracked and graded.
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the planning department will develop and propose equity goals by neighborhood as part of this proposed effort, number one. to get outcomes in all neighborhoods through investments that will serve unique community needs. working with owd a map of public investment to find equity goals and encourage housing by making the process more transparent. response to identified needs. we propose to deploy planning staff on assignment to strat guy with key officials -- strat guys with patter of this proposed effort. to strengthen communications and ad enough needs. i am going to pass it off to talk about hsh. >> thank you.
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good afternoon everyone. happy new year. i am dillon snider, manager of policy and legislative affairs for homelessness and supportive housing. she her pronouns. the pandemic impacted every component of the homelessness response system. over the last year hsh as well as city partners continued to respond to the ongoing emergency as well as we begin to implement recovery strategies as we look forward to post covid landscape. i am happy to share the recovery strategies. hsh is implementing to wards recovery and continuing to respond to ongoing pandemic. covid-19 has made it clear how critical housing is especially among homelessness.
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in july 2020, mayor breed announced the homelessness recovery plan. it supports long-term planning for housing solutions for people experiencing homelessness in san francisco. the homelessness recovery is based on three premises. expand housing for people experiencing homelessness. largest expansion in 20 years. adding capacity to shelters both reactivating the shelter system and additional resources such as safe sleep program. homelessness prevention and rehousing like problem solving, rental subsidies and connections to healthcare, employment and resources to end homelessness for people with variety of housing needs. the city's response to covid-19.
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the city opened 25 shelter-in-place with hotels to serve over 2000 people experiencing homelessness. that was the highest risk of the virus. sip hotels are temporary. the long-term solution to save lives for homelessness is stable housing. which is why a key component of the recovery plan is commitment that hotels don't return to unsheltered homelessness. in december of 2020hsh shared updated de mobilization proposal to rehouseguests currently sheltering in place at sip hotels over the next nine to 10 months. it is available on the hsh website with too many details. it is there if you want the details. highlights. upholding stable exits to guests
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in sip hotels through resources i mentioned as part of the mayor's recovery plan including pernament housing, housing subsidies. it recognizes that housing is healthcare. while the sip hotels are effective during the emergency. we know the most effective and long-term solution is stable housing. ultimately housing is the solution to homelessness. by expanding access to housing we can create real opportunities for people to get off the streets and create a path to live a full and healthy life during this pandemic. with that i will hand it over to lydia. i will answer any questions following the presentation. >> good afternoon, commissioners and colleagues. i am lydia ely, deputy director
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for housing. i am pleased to present some of the strategies we have been working on with the planning team. most of which are administered in cooperation with city departments. you will see the efforts i am talking about are shorter and medium term projects and efforts. you will see that in some cases there is not that much difference between our strategies pro-covid and during covid. what i am not addressing in the slides is the future opportunities. you will see those were flushed out in the housing recovery documents. those, i think, deserve more attention and more discussion at another forum. many of them do not have funds attached to them. they are aspirational and very exciting. definitely on our agenda. before the short term.
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we are working closely with the homelessness department. dillon presented good detail on what the recovery planning includes. most of the rome in the work is astrategic partner. we execute transactions and identify resources. looking forward to funds coming from the state. $750 million announced by governor newsom last week. we are working with stakeholders and the homeless department to put outs the framework for what we want to achieve and acquire. we acquired two hotels with the funds under very short timelines. we would like to take advantage of breather to more strategic.
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we are working with the city lobbests and washington to add row indicate for -- advocate for more resources out of the new administration. we are continuing the work in partnership with the homeless. most projects have 20 to 25% for these experiencing homelessness. we are building 00% -- 100% affordable. we have a number of projects on the street we are just launching. we always have to think ahead, reserve existing buildings that serve homeless now dating back to the 80s and 90s when i started in this work. we continue to need resources and attention. it has always been part of our work to administer eviction
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prevention funds and the sharing funds. with the covid impacts, new resources that come to the table and obviously a huge amount of meed. since the pandemic started we administered $7.5 million in relief to those needed eviction prevention assistance. we target this very closely to communities of color. we are working with existing nonprofit partners to do that. we just found out a couple weeks ago there will be $26 million coming to the city for eviction prevention. that is excites being. we have more funds from prop c that will be for prevention. a lot of work there. the supplements work that we are
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doing we are doing more deeply and on a wider platform. this year we are facing difficult circumstances to keep our existing affordable housing pipeline. for the first time in the state history the allocation of tax exempt bonds for affordable housing. we have done a huge amount of work for a equitable system to support the san francisco affordsable housing pipeline. that continues in 2021. important projects for all kinds. family and homeless projects. that will continue. unfortunately we may have to triage the projects to make difficult decisions while
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advocating for new -- bigger pie. we don't want to pit projects against one another. we are looking forward to the reduction in costs of housing. we would love to do more acquisitions, lower cost of construction. we are not seeing that yet. with the exception of sro buildings which are definitely flooding the market. we are poised and ready to analyze the opportunities and be strategic to take advantage of them. thank you. >> good afternoon, commissioners. i am the planning department staff. thank you. the recovery work will assign a planning staff member to track and monitor areas of vulnerabilities.
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this will maintain close contact with community leadership in support of mohcd program. we will monitor current data that is challenging. specific to covid and economic hardship among our communities. within planning department efforts recovery is continuing the goals of economic recovery task force in pursuing urgent measures to keep jobs. that is small affordable housing projects. these efforts and future proposals as described in the housing recovery memo. they are not initiated at this time. it is essential to restructure towards those dispossessed. in a new initiative planning will have advicesors to work with patterners to creator and
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increase home and property home ownerships. finally, in support of increasing affordable housing and improving outcomes at lower income the planning department will work with neighborhoods to increased development sites, zoning capacity and land banking so housing is financially at attainable. this coordinated effort includes programs not frequently seen as an ensemble. it is to build a culture between the agencies to address the needs and work towards a more equitable future. we welcome feedback on your priorities and ask our community partners to weigh in on our approach. key populations need attention. we give resources on unhoused
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and transition. if there are future resources to address overcrowded in the sros. thank you. we are available to answer any questions. >> that concludes staff presentation. we should open up for public comment. members of the public this is your opportunity to speak to this matter. press star then 3 to enter the queue. i see several members of the public requesting to speak. you each will be provided two minutes. >> hello, commissioners, i am david woo. we appreciate this report and look forward to thinking being put into the comments. strategies to increase production of market rate housing do not reflect racial and social equity. it increases in displacement.
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the planning department's continuing use of this strategy as racial and social equity goal shows how community planning has a lot of work to do and is top down process rather than i am packeted communities themselves. equity goals by communities themselves shouldn't be predetermined. encouraging the market rate housing is not racial and social equity. under eviction pro protection is there assessment what has happened to date? racial and social equity analysis and how initial relief funds were disbursed? this should be analyzed and reported back. land banking must be applied in the south of market. land is extremely scarce and land banking strategy must include this neighborhood to purchase available land for affordable housing. this should not be limited to
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high opportunity neighborhoods. in terms of small acquisition in soma there needs to be increased funding and aggressive use of this strategy. there should be priority for vulnerable communities for prioritized communities that are disproportionately being affected. thank you. >> good afternoon. corey smith on behalf of housing action coalition. excited for this presentation and very much appreciate the staff multi prong approach to trying to fix this problem. obviously providing new homes for people is anincredibly important piece not just as covid recovery item but more generally. we also think there is a lot of
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economic opportunity because construction is jobs for city residents as well. the data is very consistent that housing production has not kept up with job growth and population growth in the bay area and in san francisco. anything we can be doing to increase the amount of housing at all level of affordability along with the acquisition program and other things mentioned. we see this as positive step in the right direction. with this and everything else we also think it is important to define the goals that we are trying to achieve and once we have, hopefully, consensus what we want to achieve it becomes much easier to measure and figure out what is working and to think what is notes working
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to improve. overall, we want to express appreciation for the planning's work on this. we look forward to continuing the conversation. thank you. >> caller, good ahead. next caller. >> good afternoon. i am mary travis. i am the period president for the advisory for the american indian cultural district.
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i need to point out a couple of things here. there really isn't anything about the american indian in the key findings. even though the report mentioned we have the lowest home ownership. it is generalized comments. i need to reflect on data. if you are missing or don't have data, rather than not mentioning us there needs to be clear acknowledgment from planning and clear path to remedy decades of poor data gathering for the community. our recent hud point in time survey found if you house homeless american indians that our population in san francisco bay area would increase by 10%. this is the type of work and research that planning needs to
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do. also, in the report under safe and supportive housing the reference about the early pandemic and the city offering shelter-in-place hotel rooms, congregates sites, trailers, r.v.s is mentions the percentage of other groups but not american indians. we need to do better work on capturing for our community. thank you. >> hello, commissioners. i am curtis. i am co-chair of the people's congress. long term tenderloin resident. i am calling to thank you for your work on this. the covid recovery is an issue
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and challenge to face the city. housing is the most par part that we have to pays beyond covid -- face beyond covid. the best way is to keep people housed housed. we need to make sure they don't fall off the cliff at the end of the mora tore rum. -- moratorium. we need to keep them out. they should stay put until we get everyone on the street safe. it doesn't make any sense to give up any housing back to the market while we are in the desperate need with many thousands on the sidewalk in the middle of the pandemic. it is cruel and wrong. next i want to say there needs to be clear opportunities for the community to engage and
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provide input into this plan. basically nothing about us and without us. i appreciate the collaboration but there is more that needs to happen. lastly, as we talk about and consider the vulnerable population, particularly around the neighbors and indigenous folks which should be at the center of the conversation. i want to add that there is additionally the vulnerable population of lbgq community over represented among the homeless and often left out of the conversation. when you think about how they are disproportionatesly impacted by this. there is a lot more i would like to say. i would hope that the way the
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community to be more deeply engaged going forward. thank you for your time. >> good afternoon. it is georgia. i sent in a chart from the "new york times" from 2017. i think it is a good illustration of the income inequality san francisco faces and is living through. my comments are going to focus on efforts 7, 8, 9 in the presentation. the chart took off 2014 when the extreme alterations took off. projects permitted as alterations were demolitions. they offer a great deal of money as spec projects. 2014 was five years after and
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within the same five years the staff says they may come back with recommendations for adjustment of some of the thresholds. this is the chart. recommendations for adjustment of the thresholds that the code empowers you to make, particularly about the thresholds for alteration projects tantamount to demolitions. 317p2d does empower you in marce housing recovery. i will send a follow up letter with suggestions for 7, 8, 9. thanks. be well, be safe. good-bye. >> i am director of organizing programs at the community services. we are fortunate for the
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collaborative. i want to appreciate the work of the planning commission towards bringing together the different strategies for recovery. i want to highlight that unfortunately there isn't a lot of funding being proportionately distributed to the latin x. it is available and has worked city-wide to enforce that emergency ordinance, dph partners and city departments have yet to make a true investment in the partnership. i want to note the community pushed for revenue generating funding like prop c and i. i wanted to recommend the commission honor the role of the voters. i think there is a lot of work to imagine the way to leverage this moment for acquisition and agree with the fact that we have
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noticed during covid. i want to echo the equity lens that is needed. we have a large majority of folks that are in congregate settings who are undocumented and low wage. the city needs to do more for local funding. the response to the stabilization of that population. last but not least, one of the things we need to echo moving forward is homeless planning including mayor's office of housing. invest in community. there are a lot of assets to create to ensure the community is at the planning table. funding to be able to invest in the capacity needed for communities to be at the table. thank you.
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>> good afternoon. this is charles head, president of the coalition for san francisco neighborhoods. happy new year. i look forward to working with you on all of our needs. i want to point out rescue sf is an organization supported by csfn having a meeting tomorrow at noon supporting the place for all legislation which is being presented by supervisor mandelman. we are very much in support of this. we hope you will look for support of it, too, when it comes to you. thank you very much. >> good afternoon, commissioners. i am gabriella, policy and
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planning manager at tndc, local affordable housing provider and developer. we thank the planning department and city for the overview of the recovery strategy for housing. we are grateful for this opportunity to share insight to add to the points made in towed's presentation and in the previous public comments. our agency would like to continue to advocate for special focus and lower income neighborhoods like tenderloin. we would like to second that residents of lower income neighborhoods be included in development of recovery strategies. we need to keep people in their homes and folks impacted most have the solutions. i would like to say in reference to a comment made by aparenter that, yes, the -- from the
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racial equity perspective we are concerned with overcrowding in neighborhoods like tender loin and families and low income immigrants families who can't afford to move to larger spaces because of the cost of living in san francisco. again, we would like to make our strategies and ensure they are paying attention to allty tails and not leaving anyone behind. we would love to support community-led policing. thank you so much. >> commissioners, good afternoon. this is seniors affordable housing and tenants advocate. a few concerns. i am very happy to see the the aspirations of equity and make
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sure they are carried out through the direction of the people in the neighborhoods themselves. affordable housing and covid recovery. we need the focus directed wholly on affordable housing. this is the only type of housing we need. in addition, to make sure that prop i funds are used to meet the intentions and direction of the board of supervisors and not diverted to other purposes. that is so true. prop c funds, big prop c fund was must be used according to that requirement and through the oversight committee. thank you very much. i appreciate it.
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>> members of the public. last call for public comment. you need to press star 3 to speak to this matter. go ahead, caller. >> hi. executive director for american indian district. i want to reiterate data. we are working with planning for six months to go back and forth on defining data. those who are american indian and one or more are not counted in the current budget. [please stand by]
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policy-making and for funding distribution in the city. if we're not accurately reflected, then we're negatively impacted and we continue to be invisible people. this is planning and everything that planning does has an impact on this land. if there's any commission or planning agency that should
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consider starting with a land acknowledgement, it should be planning, so thank you. >> hello, hi, this is dale seymour. i run an organization that is in the tenderloin, and i just have some issues. you know, for years we've been fighting for more decent housing, and the answer was always we don't have any money. now thanks to the federal government, the state government and this drastic covid monster, we've got plenty of money now, and i'm not sure what we're going to do with it. i'm worried that we're not going to potentially solve some of the problems we have talked about for years. one particular incident that -- or situation i would like to talk about just for a moment, in san francisco there are over 515
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sro hotels. in those hotels close to 50% of those participants and residents are african-american. not one of those 500 sros are run, owned or managed by african-american firm or individuals. i think that's ludicrous. in the year 2021 we're talking all this radical and liberalism, progressivism, and no one is looking at that. no one ever has looked at it, and i would challenge the planning department to look at that. first, before you look at it, walk over and look at one and then come back and sit and make a decision and see how we can manage these -- these sros are worse than shelters, and our shelters are running pretty good, but sros, because -- and i feel -- we don't get to manage it or hygiene or security or just normal maintenance. we could do better.
