spaces. [gavel] okay good afternoon and welcome to the san francisco planning commission for thursday november 9, 2023. to enable public participation sf gov. is broadcasting and streaming this live. and we will receive public comment for discussion and action on this today's agenda. each speaker will have three minutes and when you have 30 seconds, you'll here a chime.

when your allotted time is up, we'll announce. we'll take public comment from people in city hall first and then go online. press pound twice to comment you need enter star-3 to raise your hand. when the item is called that you are interested in speaking to. when you hear that you are unmuted, that is your indication to speak in. for those joining us on web ex, enter password c pc 2023 and use the raise hand icon to raise your hand. best practices are to call from a quiet location and to please mute the volume on your television or computer for those attending in-person, we ask that had you line up to the

right side of the room or to your right. please speak slowly. and finally, i'll ask that we may silence any mobile devices and at this time, we'll take roll, commissioner moore. >> here. >> commissioner brown. >> here. >> commissioner diamond. >> here. >> commissioner imperial. >> here. >> commissioner koppel. >> here. >> commissioner louis. >> here. >> thank you. we do expect commissioner tanner to join us later. >> discretionary reproposed for continuance. item 2, case number 22002, commission street, continual use authorization is proposed to continue ans for january 24, 2024. number 3; 2024, continual use

is proposed for continuance for january 1, 2024. i have no other items proposed for continuance. so we can take public comment. this is your opportunity to speak only on the matter of continuance. if you're in the chambers please come forward. if you're calling in remotely, press star-3 to raise your hand. seeing no request to speak, public comment is closed. and you're continuance calendar is now before you. >> commissioner imperial. >> move to continue all items as proposed. >> thank you. --second. >> thank you commission inventories continue items as proposed. commissioner brown. >> aye. >> aye. >> imperial. >> aye. >> ruiz.

>> aye. >> commissioner moore. >> aye. >> that motion passes 6-0, placing this into your consent calendar this. constitutes your consent calendar is considered to be routine. there will be no separate discussion of this item unless a member of the commission requested in which event the matter should be removed from the consent calendar and considered as a separate item. item 5, case number 20231600 mission street, continual use opportunity. this is your opportunity to request that this item be removed from consent and heard at the end of today's agenda. seeing no request to speak, public comment on your consent calendar is closed and it is now before you, commissioners. >> commissioner imperial. >> move to approve. >> second. >> thank you, commissioners on

that motion to approve item 5 on consent. commissioner braun. >> aye. >> commissioner ruiz. >> aye. >> diamond. >> aye. >> koppel. >> aye. >> moore. >> aye. >> that motion passes unanimously 6-0 placing us under commission matters item 6, land acknowledgment. >> commissioner braun will read today's acknowledgment. >> [reading land acknowledgment]

>> thank you, item 7, commission comments and questions. >> i would like to start off by saying this is a beautiful day and it's noticeable that we have a lot of guest coming in next week. unfortunately, the weather is suppose not to be so positive. but i hope that we people of the city can make it easy. please carry your passport card if you live in affected neighborhoods. but we have all the ability to be proud of what we have and show our best side. i hope we get through this peacefully and successfully and i look forward to welcoming the many dignitaries that will be visiting us. thank you. >> thank you. yeah, i wanted to mention some of the things we've heard and

about the housing department. i know that the department has been having comments with acd and i know we have a meeting scheduled on december 7. my concern is some of the deadlines that are before that hearing. i wonder if you can explain to the commission and the public have you had conversation wz acd about potentially extending the deadlines to give us some time to respond? and implement? >> yeah, and i was going to bring this up in my report as well. we're definitely in constant communication with acd as well as internally because some of the recommendations go beyond what we can do as a department and as a commission will require cooperation of other agencies where in conversation with the city attorney. at this point too, we're trying to clarify some of the

recommendations where we have, questions on those. so we have this hearing on december 7th, we want to come prepared with clarification with many of their required actions so we're clear on what hcd is asking us to do. i do realize that's beyond some of the dates where action is required, there are some 30-day deadline that they have in their report. but most of those relate to the legislation that you've already heard and is moving through the board of supervisors, so the mayor's constraint and the ordinance that the mayor and have put forward amendment to, most recommendations for that 30-day period relate to that ordinance. so, i don't think it's necessary to have a hearing before them and i think we want to get clarification on some of the other required actions that they have. we'll certainly, you know, our hope is to get a response to

hcd right before thanksgiving on those 30-day action. again it will point mostly to the constraint ordinance where that is in the process and we'll provide that draft to you. and, you know, the process will work as if hcd does not believe we're in compliant, there will be a period where we'll come into compliance. they'll give us another 30 days to come into compliance if they don't believe we are in compliance. so that's the plan, address those initial 30-day, actions before those 30 days which happens the monday after thanksgiving. get a response and again they're mostly related to the restraints and come talk about the bulk which are farther than 30 days. >> thank you. >> is there any additional comments?

>> seeing no additional commission comments, commissioners, i will notify that you on your next hearing agenda, i will be adding remote public comment. we've received direction from the mayor's office to cease remote public comment. so that will be on the agenda next week to consider. commissioners, department matters item 8 director's announcements. >> that's what i was going to talk, so no further announcements. >> item 9, review of report from the board of supervisors and the board of appeals did not meet yesterday, the historic preservation did hold a i special meeting here yesterday which you'll be able to consider on your regular calendar today. commissioners general public comment, at this time members of the public may address the commission on items of interest

to the board within the jurisdiction of the commission. each member of the may address the commission for up to 3 minutes. when the number of speakers exceed the 15-minute general public comment may be moved to the end of the agenda. >> three minutes or two minutes. >> three minutes. >> hi, good afternoon. i sent you