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thank you. >> okay, members of the public, last call. seeing no additional requests to speak, commissioners, public comment is closed on the matter that is before you. >> commissioner? >> i'm happy to start. i want to start by thanking the departments for presenting, to the public for your really insightful comments and especially the staff for providing a well-researched report. just want to say by reading the memo i found some of the numbers to be really sobering. it's quite an incredible mood that's -- and those facing housing insecurity, and knowing
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the high numbers [indiscernible]. there are a few comments i wanted to share. so first is that the report, and as mentioned these specific populations and demographics of vulnerable populations, but the proposed actions at this point seem pretty general, and so i would like to see how to [indiscernible] those a little bit closer. i think some of the strategies around [indiscernible] entitlement increasing housing production, stabilizing households can potentially be helpful, and i think if there's a way to have more specificity that we can match these actions to outcomes are very clearly benefiting those who have the greatest levels of need. the second comment is just around prioritizing efforts. i understand that all nine efforts are really important. at the same time those nine efforts, which is a lot, i wonder if there's some sort of
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order or priority if one effort needs to come before the other. for me, at least, i think effort one, which focuses on the finding [indiscernible] goals may need to come first and then conform to the other efforts. and i think this is a way to make sure these efforts are complementary and interconnected and not necessarily contradicting one another. the last comment is around the defining goals by neighborhoods. i think it's a really fine balance, right? we want to have this context, specific goals, the neighborhood, because we don't want this one size fitsall kind of model, but we want to fit it into the city-wide framework so we don't lose sight of the bigger picture, but in general i really appreciate the work that has been done for the kind of thinking behind it and also just wanted to thank you all for bringing these items up as an informational hearing to the
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commission. thank you. >> commissioner fung? >> one of the points that the commissioner chan brought up is along similar lines of one of my comments, and that is that we should encourage the organizers and planners to look at what are short-term fixes versus long-term fixes, and to be able to identify those in greater specifics. i think that as an example the reduction of process is one that i think can be a relatively
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short-term fix. but as you see what occurs every week, the discussions as to what is appropriate housing, what is appropriate density and what is appropriate location brings forth tremendous amount of difference of opinion, and i think we probably will see that also when we look at high opportunity areas and mapping. i did have one question, and that is that are there other zoning areas besides n.c.d.s which may perhaps -- should be looked at with respect to increased housing opportunity, recognizing that there probably will be some density increases
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and other changes within the zoning from n.c.d. to n.c.t. i don't know who wants to answer that. >> commissioner, i can start. i think -- if you like, we shouldn't be limited just to looking at ncs. i think aaron star brought up legislation that are interim controls supervisor peskin passed that don't increase but encourage maximizing density, so there's ways even within existing zoning to maximize densities, and of course i think some of the specifics that are in the memo look at residential zoning and r.h. zoning, as well as the n.c. zoning.
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>> direct, i agree, although i don't think that particular legislation, interim or not, is geared toward that specific purpose. however, i was thinking more along the lines of, yes, whether it's residential or whether some other ones, which may be smaller zoning areas, pockets, like u.m.u., that perhaps if it's a little more limited in scope we could put it closer to the shorter term type of thing that we can have an effect on. >> just a note, a lot of our mixed use districts don't have density controls currently, and so i think one of the conditions we're looking at is some of the situations where that density could be released, which it wouldn't impact some of the
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volume. >> this is myriam tams. i just wanted to point that a lot of the work we're doing in understanding what are the housing opportunities is focus on the neighborhood levels. so we're working with the communities in the sunset. we're working with communities in the tenderloin. we are starting an effort in the western division to understand the specification and how we can understand the needs of the community and the potential for changes in our land use control. >> okay. >> are you okay with all that, commissioner fung? can i move on to the next commissioner? >> yes, i'm done, thank you. >> thank you. commissioner imperial.
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>> thank you. also i would like to thank the planning department and staff and other city agencies in also formulating this. it's a lot of strategies, and i agree with commissioner chan that in a way this is -- even though this is a housing recovery plan, it is still -- it is quite ambitious, and i am -- i'm always, you know -- one thing that i always question when we have this kind of plans or strategies is the implementation of it, how it's going -- how is the implementation going to look like. hearing from the community, i guess my first question to our planning department, staff, whoever may be able, is to has
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the housing strategy, the recovery plan, is there a plan for the community to give input or feedback? and is there going to be more of a process on this in terms of having communities provide feedback on this? and what will be the timeline if there is one? >> myriam chin again with planning, commissioner imperial, we're in the process of convening the community equity advisory council. it's being taking longer because we feel like we need to approach and consult with our communities in defining this group, and this group will be an important platform for the liberating and helping you in discussing the priorities and the implementations. >> thank you.
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ms. chiun, it sounds to me that it will be the commission that is setting prioritization in all of these efforts? is that my understanding of this? >> that's correct. that's what we're hoping, and we're already hearing from you some of the priorities that we can focus on from -- as you have indicated a substantial work program. >> and when are we -- when is the commission going to take input -- or going -- make a decision on how to prioritize? i just want to have a sense of a timeline so that people also understand and are able to put more input on this. >> we're taking your input today. we'll come -- [indiscernible] we'll come back to the commission in the next few months once we have the chance and the opportunity to discuss with you the three areas of
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recovery work. >> i see, okay. >> i can just add, this is a discrete effort. it's really kind of helping guide our entire work program in the department, so i think everything from, you know, planning on legislation to your budget priorities, setting up programs through that process helps define where we go. i think it's, you know, there's a lot of intervals into this. >> yeah, i think that's sometimes where the public and also me are sometimes confused as to where all of this efforts are input and other community groups' efforts so that this can be implemented in the proper way and also right away. so my comments is that, first, many people have commented about the data and how we gather data,
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and as we are looking into the effort one in terms of racial and equity groups, i do agree in terms of, like, how are we connecting the equity group to each of these efforts? in terms of, you know, in every effort that we are putting into, how is that measurable? how is that going to be an outcome to, you know, the population that identified early in this description and not just simply a number. another thing, too, is that -- and i'm glad -- i'm, you know, most of the time we don't talk about this in the planning, but the homelessness is something that i -- you know, i was kind of -- i guess i find it interesting that the h.s.h. effort in terms of moving the -- i believe there are about 2,500
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shelter-in-place hotel guests, and there is some sort of a -- that hotels are not housing, but at the same time if we're talking about the moving of 2,500 shelter-in-place guests to rapidly housing to acquisition, of course it comes with a timeline, and that comes with a funding as well, and identifying those things, i'm always curious as to what would be the really good or -- you know, a laidout recovery plan for that. if the identified funding is not identified yet or we haven't had that kind of set up, then the 2,500 shelter-in-place hotel guests should stay there, but i'm also hearing from different groups as well when it comes to this shelter-in-place hotel guests, and the hotel themselves, how are they going to be moved, and there hasn't
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been really, you know, more [indiscernible] from what i'm hearing, unless someone from h.s.h. can, i guess, you know, correct me on that. another thing too is that, you though, in other cities where there are some efforts where hotels are being re-zoned for housing, i wonder that can be another, you know -- another strategy when it comes to making sure that the homeless don't really go out or doesn't go back to the streets, you know, moving from shelter is a big -- it's a big move and also a lot of adjustment at the same time. so i guess when it comes to the homelessness effort on how the planning can look into this, i think we really need to look
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into whether different forms of funding and also how are we going to, you know, also re-zone for all of the areas where we could make sure that the -- you know, the homeless can actually really be housed. another thing that, you know, the effort no. 5 and no. 8, i believe, i'm happy to see those actually as being identified as being no funding is something that is -- something needed. and there's -- and i would just say that from my -- you know, from my background, that the rental relief is something that is highly needed. as we know, the eviction will -- the state eviction moratorium that expired january 31, but nevertheless there's still a lot of uncertainties as to where the
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relief is going to come from, how is that going to be saved either by the city or the state legislation. so [indiscernible] needs to be something that i hope mostly they will prioritize in terms of implementing that and distributing that fund right away because that's -- i mean, it's january 14 and the expiration is coming up january 31. if anything, the implementation guideline for this should have this kind of discussion right now. and then lastly one thing that i, you know, gotta look into is the effort number seven in terms of advance housing pipeline. i think this is something that there's a lot of discussion always on this in terms of
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density, and when we talk about, you know, density, density for whom, i want to make sure that we here at the planning really prioritize, or how do we prioritize, you know, the building of housing? and when we meant about housing, we really need to make sure that it's affordable housing being built first. and i think there's always a lot of discussion when it comes to the nimbys versus affordable housing advocates and sometimes those people are being lumped into one, but i think in terms of identifying this high resource opportunity is areas, then we also, you know, prioritize that there is actually affordable housing being built, and the idea of the -- you know, as i'm looking to the small development, about four to 20 units, i think we -- i think that's something, you
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know, the planning should try to identify as to what are those four to 20 units. when we're talking about easing that entitlement, again, who are we trying to prioritize? again, that's coming from the equity lens as well. so you know, those -- i mean, overall, my overview on this is how are we connecting our equity and data to all of this effort. so that's something that i -- those are my comments, and i hope that the planning can gather more feedback from the committee themselves. there. thank you. >> commissioner tanner? >> thank you. i have a few questions. a couple were about some of the issues that were raised regarding data and our american indian community.
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i don't know if you are the right person to answer that, but there was a comment just regarding how the population is counted or perhaps under-counted. could you explain a little bit about the data conversations your team has been having and trying to it seems like resolve how to get accurate data for that group in our community? >> sure. let me see what i can address at this point. there is always limited data on the american-indian communities, and that's something that we're pursuing and trying to figure out how can we make them more explicit. i have to acknowledge that in this proposed report we didn't desegregate a lot of the data by race, and that's what we're hearing we need to do. and so it is our intent to specify and address more directly what are those -- how our efforts might or might not
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address those communities or might be addressed in the communities if there's no data, there's no specific data, and i think that's what we have heard loud and clear from the american indian community, that when the data is not available, we at least need to make that statement, that we have been unable to gather the data. >> okay. and then is that also -- it sounded like perhaps what the caller was saying was that if somebody is of two or more races, they are counted of two or more races and we may not know what those categories -- like if they check more than one box, we don't know exactly those combinations, and so somebody is, say, american indian and black, then they would just fall into the two or more races bucket and we kind of lose that specificity. is that kind of a good summary of the challenge, or at least one of the challenges maybe? >> it is one of the challenges, but we have some data, especially when it comes from the health department and some other sources, where we are
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gathering the specific breakdowns of if it's mixed race, what are the components of that mixed race. so we do have some information about the specifics of those communities. it's not always present, and we just need to put a little bit more effort on that task. >> and then kind of switching topics but something else i think your division but also the entire department may deal with, in your community outreach efforts and meetings, housing -- so many different times you're engaging with the community, are we finding that we have sufficient resources for language access, both in preparing materials and in providing interpretation services during the meetings, or is that something that we need to somehow find more resources for? how are you experiencing that? >> we are definitely trying to extend our resources, but not only expanding our resources but changing the way we carry that work within the planning
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department. as you know, we created a community equity division. within the community equity division we have a team. it's a small but mighty team of four people that are focused on community equity, and we just hired a person with substantial experience, tamika bennett, to lead that effort. so it's our intent to define a platform of strategies that will allow us to do more substantial community engagement at the planning department. in terms of the funding, within our own resources we're trying to identify some peoples to do work on the ground with a specific communities, but also to kind of articulate the various strategies. we are trying to identify funding to support the equity council, so we don't take that work as volunteer work, but it's
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work that is compensated. there are state and regional grants where we are identifying specific allocation for community engagement. we are also partnering with communities when we are doing community work, so in the sunset we are working with the schools as our community partner. it's our intent that for the work in the fillmore western edition we also identify community partners that can be compensated and can kind of work in that -- in a collaborative process to engage with our community network. >> okay, great, thank you so much. and this question may be more appropriate for the department of supportive housing, but curious about the evictions prevention work, and specifically -- we have so many programs, but i'm curious about the 15% of renters that either have not paid any rent during the pandemic or have some
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portion of unpaid rent. it seems there's a strategy being developed. do you have any insight as to what that strategy will look like to help to prevent those evictions and in so doing prevent homelessness for those households? >> is anyone working on that? i know it's a little hard with this. >> so as has been mentioned a number of times, the eviction moratorium expires january 31. we also expect that it will be extended, and as folks know, it's not a rent forgiveness program. it's just an eviction prevention program. we're counting on having that extra time to be able to strategize with the 25 -- 26 million in federal stimulus funds to be able to really target it, and as folks now also
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supervisor preston has introduced legislation that would actually provide backrent to landlords, partial backrent to landlords in exchange for sole forgiveness of the other balances. so there's a lot of legislative work going on with the departments, but i don't think we have a strategy. unmasking the resources obviously is the first challenge, and we could come up with all sorts of great plans, but if we didn't have the funds to implement them, it would be a disaster. >> thank you. >> i'm sorry i don't have more specifics than that. one of my colleagues is leading all the eviction prevention work across all these funding platforms with numerous city departments, and i can get more details for you. >> that's great, and i really appreciate that. and just that we're working and hopefully we'll have more time
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and hopefully the additional time the federal funding and some local programs to hopefully just cut the amount that's owed if landlords are willing to work and the legislation that supervisor peskin has ordered through, maybe all that combined can really help out the households. it's good to know that -- 15% is a lot. we have a large renter community, so it's good to have the much higher percentage that we would need to focus on. i'm just curious about -- i'm not sure if -- s.r.o. master leases. what is that under? supportive housing? i was just curious to think about, you know, how we could perhaps expand the cultural competency of those who are managing our s.r.o.s as mr. seymour suggested, ensuring that the programs we have -- reflect the population who are living in those units, and i
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think it's really important to focus on if we haven't already. i'll just make a few comments then as well. i wanted to report so many of the things that commissioner imperial said and just add that it seems like right now some of the more important things we could be doing that are really focused on this particular window of time are working to, of course, prevent the eviction of tenants who are in housing and who may be at risk of becoming unhoused due to covid-19, due to not having employment, a host of other issues. certainly not making that challenge any less worse for those households. there's also a challenge where there can be work on acquisition while there's a little bit of stumbling in the marketplace, the price of single family homes is going up still. the rents are falling in multi-family buildings, and perhaps this is an opportunity for us to take advantage and deploy the prop c and prop i funds to be able to get more housing under community control, and i hope that's a really -- a
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really clear goal that the city will set, and of course the advantages and opportunistic of trying to find the best deals where we can get the best value for our money through the program, that's also an opportunity to look at the neighborhoods and cultures that have been identified whether it's to move families into neighborhoods with high opportunity or to shore up the resources in those communities when there are multi-family buildings for sale that the city could acquire or acquire through non-profit partners. i think the other big opportunity that we have is to really continue to build the capacity of non-profit and community-based organizations in the vulnerable communities, and san francisco has a really great tradition of working very closely with community partners and providing funding for community partners so they can do the work with their communities. i think with our black community that's particularly important, and oftentimes they have not been the recipients of funding and have kind of been a bit shutout at times from receiving those funds to serve the
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communities that they serve, and so really using this opportunity to build their capacity, to make sure that they can deliver services, including housing services, housing management, really thinking kind of long term about how this particular moment provides this opportunity to help to build a stronger foundation for their work and that will continue to pay dividends to our whole city as they become stronger and even coming out of the pandemic. i think that also supporting, as i said, our outreach, our human interactions that we have even if a lot of it is digital or virtual, that we really as a department are culturally competent and that the non-profits that we support, the agencies we work with, are also expected to have that same type of competency to have staff, to have leadership that reflect the communities that we are serving, and to really make sure -- a big part of that is to erase implicit bias. so we have implicit bias training as a city which is a really great step and very important, but it's also important to make sure people
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who are delivering services are going to be able to have an understanding and a cultural competency when they are working with people not just because they've learned it but because they are members of that community, and i don't think that can be dislocated, unfortunately. i'm happy we'll be hearing more about this in efforts the city is taking, so i want to applaud the planning department and all the other agencies for working together. i'm excited to see the deployment of planning staff to -- as csws to work with -- and it's really just this type of collaboration that is going to be the place where we have these really great ideas and where we can execute them and see the results that we want, and of course as commissioner imperial said, making sure we're tracking our goals with our data and our outcomes along the way so we can really see and tell the story of where we're successful, but also understand where we may be falling short and how we can address those. i want to thank all the staff for all their efforts and look forward to this continuing. >> commissioner tanner, you mentioned a few points related
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to h.s.h. we have dylan online if you want her to address some of your points related to our homeless population and s.r.o.s, as well as commissioner imperial also had a few questions or comments. >> that would be great if she's able to speak. >> good afternoon, commissioners. thank you all for your very thoughtful comments on this. so i really appreciate the comments specifically about our non-profit service providers that run our permanent supportive housing and other supportive housing sites. we continue to work with all of our providers across our system of care to offer cultural responsiveness training, both in an ethnic lens and sogi lens to ensure they are trained and the competency and responsiveness. it is certainly something we're continuing to look at. one thing i will note that's
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really exciting for our department this year is we're completing our first racial equity action plan, and with that we received an in-kind [indiscernible] for dei consulting services that are helping not only with that racial equity plan but continuing that kind of equity lens across the department and how we're really centering all of our strategic framework and efforts through that lens of equity, that we have always really tried to be sensitive, but we really want to raise up to a new level, and we'll also be bringing on board a new chief equity officer, the first time h.s.h. has had a position like that, in the coming months. so very grateful for all of the funding both from the city side and also from the philanthropic lens. >> i think part of what i want to emphasize is i think it's so important because so much of our homeless population and as was suggested our population in s.r.o.s, which is one of the
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ways to help to reduce homelessness, are african-american. i think having african-american-led organizations at the table, whether it's directly managing the properties or providing -- and having a serious role there is really important, and i hope it's something that through the planning effort that you're undertaking that you'll be undertaking and really looking at who, you know, is providing the services and how they're providing those services, so i hope that as we continue to get updates that we'll see that happening and we'll hear more about those folks living there and -- which i think really can't be understated in san francisco because our black population has been so challenged and squeezed and pushed out. it can feel really hostile sometimes being here, and so just having your home be a place where folks look like you and are serving you and care about you and are prioritizing your maintenance issues is really important, and i don't think it can be overstated as something that we need to do. one question i did want to ask
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is are you aware of ideas about how prop c and prop i fund will be focused toward either permanent supportive housing efforts, acquisition efforts, small sites? like what are you all thinking or is it too soon to kind of be talking about even the dollars and where they're going and how they're planning to be allocated? >> i can speak to prop c. i'm not as familiar with prop i, but i'm happy to follow up on additional information with prop i. for prop c, city departments have been working very closely with the our city our home oversight committee since fall of 2020, and so the -- it's only been a few months. in december after quite a few months of working with the our city our home oversight committee, we did presentation recommendations to the board of supervisors for immediate funding needs for prop c that included funding, the re-housing resources for hotels, phases one and two of our re-housing
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proposal, as well as some of the -- some of the resources and initiatives you saw under that mayor's homelessness recovery plan, expand and maintaining temporary shelter and bringing online and -- prevention. so there was about 49 million funds that were released in january under that, and then we're really looking forward to continuing with the oversight committee as we head into the 20-21 budget process to see how we can continue to work with them to really prioritize housing and health care and really look at unique opportunities to continue to spend those funds in really effective manners, as well as look at the accountability of those. >> great, and do you have any sense -- i know this may not be your role in the city -- of just how the incoming funds from prop c are going up or down? everything is kind of going down, but fortunately unfortunately we had kind of the bulk of money that had been squirrelled away from the years when we couldn't spend it.
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do you have a sense of -- i think what's so great about prop c is it's an ongoing source. it's revenue that will continue to be available to provide services, acquisition, et cetera. do you have any sense of that? >> i'm not the right person to speak to that. there might be somebody else on this call or otherwise i'm happy to follow up and get back to you. >> i'm sure i can google and i'm sure our controller has a chart or two about it that i can find. thank you very much. i appreciate your time. >> of course. >> commissioner moore? >> thank you for all the in-depth effort by everybody who participated. it was an amazing presentation. i wish we could all sit together, see each other and go back and forth. we are limited but i want to express my sincere thanks to my fellow commissioners for really having taken this very far.
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i would agree, the sensitivities expressed by the public relative to equity polls, talking to those communities who are affected. i am very, very inspired by just the mere statement of the departments making not only one-size-fits-all but bringing sensitivity and cultural competence to how we look at the problem. i very much appreciate that. i am in support of everything my fellow commissioners said. i would like to direct one question, one comment, one suggestion to planning, and that is ms. maya small, if she is there. are you there? >> i'm here, yes. >> i wanted to remind you of the fact that in the last year or
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two as many times the commission looked at projects on site, which were atypical in the neighborhoods which they occurred. those were sites vacated by public or institutional users, like churches, they were larger in size, could have afford a different type of project. however, given what you do and don't have, [indiscernible] densities to look at these projects. as we all know, religious institutions are heavy on road space, most of which is obsolete and empty, and they are [indiscernible] and i would like the department to start tracking where and when these sites become available because i believe there is a large resource for doing things that address the whole spectrum for the type of housing which we discussed today. that would be my only comment, my suggestion. if you have any immediate response to that, let me know.
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>> i know one of the challenges for finding affordable housing sites right now is finding ones that are big enough in some of our lower density neighborhoods to be efficient in the way that they need to put their funding together to get the number of units that they need, and so those might be kinds of ways that we could look at sites or opportunities that might meet those challenges. >> and it would be interesting to speak to the community of faith and reach out to them in a proactive not necessarily [indiscernible] way to reach out to planning, because even the scarcity of land we have in the city, this is one very fertile ground, at least from my perspective, to start a mutual interest -- to start moving towards a mutually supportive and interested outcome. thank you for considering that, and that would be my comment. >> okay, commissioners.
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thank you, staff and members of the public, for an interesting conversation. we should move on to items 9, 10a, b and c. for case numbers 2017-004557emvcoa and var for the property at 550 othorough street. you will first consider the final environmental impact report. then adopt the ceqa findings and variance. we should hear from ep staff first and then current planning on the project itself and we'll open it up to public comment. is staff prepared to make their presentation? >> yes. i would just ask that the shared button is grayed out for me. >> i will make you the presenter
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momentarily. >> thank you. >> do you see it now? >> yes, i do, thank you. does everyone see my shared screen? >> yes, we do. >> okay, thank you. good afternoon, president koppel, vice-president moore and members of the commission. i'm jennifer mckellar, planning department staff and environmental coordinator for the project we are discussing here. the item for your consideration today is the certification of the project's final environmental impact report for iar. i will now provide a brief overview of the environmental review process and eir
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conclusions. the project is in the downtown civic center neighborhood. the site was developed with one building, a public parking garage, which is individually eligible for -- in the california register of historical resources. the existing building is also a contributing resource to the national register of uptown tenderloin historic district. the eir analyzed two project options. the proposed project, which would construct 111 dwelling units and 1300 square feet of retail or residential amenity uses and most of the existing building pertaining only as the existing facade, and the project variant, which would construct 116 units and 1300 square feet of retail or residential amenity uses and completely demolish the existing building and which would completely demolish the existing building.
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the eir determines that both the proposed project and the project variant would result in significant and unavoidable impact on a significance of the historical resource at 550 o-farrell street, even with mitigation. this would occur because under both the project and the project variant either the entirety or the majority of the existing historic resource would be demolished, including all or most of the building's character-defining features, respectively. other impacts the historic architectural resources were found to be less significant or less-than-significant with mitigation for both the proposed project and the project variant. to address the significant and unavoidable impact on the individual historic resource, the eir analyzed three project alternatives, the new project taef, the full preservation alternative and the partial preservation alternative.
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these were developed in consultation with the historic preservation commission whose members provided feedback during a hearing in april 2019. the full preservation -- pardon me. of the three preservation alternatives, only the no project alternative and full preservation alternative would reduce the significant and unavoidable impact on the individual historic resources. the other project alternative would keep the building in its existing form and therefore it would have no impact. the full preservation impact would reduce the impact to a less-than-significant level. the eir identified mitigation measures related to historic architectural resources, archaeological resources, tribal cultural resources and construction noise. construction vibration, construction air quality and operational air quality. part of the approval today you will be asked to adopt ceqa
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measures -- of approval. this identifies the key [indiscernible] project review. pardon me. in summary, the department solicited an incorporated public comment on the environmental analysis and held public hearings on the draft eir analysis. the historic preservation commission found the analysis of the historic resources in the draft eir to be adequate and accurate during the june 17, 2020, hearing on the draft eir. the planning commission had no public comments on the hearing in june 25, 2020, other than commissioner moore noting that the draft eir was generally complete and accurate. the public submitted comments in public. several of those comments requested an analysis of the project's socio-economic effects. while this analysis is not
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currently required under ceqa, as you know, especially from a prior discussion, the planning department is developing ways to address racial and social equity in this city's planning process. more information about these efforts is provided in the response of the comments document. the department published the responses to comments on the draft eir document on november 9, 2020, and a subsequent erata to the document correcting typographical errors. these documents have been provided to the commission as part of the project hearing packet. the response is the comments document and the erata document, the combination of the draft eir constitutes the final eir, which is before you today for certification. the final eir is adequate and provides decisionmakers and the public with the information required pursuant to ceqa to understand the potential environmental impact of the project, alternatives and mitigation measures.
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on this basis, we request that the commission adopt the eir certification motion before you. the motion does not approve the project but instead certifies that the eir complies with ceqa. this concludes our presentation and the eir certification. i will be available for questions during the public comment period. i will now turn over the presentation to my colleague who will present the additional agenda items associated with this project. apologies for the slide issues there. i can show some later if needed. >> samantha, do you need to present slides? >> not yet. i have the sponsor slides. thank you so much, jennifer.
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good afternoon, commissioners. i am samantha -- with department staff. the project before you today at 550 o-farrell street would demolish all but the facade of the existing two-storey garage and construct a 13-storey residential tower with a total of 111 dwelling units. the main building would contain approximately 113,000 square feet of floor area and provide a mix of one, two and three-bedroom apartments. like jennifer said, the existing garage is a historically significant -- in the uptown tenderloin historic district and the facade would be retained and incorporated into the new building. the historic preservation commission agreed that the retained elements guidelines have been successfully applied to this project and that the location of the new mapping would be appropriate because it would match the size, scale and location of other residential buildings in the district. to achieve a total of 111 units on site, the project would utilize a density provision from
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the planning code and provide 20% of the total units, which is 22 units, of on-site affordable. the below-market rate units would also satisfy a portion of the project's inclusionary requirements and remain satisfied by paying an affordable housing fee. in addition, for an area that's located above the 80-foot base height allowance would be subject to the north of market affordable housing fee which would be available exclusively for affordable housing within the boundaries of the special use district. so the project was continued in its original hearing date from december to allow the sponsor more time for community engagement. however, no changes were made to the project as a result. so the action items before you today are, as jennifer detailed in her presentation, the commission will need to certify the final eir, and after certifying the final eir and prior to any other project approval actions, the
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commission -- ceqa findings, including the findings regarding significant unavoidable impacts, adoption of the statement of overriding considerations, and adoption of the mitigation monitoring and reporting program. the commission will need to grant conditional use authorization to allow a structure greater than 40 feet in height on a lot with more than 50 feet of street frontage and exceeding the 80-foot base allowance. the proposed structure is 129 feet tall and the diagonal dimension on levels 9 through 12 exceeds the maximum by 9 feet. and lastly, to be considered by the zoning administrator, the project requires a variant to reduce the requirements for rear yard from 25% to 23% and to use the reduced rear yard in the following unit exposure unit standards on units 4 through 12
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floors. the department has received three letters in support of the project and one in opposition. supporters cited the need for new housing in the city and the addition of below-market rate and family-sized units that the project will provide, in addition to the retention of the garage facade. opposition was related to the esthetics and a lack of setback from the lot lines. and i believe the commission also received either yesterday or today a petition to support the project. so staff finds that the project is, on balance, consistent with the conditional use criteria general plan and -- policies of the general plan as stated in the staff report. staff recommends that you approve the two actions before you for the following reason. the proposed structure height and scoping would allow the site to be developed at a high density in a manner that is consistent with the surrounding area and the zoning and height in both districts. this infill housing project
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would provide 111 new residential units and includes two and three-bedroom units, which supports the effort to provide housing for families. the project would contribute 22 of the 111 units, which is 20% of the total, as on-site affordable. in addition, the project would contribute to the city-wide affordable housing and north of market affordable housing fund. the project has incorporated the existing garage facade into the final design according to retained elements guidelines that would strike a balance between honoring the existing historic architecture and the need for new housing to serve very helpful types, sizes and incomes. and finally, this project is necessary, desirable and compatible with the surrounding neighborhood and not to be detrimental to persons or adjacent properties in the community. this concludes my presentation, and the project sponsor is here and will also present, and i will be available for questions
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afterward. so i will -- jonas, if you can help me [indiscernible]. >> share your screen. >> okay. great. thank you so much, commissioners. >> okay, the project sponsor is prepared to make their presentation? project sponsor? >> hi, there. just checking that everybody can hear me? >> yes, we can. and make sure that your television is muted in the background. >> perfect. >> your slides are up. you have five minutes. >> thank you. planning commissioners, thank you, i represent the project sponsor. this project has been a long time in the making, so i would like to quickly thank some
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people and other members of the staff for their efforts, and i would like to thank all the community members who have been a part of this process to help us get to this point after many years and deliver much-needed housing, both affordable and market rate, and community benefits to the tenderloin community. next slide, please. just to give everybody a little bit of context, this is the site on 550 o-farrell street. it was built in 1924. it's built as and has always been a parking garage, and so it has a unique distinction of being a historic parking garage in san francisco. from that perspective, it represented a great opportunity to develop it for much-needed high density housing, and given the location, the tenderloin, we -- be many considerations, both with regards to affordable housing and other community considerations for this
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development. next slide, please. as discussed by both jennifer and samantha, i just wanted to quickly touch on the iteration and evolution of this project. when we initially proposed it, it was a complete demolition of the historic resource. over time through feedback from both third-party reports, like the hre report on our presentation to the historic preservation commission and feedback from the historic planners, it was clear that it was important to retain the historic element as much as possible, and so what you see before you were the various options that were presented before we ultimately, the sponsor, made the decision, both using feedback from the various planning agencies and the community to strongly desired a retention of the historic facade to maintain the character of the district which you mentioned this project is located within.
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next slide, please. so what you have before you is rather than propose a project that removes and demolishes the historic resources, we made the election early on in the process to maintain the historic facade, to prioritize the needs of the historic preservation commission and certain community organizations, although the effect of this did reduce our total potential unit count from 116 units to 111 units, we did feel ultimately that the preservation of the historic resource was important. there we go, thank you. and so we -- you know, we under consideration needed to be made to ensure the viability of the project, both in terms of unit layout and engaging with consultants from general contractors to electrical,
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mechanical, structural consultant, given the fact it is a high building, it is fairly complex, so balancing competing priorities between historic retention and as we're well into the affordable housing component for a building that is a high-rise, which was special considerations, a knowledge, but we believe our team has come up to that challenge and will present a project that we believe will ultimately be feasible and a great addition to the community. next slide, please. aside from the design, no project let alone the timeline for the city would really be possible without the support of the community. this was a unique process having entitled several [indiscernible] from the past, given the historic nature of the existing garage, we were not able to indicate [indiscernible] we would have liked purely because a lot of time was spent up front iterating on the design before we were able to take forward a
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program that was final in the form of unit count and design, and so having kicked off our community engagement efforts in earnest in summer of 2020, we are pleased to say that [indiscernible] obviously doing what we can [ buzzer ] organizations to prioritize the needs and we are pleased to say that we are in the final stages of a community benefits agreement, and that has been spearheaded by the market streets of the masses coalition, and the central city s.r.o. collaborative and the tenderloin housing clinic. we are in the final stages of -- which is one of the reasons we continued hearing from the previous month in december and we targeted to find t.b.a. prior to that in the 30-day appeal period. next slide, please. [buzzer] where we're at right now is an opportunity to develop
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a preservation project that provides high density housing that contains both a significant percentage of the dwelling units and some mixed contributions to the city housing fund in addition to both financial and operational commitments to the tenderloin community. one thing we're especially proud of is the mix of two and three-bedrooms at 550 o"farrell. we're providing almost 68% family-size unit 40% requirement as has been mentioned we are providing 20% of the [indiscernible] affordable housing with an additional $1.8 million to the city's b.m.r. affordable housing fund, and within that 1.8 million is that unique north of market affordable housing fee that samantha mentioned. we have also had the opportunity with the support of [indiscernible] corners where they have agreed to provide two units within the building above and beyond their b.m.r. units
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that will essentially be rent controlled and provided to individuals who are at risk for -- >> i'm going to need to step in. just in fairness to everyone else, it's gone already or is going to come up afterwards, i will have some more questions eventually, but we're going to have to just cut you down right now. >> sure. i'm -- we can go through the community benefits, just one last thing i -- >> i got to stop you now. we will have questions and we can address all that then. >> [indiscernible] land use for the project sponsor, we had understood we had a 10-minute period to make our presentation as it's a general standard. >> our general standard actually is five minutes, and i made that announcement at the beginning of the presentation. >> the architect can respond to questions and we can show the architectural slides if there are questions from the commissioners. >> sure. i'm sure there will be questions from the commissioners to allow
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you opportunities to finish your presentation. at this time, though, we will take public comment. members of the public, you need to press *3 in order to get into the queue for public comment on this matter. to the chair, you'll have two minutes. >> good afternoon, i'm speaking on behalf of the housing action coalition in strong support of this project. we were very pleased to endorse these proposed homes for many reasons. first, 550 o"farrell street is an excellent job of maximizing density on the site, and creating a welcoming home for residents who appreciate car-free living and a transit-rich neighborhood. second, we appreciate all the historic preservation efforts that have been made in designing these homes. but the overall project exhibits a skilful integration of the garage's historic facade with a more modern expression of the apartments and utilizes fence
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integration partners, materials and setbacks to provide scale and articulation appropriate to the surrounding streetscape. third, the project team has done an also excellent job of incorporating sustainability from all electric residences, solar panels to achieving a green-point certification of 75 plus. last but certainly not least we applaud the project team for providing the community space on the ground floor for tenderloin organizations meetings and events, as well as retail space for local organizations and artists and a mural for the outdoor space, all of which will activate and enliven the street and sidewalk for the benefit of all. for these reasons and many others the housing action coalition enthusiastically supports these residences and urges the planning commission to approve them and help alleviate san francisco's housing shortage and affordability crisis. thank you very much.
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>> yes, my name is david elliott lewis. i'm a tenant advocate with the central city s.r.o. collaborative in strong support of this project. i had a chance to hear presentations by the developer who made -- who did a lot of outreach in my neighborhood. i live in the tenderloin close by to the project site. and i found the presentations helpful. i found the project beneficial for the neighborhood, so in terms of the basic criteria, it is a project, you know, useful and helpful for the neighborhood. is it good and beneficial? is it necessary and useful? all those check boxes are here, and i've also appreciated the developers' willingness to reach community benefits agreement with the neighborhood, namely with groups comprising a coalition of the market street
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for the masses and central city s.r.o. collaborative, and i think it shows that they are willing to work with the residents, to meet resident needs. there is going to be a ground floor space available for meetings. it just -- everything about the project i think is helpful for the neighborhood, and i just want to fully support it. this is david elliott lewis. thank you very much. >> good afternoon, commissioners. i'm the policy and planning manager at tndc, and we are also a member of market street for the masses, a coalition of community organizations and neighborhood residents working in partnership and economic, social and psychological displacement. i am here to express our agency and coalition support for the proposed project at 550 o'farrell street. following the developers' hearing on the draft eir, they
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reached out to market street for the masses, and since august they have worked in good faith with neighborhood stakeholders to ensure information was reaching folks on the ground and for the past few months they have participated in weekly meetings alongside residents and providers to find ways in which the developer could ensure they were being a good neighbor and understanding the needs of the community. they willingly requested a continuance for this hearing back in december because they acknowledged the importance of community process and truly wanted to end things on a positive note. and we are pleased to announce that last week the community and the developer reached an agreement and the developer has committed to signing the benefits package before the end of the appeal period. so we thank presidio bay for their time and efforts, and we truly hope that this project is approved so we can welcome them to the tenderloin neighborhood. thank you so much.
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>> hello, my name is hazel o'neal. i'm a resident living in the richmond neighborhood, but i commute through the tenderloin area pretty frequently, and also a number of [indiscernible] and bicycle coalition member, and on behalf of the bicycle coalition affordable housing. i'm really [indiscernible] i think it's completely in line with good climate change goals, specifically the climate change plan that is yet to be approved this spring of 2021. this project is not only a preservation of an existing structure but it's also built to current green standards, including that it's all electric. it has an streetscape, a lot of bicycle parking, and further it's dense housing that is affordable in a transit-rich area. affordable housing is one of the most meaningful ways that we can address homelessness, which i know is a huge issue of concern for a lot of us, and so i urge you to please approve this project. i think it will be a great addition to the city. thank you.
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>> good afternoon, commissioners. i'm sarah ogilvie and a lead with san francisco -- i'm calling in strong support of the project at 550 o'farrell. the proposal includes 20% on-site affordable housing, 40% of the b.m.r. units are designated as neighborhood residence preference and an additional 20% for tenants previously that have been under the ellis act or from owner move-ins. i'm really excited about the $1.5 million in off-site impact fees bringing the total inclusionary rate to 25%, so we commend the innovative and community-centric allotment of b.m.r. units. i'm also really excited about the biking spaces that will be provided. this will not propose any vehicle parking, instead providing 115 parking spaces for
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bicycles, 42 easily accessed from the ground floor and a bike area in the basement. i think it's exciting that it's one half mile from powell street station, making it an ideal location for public transportation users. i encourage the board to proceed with supporting these well-designed and well-placed homes at 550 o'farrell street to help alleviate san francisco's extreme housing shortage crisis. thank you so much for your consideration. >> good afternoon, commissioners. i'm a tenant leader with central city -- collaborative. i'm here in support of the project of 550 o'farrell because we appreciate the fact that it's going to bring more families in and will maintain the historical
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aspects of the building. we have worked along with market street for the masses, with the developers on the community benefits, and have come to an agreement, and i'm looking forward to signing it soon after this meeting. so please, please approve this project. >> good afternoon again, commissioners. cory smith on behalf of the housing action coalition. two points that i was hoping to make, we are in support of the proposal here today, as previously mentioned. any time a project can look at multiple ways to fulfill their inclusionary housing requirements, that is always something lauded by the coalition. we think that it shows creativity and the more options that projects have and the more
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opportunities that they have to provide affordable housing in different ways, we're very excited about that. the second piece we shared initially a couple of days ago and then followed up this afternoon with now 96 petition signers in support of the project, about a third of those petition planners came from the two zip codes closest to this. it's as good as we can get in making sure that we're trying to activate neighborhood residents. you have obviously heard from a number of them in support of the project during public comment, but just wanting to add there are more additional voices not at public comment from the community that do support, and we ask that you move the project forward today. thank you. >> good, thank you. members of the public, last call for public comment?
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you need to press *3 to enter the queue. commissioners, seeing no additional request to speak, public comment is closed, and of course i spoke too soon. go ahead, caller. >> good afternoon, commissioners. i am also a tenant leader with the c.c.s.l.o. and also a member of the land use commission. i am . . . >> sir, i'm not sure, but you've become inaudible. >> i'm back. >> go ahead. your time is running. >> okay, all right. again, i'm calling in support of
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the project, and i think it's a long overdue but much-welcome addition to the tenderloin. there were very few buildings that address the needs of families as well as individual apartments available. along with market street for the masses, c.c.s.l.o. has worked closely with the developer in working out a benefits agreement, and we look forward to having it signed soon after the hearing. thank you. >> thank you. okay, members of the pluck, last call for public comment. seeing none, commissioners, public comment on this matter is closed and it is now before you. >> so before you get going, i'm going to call on commissioner tanner. >> thank you. i wanted to make a disclosure.
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when i was with the planning department, i staffed a working group which [indiscernible] with a member. my professional relationship with him from that time will have no impact on my ability to deliberate in this hearing. >> thank you, commissioner tanner. so before i call on other commissioners, let me just say that this is a really good example of what i think the project should do as opposed to just max out units and shove as much as they can into a small box. this project sponsor went ahead, they requested a continuance ahead of this hearing, which says a lot about their caring for the community, and that just results in a better product coming to us on these thursdays. the bike parking is great. it's a very transit-oriented development. the facade is being retained even at the expense of a couple units, and there's a terrific
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unit mix allowing for the type of people that are living currently in the tenderloin, so i'm 100% supportive of certifying the eir, adopting the findings and the conditional use, but i did stop the project sponsor during their project highlight, so if you would like to elaborate on some of the more community involvements you plan on utilizing, please go ahead. >> project sponsor, did you want to continue with any of your presentation? and if ms. updegrave could share her screen, please.
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>> i'm working on getting my screen share, jonas. >> mr. seth? >> hi, there. can folks hear me? >> yes, we can hear you. >> perfect. i appreciate everyone's mention of the support for the project, and i was actually at the end of my portion and was going to hand it over to our architect to go over the design. just looking forward to that, the last slide that we were on, i know samantha was trying to pull it up, it's on the community development benefits which was starting with a financial contribution of $400,000 to various tenderloin-based organizations that will take place following the completion of the project, but there are a significant number of ongoing operational
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commitments that we will be making that include being a good neighbor requirements, part of the residential lease forms, education for residents, commitment to a high local use for property management, staffing to the extent that we are retained in the future. we will also be dedicating ground floor commercial space for tenderloin-based organizations on weeknights and weekends to host events and meeting areas [indiscernible] and the constituents, and there will also be lending use of the basement for safe storage and details of the c.v.a. are continuing to be worked out and will be signed before the end of the appeal period. with that, i'll hand it over to the architect and he can walk through the design elements. >> thanks, can everyone hear me okay? >> yes, we can hear you. >> samantha, you might as well just maybe go to slide 8 and we can kind of just go through the
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slides of the building. i'm flying blind here, so let me know if i'm off sync at all. just to briefly show you the commissioners and everyone the project, some of the images that we've prepared. it was very important to the design team and the sponsor to create a building that worked closely with the characteristics of uptown tenderloin historic district. some of those include the building composition that's very complementary with surrounding buildings with a base, a middle and a top. typically capped with a decorative something. we are -- as mentioned, the retained element, the historic facade, is creating the base for the building. the primary facade is built out
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of creek house concrete. the building metal panel ak sents and concrete -- so there's decorative element incorporated. the punched window facade is in keeping with the character of the neighborhood surrounding buildings as well. and you'll notice that the side wall, which we are a zero lot line conditions, so no openings allowed in those walls, make for a prime real estate for a mural, as was mentioned previously before. this is not an actual proposal for a mural but showing a depiction of what it might look like. if we could go to the next slide, please. this is just zeroing in on the street view of the project and how the incorporation of the retained element facade is working with the rest of the
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building. we're committed to a faithful preservation and restoration of the original facade. obviously the use behind the wall is changing, which will necessitate new windows and openings, but the decorative elements and features will be retained and restored. the new portion of the building is separated with a recessed wall, which is referred to as the hyphen, which clearly articulates existing and new. we worked hard to work with that as well. and the lobby and the common areas will all contain additional resources and references regarding the history of the uptown tenderloin historic district. if we could go to slide 10. this is a lesser rendered view of the building. this is the back of the building, but it's important to
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show the common open spaces that are being provided for the residents at the ground floor. there's lush garden, seating area that includes things like a dog run for the dog owners in the building. there are some private patios for the units at the ground floor, and up on the 13th floor, there is a larger common open space which includes a shade trellis, lounge area, outdoor kitchen for residents to entertain at. and if we go to i think the very last slide is just the elevation of the building. again, this is just an architectural elevation, but i think it's important to show the care that was -- [no audio]. >> if you're still speaking and can hear me, you're no longer audible.
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project sponsor? there you go. >> i cut out. >> yeah, it sounds like you're back. >> not sure where i got cut off there, but just this is the last slide that we wanted to show. it's the elevation of the street facade and the character of the windows that work with the existing facade as well as the surrounding neighborhoods reflecting the scale and proportion of window openings. so that concludes my presentation. >> should we go back to
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commissioner comments? >> yes, commissioner moore, please. >> we have two items on the agenda. can we independently talk about them or do you want to take them apart? >> well, i believe that the deliberation can happen concurrently, but certainly the certification of the eir should happen separately. >> okay, i'll just briefly talk about the second part. the building, i am very pleased for the first time, emphasis on first time, here is a discussion about constructability and design feasibility. in most cases there are things rely on design capability, and when it comes to constructability, what we mostly get does not even remotely resemble what we even talk and approve. i'm happy to have the developer and the architect on that
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effort. community benefits together it's a very strong point and overall i think the building hits the sweet spots by working with the preservation alternative and even if we are sacrificing a few units, i believe that the benefits are in the built environment of the way the units particularly with 20% affordability and two section 8 voucher limits, this project will bring [indiscernible]. i have one question. have you considered how housing quality affects health that even within the building our covid learned lessons can be applied relative to all the techniques that need to be brought together in high-density housing? >> commissioner moore, thank you
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for that question. i assume this was for us, the sponsor. can i confirm the question which is have we taken into consideration or at least thought about the impacts or potential implications of high-density housing in a post-covid event? >> that's correct, yes. that's my question, yes. >> it's a fascinating question. i'm glad you asked it. obviously most developers, ourself included, are doing this for the very first time. we have the benefit of experience through one of our other projects in the bay area which is coming online and delivering this year and have learned a tremendous amount about the various tools, both from a sort of tenant to the consumer standpoint, so things like interviews, hand sanitizing stations, signs in elevators encouraging social distancing. these are all of the soft touch points that you can use to
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encourage high genic behavior within a multi-family building, but beyond that, designing things like mechanical systems and filtration, there's a standard of filtration, making sure we have at least those filters, that are installed within all of our m.e.p. units, there are other techniques. these are all existing technologies that can be used and implemented just so long as they are planned for and designed in advance of the actual construction that go a long way towards, for example, reducing the amount of bacteria and bio-matter within the air that gets circulated. those are just some examples of things we have seen. it is obviously a challenge within the high density environment to minimize contact and exposure, but these are some of the tools that we believe are at our disposal. >> thank you for giving such a thorough response. i feel that you are thinking
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about things. it's the number of units, the type of units and number of inhabitants. [indiscernible] circulating probably 15, 20 people coming together in one corridor. i very much appreciate the response. i have one additional question. on the east side, the adjoining building, i do not know what is in it. i shows that you are not replicating the -- can you assure us, the adjoining building does not have [indiscernible] into that block? >> i will defer that question to matt. matt, do you have any insight and more detail into that? i know it was a topic of discussion with the planning department. >> can you repeat the question one more time, please? i was having trouble hearing you. >> normally when we look at
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buildings, with new buildings, we look at adjoining buildings. the building to the east of the facility shows [indiscernible] in the middle of the building. you are not replicating the light well. i would like to know if the adjoining building, i didn't have the time or energy to find out what is its use, and that we know that there is no impact on the adjoining building or its potential inhabitants. >> got it. thank you. the design has evofld and changed over time, and to get to our unit count, to provide as much housing as we are providing, the building is, you know, is as big as it is, and for better and for worse. our core is quite compact, but it is not recessed to allow for a large reciprocal lightwell, but we are slightly setback from
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the adjacent building, and there are no openings that would be looking directly into the adjacent building's lightwell, and so there should be no impact about people looking into other units, if that answers your question. >> not really, but did you have a conversation with the adjoining building that there are no concerns on their part? >> i believe that's correct. >> okay. those are my questions. thank you so much. >> commissioner diamond? >> i first want to thank commissioner moore for her question on the design of the building with respect to health issues and appreciate the response of the project sponsor. the question is for planning staff, maybe director hillis.
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are planning and building working on a list or is there a list of features that need to be included in these high-density buildings as a consequence of covid? things we've learned that we want all high-density buildings to include going forward? >> commissioner diamond, no, not as of yet, but i think it's a great idea. i think the health department should be involved as well. i mean, i think the initial kind of effort on this has been reoccupying buildings and what we may need to reoccupy buildings, are you going to occupy them during this phase. but i agree, something we should look at. >> i would really appreciate that. i don't think we should leave it up to the discretion of each developer who comes along. we've learned a lot during this process and our learning should translate into requirements for how we think these buildings
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should be developed, these high-density buildings should be developed, taking into account public health concerns going forward. so thank you and maybe you could keep us posted as commissioners on the status of however you take that forward. >> yes. >> i also wanted to say that i think this is a great project. i really like the architectural design. i think the architectures did a great job with the retained elements. i believe that the addition of all the housing and particularly the amount and type of affordable housing is terrific, and i am very much in support of the project and would move to -- as the initial motion to certify the eir. >> second. >> zoning [indiscernible]. >> good afternoon, president and commissioners. good to see you all in the new year. i just wanted to clarify very quickly that this project does
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require a variant and that is calendared actually in the north of market special use district. it's more of a modification and instead of requiring the five standard findings for a variance, the s.u.d. only requires two full criteria be met, one related to adequate open space and the other ensuring the project doesn't kind of create undue impact on the mid bloc open space for adjacent properties, and i feel very comfortable stating that this project meets all the required criteria, and i would be supportive of granting that yard modification, and the associated exposure variant. >> commissioner tanner? >> thank you. i want to join my fellow commissioners and just really supporting this project and being very impressed by it. i want to take a moment to acknowledge the poetry that a former parking garage is being retained but turned into a building that has absolutely no vehicle parking.
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i think that is pretty unique and pretty exciting for the building's life cycle to go from its first use to now having a use where there's no vehicles which hopefully is kind of a bode for the future of our planet and city in terms of eliminating -- reducing greenhouse gases and reducing traffic and the associated negative impacts of traffic and cars. i do want to ask the project sponsor if that at all, the no parking, ever gave any of you or your partners pause or given that it's san francisco is gaining steam and becoming more acceptable. i know initially when there were changes and then some projects kind of reported having trouble getting finances and other things when there's no parking at all provided, can you speak to that a little bit? >> yeah, sure. thank you, commissioner tanner. i think it's very project specific. you know, in general as a developer we are pro e.v., the project, electric vehicles, the
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project real estate allows for it in other jurisdictions if there's more space, cars, people need to drive. this is a project that's located a stone's throw away from downtown. it's on a very i would say well-supplied transit route from a public transportation standpoint. it's just not the type of project that would really need or require on-site parking, and as you know, with some of our other projects in the city, we have also -- where possible -- prioritized housing over parking, and i think when a financing standpoint, since you brought it up, we have not personally seen that to be an issue for our financial partners who are familiar with san francisco and familiar with the demographic of folks who live here. and the fact that they generally rely on alternative modes of transportation rather than, you know, the project with construction costs related to underground parking or other types of vehicle accommodations. >> great, thank you very much for that. i just also want to applaud the
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community benefit. it's so great to hear from so many members of the community that your team has worked with and that you were all able to come to an agreement. that's really excellent. was our understanding correctly this is an sb30 project and so there are five hearings maximum? it doesn't seem like you're in danger of running over that, but i want to clarify. i believe it was continued once. i don't know if it was continued before my tenure, if we're in any danger there. >> i am not aware what hearing number this is. i think mr. ionin can probably help us with the hearing number we're at. >> this is the second hearing, so it was only -- the december hearing was the first hearing and then it was continued. >> okay, great, thank you very much. i will be supporting the motion and supporting the project. thank you. >> so if i go correctly commissioner diamond, you made a motion to certify the environmental impact report, and it was seconded by commissioner
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moore. is that right, commissioner moore? >> correct. >> very good. then if there is no further deliberations from the commissioners, i shall call that question first. on that motion to certify, commissioner tanner? >> aye. >> commissioner chan? >> aye. >> commissioner diamond? >> aye. >> commissioner fung? >> aye. >> commissioner imperial? >> aye. >> commissioner moore? >> aye. >> and commissioner president koppel? >> aye. >> so moved, commissioners. that motion passes unanimously 7-0, and i will entertain a motion for the remaining two items, to adopt the ceqa findings and for the commission's authorization. >> so moved. >> second. >> thank you, commissioners. on that motion to adopt ceqa findings and approve the conditional use authorization
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with conditions, commissioner tanner? >> aye. >> commissioner chan? >> aye. >> commissioner diamond? >> aye. >> commissioner fung? >> aye. >> commissioner imperial? >> aye. >> commissioner moore? >> aye. >> commissioner moore? >> aye. can you hear me? >> thank you. yes, we can now. >> thank you. >> and commissioner president koppel? >> aye. >> thank you, commissioners. that motion passes unanimously 7-0. [indiscernible]. >> i will grant the rear yard modification and variance with the standard conditions in closed public hearing. >> very good. thank you. commissioners, that will place us on item 11 -- excuse me, item
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11 has been continued. item 12 is up next. 1055 texas street. this is a home modification project. staff, are you prepared to make your presentation? >> yes, thank you, jonas. good afternoon, commissioners. planning department staff, the item before you is a home access project authorization. using the home access program, the project is development onus to allow home-based density and the -- one storey in height in exchange for providing 25% onside affordable units. the project [indiscernible] from the rear yard open space and exposure requirements. the project includes the construction of a five-storey basement 49-foot tall residential building with units on two vacant lots for a total
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of approximately 20,300 square feet. a total of 21 class one bicycle spaces will be provided in a basement level bicycle room and -- on a sidewalk adjacent to the property side. the project will also allow a merger of two vacate lots with apartments of 5,000 square feet that have 50 feet of frontage along texas street. the project site slopes downwards from texas street, approximately 25% slope. the portion of texas street adjacent to the site is undeveloped. as part of the project, the project sponsor will extend texas street to the north end of the property. the project sponsor will coordinate with the final design of the street with adjacent [indiscernible] development to ensure the texas street extension, which will be [indiscernible] by the project sponsor is compatible with the design. according to the project sponsor
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team, they have hosted multiple meetings within the community, a meeting was concluded in january 2019 prior to the submittal of the project. the project was presented to the neighborhood association community twice in december 2018 and may 2019. in june 2020 a meeting was held with members of -- to coordinate the design and construction of texas street. in addition, the project sponsor held a second general meeting online on december 15, 2020, to inform all interested parties of the design updates before the planning commission hearing. separately, several meetings were held individually with adjacent properties. over the past one and a half years, after a series of outreach, the project has been modified within the neighborhood and minimize the impact on the adjacent properties. to date the department has received correspondence from eight people in opposition to this proposed project with
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concerns primarily centered on height, density and related impacts to off-street parking and traffic congestion. in addition, the department will seek seven letters of support, including from a neighborhood association, the project's ability to increase the housing stock and on-site affordable housing unit, as well as the support levers from the adjacent property owners at 1058 [indiscernible] 1056 mississippi street and 1051 texas street. in conclusion, department find the project is on balance consistent with objects and policies of planning and meet all requirements of the planning code. the project will maximize the use of two vacant lots and increase the stock by providing a total of 25 dwelling unit, 6 of which will be designated as on-site affordable housing. 25 units, 15 dwelling units will be family-sized units containing two or three bedrooms.
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the projects in the area where existing plan infrastructure can support residential growth and is adjacent to [indiscernible] which will be a high-density mixed income neighborhood with new open spaces and commercial uses, as well as upgraded transportation and public infrastructure. the project introduces a contemporary architecture vocabulary that is sensitive to the neighborhood fabric. the proposed residential building will provide 25 protected bicycle parking spaces for its residents to encourage bicycling. the project is located within walking distance to many transit lines and stations. the project also improves the right-of-ways with new safety improvements and landscaping. the project sponsor team is here and has prepared a presentation. this includes staff's presentation and i'm available for any questions. thank you. >> thank you. project sponsor, are you
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prepared to make your presentation? >> yes. can you hear me? >> we can hear you loud and clear, and your presentation seems to be loading. >> great. >> it is up and you will have five minutes. >> thank you. i'll tell you when to move the slide forward. good afternoon, commissioners. i'm here on behalf of the project sponsor. we're excited to present to you today a home sf project which is san francisco's local density bonus program. the project proposes a five storey 25-unit residential projection. it maximizes density while also providing the city's highest levels of affordable housing in family-size units. the project increases its on-site affordable housing requirement from 20% to 25%, and this is higher than any other requirement, current requirements under the city's affordable housing program. the project also increases the unit mix requirements from 40 to 60% of units that are at least two or three-bedroom. all unit sizes range from 400 to
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900 square feet. they are modest size, so even the market rate units will be more affordable than markets coming on to the market today. in exchange, the project bonuses for density and a single storey ten foot height increase. a key point of this project, without home sf, the project would be limited to six large dwelling units with zero affordable housing, so the home sf program is really unlocking both the density and the affordable housing at this site. now the project is consistent with the scale of the existing higher density development on the plot while making significant effort to be sensitive to its smaller neighbors. next slide, please. let's start with the height. while the project block is uneven in development and obviously in transition, there are already five four-storey buildings on the block, so this is not the first high-density housing project. next slide.
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despite adding only one additional storey, the building is less than 10 feet taller than its south neighbor, including the parapet. so the -- 9.5 foot upper floors. so we're really trying to keep this building as tight as possible while still maintaining the density. next slide, please. as you can see from the front rendering, we have broken up the facade architecturely so we continue the 25-foot wide building type. next slide. and so we carved that top storey off quite a bit to be sensitive to neighbors. we have a 10-foot setback at the rear, a 3-foot at the north side. i'll also mention there are no windows on the fourth storey south neighbor, so we don't have any issues there. the roof deck is set back on all sides. we have placed the elevator at the center of the building in order to minimize any shadow impacts on other properties. next slide, please.
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we have also been sensitive to the downhill development. we're only providing outdoor patios at the grade and at the top floor setback. next slide. the rear yard, while we could go as low as 20%, we've moved it up to 25%. the project will be separated by the downhill development by over-50 feet, so we've got significant separation between the two. and we've worked very closely with the rear neighbors on privacy measures, one of which was originally opposed to the project and we are happy to report that we have engaged in an agreement with them that applies mitigating measures to the project. we have limited the rear yard occupancy from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. each day. we're going to build an eight-foot fence at the rear of the property and also plant mature redwood trees along the rear property line. next slide, please. like i said, the project sponsor has affirmatively worked with neighbors for their support, many meetings over the last
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couple of years. the north neighbors support the project, and they will be the most impacted by this project, so we were very happy to get their support. and again, we've got that east neighbor that we entered into an agreement with to provide some additional privacy measures at the rear of the property. and we also worked closely with -- on design. you'll see in the project packet that we've got a letter from the design committee expressing their support of a number of modifications that we made to the project in response to our conversations with them. now despite work with the neighborhood, there has been some opposition expressed, in particular regarding parking. next slide, please. so let's start with the fact that there is no parking required by code. so we're not asking for an exception here. there's just simply no parking required. the site is very well served by transit. you've got local muni lines essentially adjacent to the project -- [buzzer] you're a half mile from
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stations, so you're less than 10 minutes away from regional public transit. the booster specifically supported no parking on the site. next slide, please. as mentioned by ms. lang, we're also going to be extending the texas street to the north side of the property, so that will be providing additional on-street parking as part of the project. and the trade-off of providing on-site parking really didn't make sense. due to the slope, incorporating the parking in the front to provide a maximum of four parking spaces while losing those on-street spaces because of the garage entry. if i could just finish this one last sentence, mr. koppel. this will be a cost of two to three units in the building and the loss of any active street -- units at the ground floor. so the trade-off, you might not net additional parking spaces and you'd lose units, and in the end that was not something that made sense to the project sponsor, especially considering
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its location near local and regional transit. so i'll leave it at that. next slide, just to show the pretty picture again, and we're here if you have any questions, thank you. >> great, thank you. members of the public, this is your opportunity to get into the queue by pressing star then 3 to submit your public comment. there are no members of the public requesting to speak at this time. i will certainly let you know if someone does get into the queue. for now the public comment is closed and the matter is now before you. >> great project. we're familiar with seeing sf projects, and they don't ever usually leave a stone unturned. thank you for being timely as well.
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>> i would entertain a motion. >> i would just going to jump in and agree with president koppel. really great project. really happy to see home sf being used, a project we developed several years ago and has been refined many times and just really excited to see it, our local density program working and being taken advantage of. again, another project with no on-site parking, but again, very close to a variety of transit assets, regional transit, local transit, so really hope that that will serve the future residents well. and i would move that we would approve the project as proposed. >> second. >> commissioner moore? >> i just second the motion. that's all i need to say. thank you. >> very good. if there is nothing further, commissioners, there's a motion that has been seconded to approve this motion with conditions. on that motion, commissioner
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tanner? >> aye. >> commissioner chan? >> aye. >> commissioner diamond? >> aye. >> commissioner fung? >> aye. >> commissioner imperial? >> aye. >> commissioner moore? >> aye. >> and commissioner president koppel? >> aye. >> that motion passes unanimously 7-0, and we'll place this on -- no. 2019-00695coa656 andover street a conditional use authorization. is staff prepared to make their presentation? >> yes, thank you. okay, jonas, can i share a screen? >> yes, i will make you the presenter. >> thank you. okay, good evening, commissioners. planning department staff. you have before you a request for conditional use authorization for the removal of an unauthorized dwelling unit under planning code section 303
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and 317. the project proposes to remove an unauthorized dwelling unit from the ground floor basement garage level of an existing three-storey two-family dwelling. it is located on the west side of andover street and the burnel heights neighborhood. the department received two general inquiries since the notice of hearing was sent. one neighbor expressed neither support nor opposition but just stated that the unit had been there for a very long time. and the other -- i was unable to contact as the phone number i responded to was a wrong number. pursuant to planning code section 317, the commission shall consider the criteria in the review for the cost to legalize, which has been estimated to be approximately $252,550, and the average cost
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to legalize is $66,000. so therefore the cost to legalize is four times the average. the u.d.u. does not -- unauthorized dwelling unit, does not meet building code standards for ceiling height and would require excavation and shoring of the foundation in addition to adding emergency rescue openings because there are no windows in this unit at all and fire-rated separations for the unit. the project sponsor submitted two property appraisal reports conducted and approved by a california licensed appraiser with the value of the unit legalized being $1,575,000, and the second for the property as is at $1,420,000.
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so the gain in property value would potentially be $155,000 and the estimated cost of construction is $252,550. under this criteria, the proposed project is deemed not financially feasible for the property owner. so i'll just quickly share my screen to show -- there we go. so this is -- can you see that, jonas? okay. >> yes, we can see it. >> okay, thank you. so the unit is in the interior of a garage with a wall built basically creating no windows or
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ventilation. so the property owner will just restore the unit to a garage space. and i'll leave that up for you, and that concludes my presentation. i'm available if you have questions. >> thank you, ms. durandet. is the project sponsor prepared to make their presentation? >> yeah, i don't have a presentation set, but i'd just like to make a statement. >> sure, you have five minutes. >> thank you. yeah, and i'll definitely keep it brief. i just want to say i appreciate everything that you and your team does for the city. as a san francisco native myself, i really appreciate the city itself and enjoy living here. the class two address the unauthorized unit in the basement would be such a financial hardship that i don't think i'd be able to stay in the
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city that i'm from. beyond that, the housability of the unit, after meeting with donald duffy from the building department when the original complaint was filed, agreed along with the contractor i worked with to provide the estimate that second egress would be such an issue that converting this unit to legal living space is just something that would be overly hard task to achieve. and with that being said, i just would really appreciate consideration to grant the removal of this unit and use it as its original purpose, which was a garage. and again, i appreciate you and your team's time. thank you. >> thank you. that concludes project sponsor's presentation. we should take public comment. again, members of the public, this is your opportunity to get into the queue by pressing star then three. okay, i see no members of the
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public requesting to speak at this time. public comment is closed and the matter is now before you, commissioners. >> commissioner moore? >> [indiscernible] very carefully over the years we have seen this phenomenon in many, many locations, and garages were never built to be living spaces, even if they were temporarily used as such. i personally do not see any problem by granting what is being asked by returning the unit to its original purpose, that being a garage. [please stand by]
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>> for your final item of 14 has been continued. for item 15. this is a discretionary review. staff, you are free to make your presentation. >> can you hear me? >> we can hear you just fine. >> good afternoon president, vice president, and
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commissioners, staff architect. this is an application to construct a one-storey vertical edition and a front edition to create a three-car garage. the deck at the rear to an existing three-storey, two-family home. this is categoried as an a. there will be a number of speakers, that live in the area. there is a concern this does not comply with the height requirement due to an improper
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base management. this does not comply with several guidelines on impacts of privacy in compatibility to the height and depth of the adjacent buildings at the rear. the second request -- sorry, lastly, they also contend that this contends with the portion of the fire wall at the rear deck. the second requester is a property to the south is concerned that the proposed excavation is extensive. the proposed fourth-storey addition roof and deck does not
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comply with the guidelines for giggling with light and privacy and the building panel with the adjacent buildings at the rear open space. the department has so far received one letter in opposition to the project and 11 letters in support. the department's review of this confirms that it meets the residential design guidelines related to design scale and access. the staff informed the deputy zoning administrator that the method used to measure the height was done accurately for that section of the code there is residential access. the fourth floor addition
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matches the east light well with a light well that is three feet deep and extends the entire length of the light well. the construction and safety issues related to the excavation throughout the composition and foundation design, this is up to the planning department to regulate. it is assumed that the appropriate engineer design will follow plan department approvals. a geotechnical report has been conducted and is attached to your case report. the decks on the side are set back from adjacent properties to be deemed not to impose exceptional or extraordinary impacts with respect to potential privacy or noise. the location and sites of windows are kept in coordination
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with the windows there already and to not impact the privacy. however, as originally [indiscernible] -- at the rear west property line [indiscernible] they would have required a variant whenever this has been modified since the d.r. was filed. this was exhibited on drawings in the project sponsor's brief. i know that this was extensive, but they are are included in this package. therefore, staff thinks that there are no exceptional or extraordinary circumstances in not taking the d.r. this includes my presentation and i'm open for questions.
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thanks. >> thank you. mr. patterson, we'll go to you first for three minutes. >> thank you. can you hear me okay? >> we can. >> this is ryan patterson, attorney for the adjacent neighbors to the east. our primary concern is the extraordinary loss of light caused by the proposed penthouse, which exceeds the 40-foot height limit. planning code section 260 a 1 c is the rule for measuring height. it states the ground elevations used shall be existing elevations or the elevations resulting from new grades encompasses an entire block. existing elevations need to make natural grade, not filler added by project sponsors or
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predessors. this lot would get taller and taller relative to neighbors which would be irrational and unfair. that's why you need to measure from existing grade until the entire block is regraded. there is precedent. our architect was recently instructed to measure from natural grade on one of his existing projects, not the existing project. this project is measuring from terrace filler added on top of natural crowd. how do we know? using the retaining wall at the rear, elevation measurements from two recent surveys, and the geotechnical report showing 1.5 to 2 feet of filler, our
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architect created a new study. the new penthouse exceeds the 40-feet limit. in the new spiral staircase is a new encroachment even though it has been shifted to the west. i'll introduce our architect. david, we can't hear you. david? all right. i'm going to read his part. he says, thank you, commissionerings. my firm produced a light study, quantifying the impacts on the building to the east. the third study shows the loss of light will occur year round which doesn't match the adjacent
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light well. our study uses a metric to measure the amount of natural light received. the general accepted standard is a factor of 2%. the model currently has a daylight factor of 2.7%. however, this would result in a daylight factor of only 1.3%, well below the standard. this is only a factor of 0.29%. the project would push the home's core further into darkness by reducing the factor by nearly 20%. >> thank you, mr. patterson, that was your three minutes. >> i believe we have five minutes unless something has
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changed. >> there has been a change in the project sponsor times. you have a two-minute rebuttal. we should go to mr. borgani. >> good afternoon. am i audible? >> you are. >> good afternoon, commissioners. my name is michael borgani. this premises is my father-in-law's premises. my wife and i are with the owners. we share this border along with our neighbor who resides immediately to our right on washington street. the project under consideration before you entails a home expansion for 4,000 to 10,000 square feet, including the aforementioned in the prior presentation of the penthouse
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level, and excavation up to 15 feet and the entire footprint of the foot. we believe this will create a massive space big enough to hold a three-car garage or bigger. all of which in our view requires a new foundation and large retaining walls. if i may have the second slide. from our south-facing perspective, our feign issues are four-fold. the main impacts on soil erosion, including vegetation, the impact on the current shared retaining wall with our neighbors. and the loss of privacy and the loss of the current open space.
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this photo shows our neighbor carol's backyard. she has lived there since 1972 and now lives alone. she is uncomfortable with the zoom format of this meeting and some of our remarks at her request will include her and our mutual concerns. [indiscernible] -- that protect our homes. this home is more than 120 years old. this could significantly impact the safety and liberty of our home and surrounding landscape areas, all of which are, mind you, on a slope. the current retaining wall could
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create a new retaining wall projected to be 6'. furthermore, the construction of a fifth storey which adds 10 feet to the existing height will [indiscernible] -- >> sorry to interrupt you, but that is your time. you will have -- >> thank you for your consideration. >> great, thank you. we should go to the project sponsor, mr. zucker. you have six minutes as there were two requesters. >> is it for the dyi requesters? i'm happy to go. >> we were going to take them
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and then to yourself. >> good afternoon president and commissioners. congratulations, commissioner, on your appointment. [indiscernible] including architect steve is on the line with me. there have been many concerns regarding this project. the requesters have a requester about the penthouse. as a result, this has been an impediment to finding a reasonable common ground to solving this outside the chamber. this is generally representative of the proposed project's shadow. however, there is nothing exceptional or extraordinary warranting this commission to take d.r. it is well-known that the residential guidelines
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acknowledge that some reduction of light to neighboring buildings can be expected with the building expansion and that is what we have here, some reduction, but not exceptional or reduction of light. there has been a reduction of light coming in. it is our understanding that there is only one bedroom in the lower unit that benefits from the light well. the lower unit has three rooms, with the living room and family room receiving light. the penthouse has privacy concerns. there is much argued by the d.r.
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requesters that the project height is not compliant. however, as mentioned by staff and verified, the methodology used was done accurately. to that end, the topographical land survey was obtained. [indiscernible] on discovery, that would require variants of the project design to be modified by adjusting the location of the spiral staircase which led to a minor reduction of the project. as a removal of the stairs, no variance is required. the requesters raised issues pertained to exka -- excavation. a geotechnical report was submitted to the city and will be overseen by d.b.i.
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the project is sensitive to its surrounding environment. the project sponsors want to identify whether the excavation would adversely impact the neighboring trees. there would be no impact to the neighbor's property. there would only be negligible losses that would not harm tree it is. that concludes my presentation. i now turn it over to the project sponsor. >> [indiscernible] -- instructed our [indiscernible] -- lower.
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we've reduced the front, back, and top to limit the impact to our neighbors and [indiscernible] -- slide 5. the house was built on a fall back. therefore, we really want outdoor spaces for the upper units. and right now [indiscernible] subpoena a way to gain outdoor space for the other units. this whole backyard is for the lower units [indiscernible] --
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upper units have a deck and the bottom units have a yard. and the proposed nature of the building [indiscernible] -- there are very large homes and properties and neighborhoods. that's it. thank you. >> if that concludes the project sponsor's presentation -- >> yes, thank you. >> -- we should take public comment. members of the public, this is your opportunity to enter the queue by pressing star and three. commissioners, i see no members of the public requesting to speak at this time -- i take that back. go ahead, caller, you have one minute.
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>> can you hear me? i'm an owner here on jackson. we are, in fact, doing our own plan, somewhat similar to 3147. during our calculation for the very important height restriction and code, we found no difference from our neighbors. and, in fact, we found their calculations to be low and conservative. we have no objection to their project. thank you. >> thank you. last call, members of the public, to submit your public testimony on that matter. you have one minute.
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caller? >> yes, hi, can you hear necessity? >> we can. >> i'm carol chester's daughter. i was worn and raised on washington street and i moved back there as an adult and raised two of my babies there. it is a beautiful, light-filleded, tranquil place to live. i am concerned with the constructions proposed on jacksonson street. the project raises concerns. it would be light, air, privacy, and the mid-block open space. first, the excavation work to expand this and build new retaining walls. the new walls would be located in the required rear yard setback. the new retaining walls will
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destroy the roots of the existing trees. we request that the zoning [indiscernible] -- report with measures to protect the neighboring trees and to be included -- >> thank you very much. that is your time. members of the public, last call for public comment. seeing no additional requests to speak, irregular migrantses, we should go to rebuttals. >> going back to slide 9 of your presentation, please. the lower unit has a worse daylight factor of only 0.29%. the project would push the home's core into more darkness. it could be quite substandard.
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this is not about views. this is about the quantifiable loss of light. i'll turn it over to my colleague. >> may i be heard? my name is tulley murphy, one of the next-door neighbors to the east. we have made a good-faith effort to address significant problems in this project. the only changes have been code violations, not the unreasonable impacts on our homes. we feel like we are responsible neighbors and have done our homework. we are presenting facts to the commission today. i live in the downstairs unit and we have little light now. there will be a 20% reduction because of the penthouse addition. this is the same penthouse that violates the height unit.
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this penthouse is not for bedrooms. it's a second dining room and living area. this is unnecessary. we only want the project to comply with code and preserve some of our sunlight. this would fulfill our goals and also satisfy the project. >> commissioners, we're happy to answer your questions. thank you very much. >> thank you. we should now go to mr. beaugani. you have two minutes. >> thank you so much. i would like to go to slide 3 and finish my remarks along the lines of what miss colin was referring to.
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the arborist report said the two trees within inches of the retaining wall would have damage to the smaller roots, but these roots reach out to the retaining wall and are expected to go out to 63 inches. it was stated that the birch trees were in poor health so it wouldn't matter. i hope you can see we strongly disagree with that assessment. and in that vein we request the administrator to request a neutral arborist. our neighbor shared with us pictures of a gum tree along the retaining wall and there was a question of the health and longevity of this tree at all. i want to close as my time is
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running out to say we have deep concerns about the extent of excavation and risk of tree root damage and the plan for the retaining wall [indiscernible] and roof decks will lead to a loss of privacy. we have a few recommendations for all of you to consider. we would like to see this reduced to a partial footprint, enough for a two-car garage. we would also like for privacy concerns to suggest that the privacy owners adjust the top level. hopefully it's not too confusing for everyone to understand in order to limit the line of sight into our home [indiscernible] --
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>> mr. zucker, you have a rebuttal. >> these are separate units provided, including a separate key card elevator. we are under the height limit as measured by the topographical survey and the measurement was appropriate as verified by the deputy v.a. the concerns about excavation are appreciated, but proper analysis has been conducted. this is not expected to have adverse impacts on the project's trees and others. in this area excavation has been and can be safely done. the project does not seek to maximize the space, but rather to get a place to have their
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living. this project is designed to allow light and air into the projects. to that end, the project sponsor is comfortable to shave off some of the penthouse on the eastern side to allow more southern light into the light well. that would be a three-foot setback. as to the daylight factor, that is not a measurement by the code, rather, but the square footage of the bedrooms. i turn it over to the sponsor. >> [indiscernible] --
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>> thank you. commissioners, that will conclude the presentation and public comment. so the matter is now before you. >> i would like to voice my support for staff's recommendation to not take d.r. and approve. >> i would move that we do not take this as recommendations. >> second. if there's no further comment.
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>> commissioner margaret? >> i would like to have the commission look at drawing 8. -- one second -- 8.2.1. i personally do not see that the separation between the lower unit and the upper unit is credible, which could not potentially lead to a unit merger. what is depicted is two units. i find the depiction of the first kitchen with the amount of space it has pretty incredible. if you look at the lower portion of that, and i'll take you through it. the drawings are very hard to read because of the size of the
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building. i think what is proposed is inappropriate, particularly to the right and the left of that kitchen, the space to create a full-sized kitchen that is normally typically for units [indiscernible]. further to the stairs that reach to the unit from the other side of the drawing [indiscernible] the stair comes down with the inability to bust through the wall and land unencumbered in that unit. a few months ago we had a project and i forget the address. it was a similar situation and when the commission looked at that, they realized that was [indiscernible] -- there are places i would like to see changes to the design to prevent
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an unintended merger. these are my only comments, but they are significant enough to to work what is being pointed out as a potential [indiscernible]. >> in response to commissioner moore's comments. is your primary concern the merger of the units and also wanting to see an expanded kitchen? >> i believe there has to be a little bit more credibility on this project. if you're presenting this project to me as two fully large-sized units, then i think the layout of that lower unit is a kitchen together with the stair and the wall could break
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through, i do. >> do other commissioners have comments related to that, i'd be interested to hear. >> you know, when i looked at those plans, i'm not sure i agree with the commissioner, but i will draecket that question to mr. winslow.irect that question mr. winslow. on the ability to access from the stair that right now ties the lower two levels into one unit, it shows a full wall with a connection closed off.
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>> that's right. there was a previous iteration of these plans that did have it open, i believe, and our comment at staff level was that they needed to ensure that that was closed off to ensure that this was a not merger. the project architect described this as a typical back stair that many in san francisco have which goes from the top down to grade for exiting purposes. as they do, doors from the original flat at each level join into that stair for purposes of egress. so it's not atypical to have that condition. so they closed it off at our request to make sure it wasn't construed as a permeable one unit, that it was two units, two
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kitchens, two separate entrances from the street. you know, that complies with our requirements from our standpoint. >> which means that the access from the garage to the much larger, grander upper unit requires them to go outside and back up the main stair. >> or use the elevator. >> or use the elevator. right. okay. >> so it is your opinion that that is a solid wall. this is probably no different than solid walls in any lower unit that that could be broken into, right? >> yeah, typical to the place i
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live in, i could open a door to my neighbor's wall if i so desired and combine the units under the cover of not doing it with a unit. it's a typical situation and i don't know what controls we would have to make sure that is executed and maintained in that way. there is always a reason for finding that it has been merged and having a notice of violation occurring in the future in -- if that does occur in the future. >> okay. thank you. >> commissioners, there is a motion that has been seconded. shall i call the question? seeing no further motions, there is a motion seconded to approve the motion as proposed.
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roll up the rim to win -- [ roll call ] [ roll call ]. >> that motion passes 6-1 with commissioner moore voting against. commissioners, that concludes your agenda today. >> we're adjourned. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> bye.
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>> san francisco mayor london n. breed. for persons who wish to ask questions, include your name,
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outlet and up to two clearly stated questions in webex chat. and now we welcome mayor london breed. >> thank you so much. and good morning, everyone. i am excited to be here today because we know that most recently we have a vacancy in the city administrator's office, and i am so proud to announce that i am nominating carmen chu to serve as san francisco's city administrator. many of us know carmen over the years. she has served the city and county of san francisco since 2005. she currently serves as our assessor recorder and in that role she is responsible for managing a team of over 200 people. under her leadership, the aassessor's office has reversed a decades old backlog of assessment cases and generating
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$3.6 billion in property tax revenue annually to support public services in san francisco. had it not been for carmen's leader snip that role, we would have a budget that was deficient in the amount of $3.6 billion. that gives you an indication of how amazing and how valuable she is to san francisco. such achievements have earned her office the prestigious 2020 good government award, an honor recognizing excellence in public sector management and stewardship. she currently serves on the san francisco employees retirement system board where she oversees the investments and policies of a $26 billion public pension system in san francisco. assessor chu has really stepped up during covid to lead our economic recovery task force as one of the co-chairs. this was not in her job description, nor was it her responsibility, but when i called carmen to ask for her help because we needed all hand
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on deck to address the challenges that none of us thought we would be dealing with with covid, she immediately said yes. and with her leadership the task force developed 41 recommendations and policy ideas to make the city's economy stronger, more resilient, and more attainable. prior to the career as assessor, she was an elected representative of the board of supervisor. when she served as budget chair of the board of supervisors, there was no one who was more fiscally conservative and focused on equity and serving the public's best interest and made sure we understood the value of every single dollar we spent. there was no one more of an advocate in that role than carmen chu when he served as the budget chair of the san francisco board of supervisors. she also served as the deputy director of public policy and
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finance for gavin newsom when he was mayor. she's been actively engaged in really changing bureaucracy in san francisco on so many levels. and just to go back to some information about the assessor recorder's office which was experiencing a lot of challenges, a lot of uncertainty, a lot of confusion, the work that she did to put everyone for the most part on an electronic system and to re-organize the files in that system was pretty amazing. now, i know it's very bureaucratic and very technical, but to make san francisco work in a more efficient way that provides information to the public in a way that people can understand so that they can pay their taxes and they can do whatever business they do with the city t work she has done has really been about making sure that the average, everyday citizen in san francisco who is not connected to city hall, who
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is not involved in city hall in any way, that they have a voice. and they have some level of understanding and access to the resources we provide. she is the only asian american woman elected as assessor in the state of california, and she is the daughter of immigrants. her family worked hard to make sure she had some amazing opportunities to succeed in life, and boy, has she made them proud. the city administrator's office consist of more than 25 departments and programs that provide a broad range of services to other city departments and the public. and ladies and gentlemen, i am so honored to introduce the next city administrator for the city and county of san francisco, assessor recorder carmen chu. >> good morning, everybody. first off, i just want to say thank you so much, mayor breed,
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for your confidence in me. i am humbled and i'm honored by your nomination, so thank you so much for this opportunity. >> thank you. >> if confirmed by the board, of course, i look forward to working not only with you but also with the board to make sure that we continue to move san francisco forward. i want to speak a little bit about my parents as i start off with the this. my parents were immigrants. mayor breed spoke about this a little bit ago, and my parents had a small restaurant and we all grew up, my sisters and i, working in that restaurant. i tell you this and i share this with you because so much of our service and so much of what we do in life is grounded by our life experiences. how we were raised. the people who loved us. those who supported us. those were part of our lives. and what they taught me was the importance of making sure that we provide honest day of hard work, and making sure you do
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everything you can in every single role that you play is important. but they also taught me the importance of helping those who are in need. mike like my parents, not everybody starts off with resources. not everybody starts off with money, with support, and not everybody starts off with even the ability to communicate or speak english. and i think it's recognizing that so many people start off from different places that it's a privilege when any of us have the ability to serve in the public capacity. it is this grounding, this belief that government can serve and the belief that government can help to support people, especially in their greatest times of need that gives me the privilege and honor of working as a public servant for the city and county of san francisco. first off, i want to recognize the people of the city administrator's office. your responsibility is a big one.
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the span of your responsibilities serve as a backbone for all of the city's operations. and i really want to thank you, a heartfelt thank you, especially during this time this, time when we're asking you to not only carry on with that work that you do, but also to do double duty especially as we continue to respond to an active global pandemic. this is something that is not easy. and i know that san francisco is better off for all the work that you are doing not only in your existing roles but also in the extra work that you are doing to make sure that we respond to with the best way possible to serve is city well. to the people of the assessor's office, and i simply put and i want to tell you that i will miss you. we built a really great team in the assessor's office and we have accomplished so much. and things that seemed insurmountable to do and reversing a decades backlog and
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exceeding revenue expectations in half a billion during my time. and making sure we are completely overhauling outdated tools and systems that we have in our office. these may sound boring to many people, but honestly, it is this kind of attention and this kind of work that really drives change and excellent public service. i want to thank each and every person in the assessor's office. i enjoy working with you on the professional growth and challenges that you took on and i hope you will carry on the accomplishments and legacy with you as you go forward. and finally, i want to close by recognizing and thanking the contributions as city administrator naomi kelly. i understand your decision was a difficult one. and thank you for helping meet
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the needs of the city during the global pandemic when we needed the support to lift up so many things that we have done. the accomplishments are not to be diminished, and icismly want to say thank you. with, that i am available, of course, for any questions. and i am really honored for this responsibility coming forward. >> thank you, assessor chiu and we are honored that you are willing to take on this responsibility. i want to provide member of the public with information about the city administrator's office. they are responsible for overseeing animal care and control, the office of cannabis, the medical examiner's office, and the real estate division. the technology division. our community challenge grant, our grants for the arts program, the mayor's office on disability, risk management, and all of the things, many of the things that make the city run and often times we may have an interaction with any of the departments and not necessarily
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fully aware that they are all within the scope of the city administrator's office. it is a major responsibility, one that i know you are up for the task. and i am excited and grateful that you are willing to put your hat in the ring and allow yourself to be nominated for such a position. so thank you so much again, aseser to -- thank you, assessor chu, and with that we can open it up to any questions. >> thank you, mayor breed. before we start the question and answer portion, we are going to take a moment to allow reporters to submit questions on webex.
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. >> okay. no questions, leo? >> thank you. okay. when mayor breed, the first question comes to you from joe with kqed. mayor breed k you ask ms. kelly to resign? if so, or if not, why? >> well, many of you know better than to ask about personnel issues. the fact is we cannot discuss them. so we will not be discussing anything regarding anything that is personnel related. >> thank you, mayor breed. and should she be confirmed, are you tasks carmen chu with any specific tasks to address the allegations of corruption within the city that would be in her purview?
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what are those tasks? >> so just to be clear, last year when many of these allegations first began to surface, i immediately sent out an executive directive asking our city attorney and our controller's office as well as all city departments to not only investigate many of the allegations but to also look at ways in which to strengthen our policies so that we can make sure that the things that we saw happen or that people were being accused of are not easy to be able to happen moving forward. so what we did was to make sure that people are on alert when they are making recommendations and changes to the policies for the department. and there is not a doubt in my mind that carmen chu will manage her department and make the appropriate changes necessary to address many of the challenges that we have heard over the past year as it relates to some of
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the department. >> thank you. and if i could just add to, that i think in any person who is assuming a role whether you are leading an organization as the assessor or city administrator, one of the things all of us will be doing is looking very, very closely to make sure we have the systems in place to ensure that there is transparency and how we're delivering the public service and how it is that we run our organization. these are all things that i am absolutely committed to. it is a fundamental piece to make sure that we have public trust. >> and there is no public servant more respected, who has more integrity, who just basically is one of the most incredible, admirable persons that we have serving the city and county of san francisco than carmen chu. >> thank you, both. there are no additional questions for mayor breed. the next question is for
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assessor chu from ktfs. as the first chinese female administrator, what does this mean to you? >> i think this is -- this is always a heavy responsibility. i recall back when i served on the board of supervisors. at that time when i was nominated to the role, i was the only elected, only chinese american supervisor serving in the entire san francisco board of supervisors. and since that time much has changed in the city, but i think any of us, any of us who fill these roles understand that we play a very important spot in making sure that not only do we lead the way but we also create opportunities and how people see no matter where you come from, no matter where you start from, there is an opportunity for you and a seat in government that no matter whether you had resources coming in or whether you were immigrants, that you have the opportunity to serve. and so i think serving as the
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first chinese woman as a city administrator, i hope to be able to to put my mark on creating a san francisco government that works well, that earns your trust, that is delivering services that you can be proud of in san francisco. >> okay. one moment. >> an i thought someone was going to ask me about taxes. >> the only questions about taxes is why is my bill so high? >> indeed. >> and the next question is what's carmen's first responsibility after the nomination? and that comes from sky link. >> i think immediately
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especially during this time when so much of the city's response to covid is important, it is very important to make sure we continue to deliver on what is necessary and respond not only from a public health perspective, but also to support the city in the economic recovery. first and foremost, that has an impact on the lives of residents and operations. a big focus right away will be starting to take a look t a making sure we continue to support the efforts. that we do that in an excellent way and we also look forward to the future means. in addition to that, we're going to continue to look for more efficiencies. what's going to happen is we're going to go through a very tough time. i think the city is understanding that not only are we going to be coming to recovery, but that will mean we have fewer resources at exactly the time when san franciscans need us the most. and that will really require that we do more, that we work harder, and that we're creative in terms of how we deliver the best services possible to the city. so in my role we're going to be taking very much a close look at
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this recovery effort, how we support that >> good afternoon. we welcome our viewers to this special day of the san francisco board of supervisors. good afternoon. it's friday, january 8th. welcome to the inaugural meeting set pursuant to article 2, section 2116 of the municipal charter and this meeting will now come to order. as you know, former president of the board norman yee concluded his term and in the absence much the president, the clerk of the board called the meeting to order and assists the board as they conduct nominations and an election for the next board president. before getting to that business, i will begin with the land acknowledgement, pursuant to board rule 4.7.71, and the board of supervisors acknowledges that we are on unseated ancestoral
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homeland of the first nations. the original inhabitants of the san francisco peninsula. as the indigenous stewards of this land and in accordance with their traditions, the first nations have never ceded, lost, nor forgotten as the caretakers of this place and as well as for all people in their ancestoral territory. we wish to pay our respects by acknowledging the ancestors and the elders and relatives of the first nations community and by affirming their sovereign right as first peoples. okay, next is the roll call for attendance. for the new members when your name is called just please state "present." let's begin at the top of the alphabet... [roll call] all
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members are present. will the members, are they prepared to say the pledge of allegiance with me? i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america, and to the public for which it stands, one nation, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. now to communications. please bear with me, there are several. first i'd like to communicate the credentials for the newly elected members. and the returning members. the office of the clerk of the board is in receipt of the certificates of election for the newly elected who received the majority of the vote cast at the election held on november 3, 2020. and in addition to the re-elected members, the clerk staff have taken the time to frame these certificates for you and they've been placed on your
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desks if you wish to hang them right away. additionally, we are in receipt of the controller's official certification that the sure tee bond requirements are met for the newly elected and returning members of the board. mainly in district order. district one, connie chan. and representing district 3, aaron peskin. and representing district 5, dean preston. and representing district 7, myrna melgar. and representing district 9, hillary ronen. and representing district 11, ahsha safai. and now i'll make a communication on behalf of the public for their access. the meeting minutes will reflect the board participated in this meeting remotely through video occurrence to the same extent as if physically present in their legislative chamber. the members are invited to keep their fam rafid on and particularly so when speaking. when not speaking, please make
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sure that your microphone is on mute to avoid audio feedback. the board recognizes that public access to city services remains essential during the health emergency. therefore, the following options have been made available for the public to be able to communicate with the board and access this meeting remotely. the written correspondence is received and made a part of the appropriate legislative file. please send to the san francisco board of supervisors, number 1, dr. carleton b. goodwin place. san francisco, california, 90712. and send to bos@sfgov.org. you may watch the live stream on your computer by going to www.sfgovtv.org and watch on your television by going to channel 26. however, be aware of the signal delay when you are readying to make your public comment and
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it's best to turn down your television and just listen from your touch phone. it is through your touch phone that you will be able to be in live sync to provide public comment without delay. oftentimes there is -- no one is on the other line when it becomes their time to speak and we may move on to the next caller. we do try to circle back to the ones that were silent, the lines that were silent. so, all right, now it's time for item number 1 on the agenda. to present the official investiture ceremony to the newly elected and returning members of the board we are honored to have with us the honorable presiding. >> samuel k. feng for county of san francisco. your honor, welcome to our remote chamber. thank you for providing this service to the board. the floor is yours, your honor. >> thank you, madam clerk.
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and, ladies and gentlemen, and to the newly elected supervisors, to the re-elected supervisors, it is indeed my honor, extreme honor, and privilege to be conducting the investiture and the swearing-in of all of you at the inaugural meeting of the board of supervisors of the best city in this world. before i do anything, i want to just congratulate every single one of you and i am so honored and so pleased to see all of yow through some interactions and it is indeed something that i really look forward to last night. and, again, i want to thank everyone for being here. i will wish that we could all be together and i'm hopeful that we will be together soon. i was told by madam clerk yesterday that it is indeed a rare occasion when the executive branch, the legislative branch and the judicial branch are
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together at one time. and, again, it is indeed my honor and privilege to conduct the oath of office. so here's what we're going to do. i will conduct the oath of office and -- oh, before i do, congratulations to the re-elected supervisors peskin, preston, ronen and safai and to the newly elected supervisors chan and melgar. and welcome. so for oath of office, i'm going to ask each person to state their name one at a time. and then after i'm done with that we will do the oath together. i will start with supervisor peskin. after the word i -- supervisor peskin? >> supervisor peskin: aaron peskin. >> and aye, supervisor preston.
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>> supervisor preston: aye, dean preston. >> and aye, supervisor ronen. >> supervisor ronen: i, supervisor hillary ronen -- >> and i, supervisor safai. >> supervisor safai: i, supervisor safai -- >> and i, supervisor connie chan. >> supervisor chan: i, supervisor connie chan -- >> and i, supervisor melgar. >> supervisor melgar: i, supervisor myrna melgar. >> and good morning. raise your right hand and repeat after me. i do solemnly swear... that i will support and defend the constitution of the united states.
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against all enemies, foreign and domestic. that i will bear true faith and allegiance. to the constitution of the united states... and the constitution of the state of california. that i take this obligation freely... without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion. that i will well and faithfully
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discharge the duties upon which i'm about to enter... and during such time... as i hold the offices of the member of the board of supervisors of the city and county of san francisco... at this time congratulations and it was -- >> clerk: judge feng. >> your honor. >> the commissioner of the san francisco county transportation authority.
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now congratulations. >> thank you. >> i want to do this individually. congratulations, supervisor peskin. good to see you again and i'm sure that the judge will send her regards. and supervisor preston, congratulations again to you. and supervisor ronen, it is indeed my pleasure to see you again. like i said, i wish i could see you personally and all of you. please send my regards to your wonderful, wonderful husband and wonderful attorney. and your loving daughter. and also to supervisor and supervisors, i promise you that i will not -- i will not mispronounce your name, supervisor safai congratulations to you. and then to the newly elected supervisors, supervisor chan, good to see you again. welcome. and supervisor melgar, congratulations to all of you. and my wish to all of you is as follows -- i know all of you will work together great with
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each other, collaboration. i hope that this will be a year of tremendous peace, tremendous health, and may you act with wisdom and compassion when you look over all of us in this great city and county of san francisco. again, it is my honor and congratulations to all of you. >> supervisor ronen: thank you so much, thank you. >> thank you, judge. >> clerk: all right, thank you to the presiding. >> judge feng, for your kind words to the members. congratulations to the new members. welcome to the new members to the san francisco supervisors. i look forward to seeing you all present very soon. so let's go to item 2, the nominations for the office of the president of the board of supervisors. item 2 is the business of nominations. on the 8th day of january in odd
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numbered years the board by a majority vote selects one of its members as the president of the board. while i read the principles for the nominations into the record, i want to make sure with my staff that the roster is clear, okay? so once nominations are declared open, the members may place their name on the roster which is also the chat feature, to make their nomination. and they will be called on as their names appear on the roster to state their nomination. as there is only one seat to fill, members may nominate one person, however, if nominate does get reopened the members may withdraw their original nomination and nominate a different member. the nominations should state on the record a nom -- a nominee should state on the record they accept the nomination. a second is a nice touch, but it's not required. and, nominee, if you would keep your camera feed on, that would be great.
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the nominees may nominate and vote for themselves. nominees may also withdraw their own nomination without a second at any time. at the completion of nominations, the nominations are closed and the board will hear general public comment on the names within the nominations. and then public comment will occur and then general discussion by the members on the nominations will begin. okay. are there any questions. and is there any objection to proceeding in this manner? okay, so, madam deputy, i don't see any name on the roster but i just wanted to check with you to make sure. >> i think that myrna melgar put her name above by accident. >> clerk: oh, okay. okay, great. so if the roster is clear and
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there's no objection to proceeding in this manner, seeing no objection, the nominations are declared open. >> so, hello, colleagues. thank you so much. it is my great pleasure to nominate my colleague, supervisor walton to be our president. i as a new member have had the pleasure of knowing and working with supervisor walton for many years when he was the president of the board of education, and before that his work in the bayview community. i know him to have a kind heart, a generous spirit, a strong commitment to justice and a strong work ethic. i am very grateful that he is willing to rise to this challenge and to help us by taking on this position. during these difficult times, i
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know that supervisor walton's quality and experience will help us to bring our diverse and wonderful city together. leveraging our strength and helping us govern efficiently and fairly. i am grateful that supervisor walton would like to do this and i nominate him wholeheartedly. >> clerk: okay. >> second that nomination. >> clerk: nominated supervisor walton and supervisor ronen has seconded that. okay, supervisor peskin, is your name on the roster? >> supervisor preston: my name is on the roster and thank you, madam clerk, and thank you for your service to this body as the best clerk that i have ever seen in what today is the 20th year since i was first elected. and i just want to start by
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publicly saying what supervisor walton already knows -- which is that you have become more than just a colleague, in some ways you have become a little bit like a sibling. i remember the last wall street event that we went to and i think that someone remarked that we were kind of an odd pair -- you tall and black and me short and jewish. and i don't know, but i really have been honored to deepen our relationship which i think that is one of mutual respect since our mutual friend sophie maxwell sat us down in her living room and said that you've got to endorse this guy. and congratulations, my friend. i think that we both and all of our colleagues love this city to the core and we're all going to
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keep working at this job during a pretty tough little moment in this city and in this state and in this country. and we've got a whole lot of work to do. and then, colleagues, i really want to address the elephant in the room, which compared to anywhere else on this planet and particularly our nation's capital, is small ball, but i do want to talk a little bit about the political divisions and the camps and i think that these are, frankly, what i would call mini-hatches. and i think that we need to bury them. and i think that we can do that together. i think that the 11 of us need to come together, which doesn't mean that we won't have our policy differences. and the same goes for the relationship between this board
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and this mayor. and i've served on a few boards of supervisors, and this board of supervisors was, frankly, elected by the people to do grievous battles with the likes of willie brown and gavin newsome, and i profoundly believe, colleagues and incoming president walton, that now is not that time. now is the time for true, honest, intellectually honest collaboration which, of course, is give-and-take. i don't confuse that give-and-take with abdicating our responsibility to provide checks and balances as what we collectively are -- the legislative branch of government. and there would be a time for those fights in the work in this coming year in an economic recession and covid and climate
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change is way too important. so i want to join arms with all of you. i want to really thank my family and my beloved staff and the voters of district 3 and i'm counting on all of you and it's time to get back to work. i've got a ton of emails to respond to. so, thank you, madam clerk, for recognizing me. >> clerk: thank you, supervisor preston. supervisor safai. >> supervisor safai: thank you, madam clerk. i want to echo some of the things that supervisor peskin said. it's my great honor today to support my colleague, supervisor walton. we have worked together prior to being on this board together. he is someone that has dedicated his career to serving the underserved. he has a very strong quiet confidence about him. he's not someone that is bombastic. he's not someone that is about taking credit when it's not his
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to take. and i think that he's a true bridge builder. i think that in this time as supervisor peskin said, there has been quite a bit of division. and that's okay, it's okay to have division within this body at times. it's okay to have division with our executive branch, and the mayor, but i believe that the mayor is absolutely dedicated to working with this board and all 11 of us and i know that supervisor walton as he assumes the role of board president will come together with the mayor and work to rise above this time of division. the citizens of san francisco require our unity as we come out of the worst economic calamity and public health calamity that this city has seen in over a hundred years. as supervisor peskin said, that does not mean that we abdicate
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our responsibility to challenge the mayor and challenge the executive branch and push for the betterment of the entire city. but it also means that we can come together and challenge be one another in a healthy way and challenge the mayor in a healthy way. we have two new board members. i'm very excited about them coming on to the board. i think they bring a wealth of experience. and they bring a style of collaboration that i'm really looking forward to. so, it is my great honor to support supervisor walton, to encourage his style of bridge building, and, quite frankly, you know, to help not only come and work past this economic and public health calamity. but also to rebuild trust in the city government. the trust in the city government has been shaken over the past year. and that requires all of us coming together, all of us working hard to restore that trust. and i have nothing but faith and
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confidence in supervisor walton's ability to do that. and, lastly, i will say that we're going to have to make some tough choices economically and budget-wise over the next year. and it requires someone that comes with a lens of equity. it requires someone that is coming from a lens of thinking about the most underserved first. and i couldn't think of a better person to assume that responsibility right now, to lead this body, than supervisor walton. so it's with great honor that i will be supporting him today. thank you, madam clerk. >> clerk: okay, thank you, supervisor safai. supervisor haney, i believe that you're next on the roster. >> supervisor haney: thank you, madam clerk, and thank you for stepping in and serving in this role in the absence of a president right now. well, first of all, i want to say welcome to supervisors chan and melgar. i think that many of the things that we're talking about -- and i echo supervisor safai and peskin in terms of our hopes and
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desires to really have a collaborative board that works in unison, effectively under the leadership of our next president and also with our new board members. i want to congratulate the two of you as well as our supervisors who are re-elected. i have had the opportunity to work with supervisor walton for six years, four years on the board of education, and two years on this board. and one thing that i know about supervisor walton, which many of you have said, is that he is about the work. anytime that you have a conversation with him, he is going to be concerned about the people who are impacted and the work that needs to get done. and this is one of the most challenging years -- well, we've already seen 2021 is not going to be all flowers and roses and butterflies. it's going to be a continuation of the challenges and the recovery and the rebuilding that's needed from what was one of the most difficult, damaging,
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devastating years for our city and for the country in 2020. and so i do believe that we need somebody and we'll have somebody in a president walton who is focused on the work, who will bring us together, but who will also stand up for fairness and for people to be treated well, especially those who are most vulnerable and who have taken the brunt of this pandemic. our small businesses, our city workers, our latin x community, and the black community and the a.p.i. community, he is going to stand up for them. so i just -- as someone who has known you for a long time, supervisor walton, i am proud to be a friend as we are all your friend, and i have seen you work. i was a president and vice president with you on the board of education. and i know that you're the right leader for this time and we will all back you up. and we will all need you to have the backs of the residents who -- all of us represent at
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this most challenging time. so i'm excited for you and i'm excited for this board, echoing the comments that were just made, working together at a time when our residents need us more than ever. >> clerk: thank you, supervisor haney. next on the roster, i see here is supervisor ronen. >> supervisor ronen: thank you, madam clerk. and i just also wanted to appreciate you for not only guiding us through today, but guiding us through this entire pandemic. you have just -- you and your staff -- have been extraordinary. and always very consistent and prepared and just really appreciate you. thank you. and welcome supervisors chan and melgar. i could not be more excited to see your faces on this screen. i wish we were in person. but it's so great to have you join this board of supervisors. you're already making it a brighter board. so, thank you. and then, finally, it looks like
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we don't have any other nominations, so i'm going to assume that our esteemed colleague, supervisor walton, will become the next president of the board. and i just want to say that very little has made me this excited and happy in a really long time. someone soon-to-be president walton is someone who chairs my passion and my focus on the most vulnerable communities here in san francisco. he is someone that leads with integrity, and always does what he believes is the right thing irregardless of the politics and the surrounding circumstances. he is kind, respectful, and, frankly, a natural born leader.
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and i am so excited that i will soon be calling you my president of the board, and just feeling happy, happy today to be able to support you. thank you. >> clerk: thank you, supervisor ronen. we are fixing the plane while we're flying the plane. next on the roster is supervisor stefani. >> supervisor stefani: thank you, madam clerk. and i will echo the sentiments of my colleague, supervisor ronen, as to our gratitude for you madam clerk. you have been so wonderful in leading all of us. and welcome to supervisor melgar and supervisor chan. i'm very excited to get the chance to work with you and i love that we've gone from three women to four and we'll keep trying to go up that in the future. but, welcome. and, you know, i just wanted to say that the event -- the events
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of recent days, which we've seen which have been very disturbing, a mob of white nationalists laying siege to the u.s. capitol at the urging of the president of the united states have made it all the more important that we have responsible, accountable leadership at all levels. while we may have a renewed sense of hope with the new presidential administration and the new congress, we cannot assume the profound shift in the federal government will solve our problems for us. and for families and working people in san francisco, change starts here at the board of supervisors. in the years ahead, each of us needs to redouble our efforts to confront the city's greatest challenges from homelessness and housing to racial justice and public safety. and most immediately we need to come together to continue to crush covid-19 and create a local economy that works for all san franciscans. i believe that supervisor walton is uniquely qualified to lead the board through the turbulent
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months and years ahead. supervisor walton, over the last two years we've served together. i have watched as you have tirelessly advocated for your constituents and the people of san francisco. you're always direct about what you believe in, you speak truth to power, and you deliver results with the legislation that you write and pass. and although we don't always see eye to eye on every issue, i am always grateful for your perspective that you bring to our discussion and the fearness fierceness that you bring to urging your colleagues to follow your lead. we are all better off having you play such an important role as we debate policy here on the board. so that's why i'm proud to support your nomination to the board president today. the issues that you are most passionate about -- equity and racial justice -- are the issues that matter so much and the most to our country and our city right now. and i know that you will use the presidency to advance those necessary goals.
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district 10 is among the largest and the most populous in our city and it has incredibly diverse array of neighborhoods. there's no denying that everything that is happening in our city is happening in district 10. and that it is incredibly powerful and a unique vantage from which you will preside over this body. i know your experience on these issues have formed your career in public service and it will continue to drive you as you chart your term as president. two things in particular that i'm grateful for are your work and gun violence. and your long commitment to addressing food insecurity. we as a body are going to face both these issues in the coming term, and as challenging as they are, i commit to working with you to bring an end to both. in closing the events this week reawakened to me just how delicate our government is. and i was thinking this past february -- i was on the floor
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of the house with my 11-year-old daughter, 10 at the time, and before i walked on the house floor with my daughter i had to put my phone outside of the chamber. i walked in there and i said, g.g., take a picture with your eyes. the way that i felt in that room, the way that i felt when i was in that room when i was 16, it's such profound respect for our government. and we can't afford to lose that. and i think about my kids and my son is 16, and my daughter is 11. they don't know much different than what we have been seeing in the last four years. and it's on us to show them that we can all work together in spite of our differences. i want to leave that legacy for my children and i know that you all want to as well. and as senator angus king said on the senate floor, we are a 240-year anomaly in world history, democracy as we have practiced it is fragile and it rests upon trust.
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sadly, untold thousands across our country have taken that for granted. and as elected leaders we have a responsibility to show the public what it means to peacefully transition. and i just want to note that as we elect a new president and swear in two new members, i want to express my pride and admiration serving with all of you and our collective reaffirmation that our elections are among the freest, fairest and the highest turnout in the country. and that we will work together with respect for our differences, while always remembering that what unites us here in san francisco is so much more than what divides us. i'm very proud to support you, supervisor walton, and i look forward to working with all of you in the coming two years. thank you. >> clerk: thank you, supervisor stefani. i feel your heart. supervisor mandelman. >> supervisor mandelman: thank you, madam clerk. i have been thinking this
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morning about doris ward, and the historic nature of today. i -- my first experience at city hall, in this amazing building, was when i was a summer after my freshman year of high school and i got myself an internship in doris ward's office, which was one over from where i am now. and that was a time when san francisco's african american population was large enough to elect not one african american supervisor, but two african american supervisors, to the board of supervisors at the time. it was willie kennedy and doris ward. and, of course, doris ward would go on to be the first black president of our board, the first african american woman president of our -- of this board. and today we are joined by two extraordinary women, connie chae representation matters. it is not everything about these people, but it is worth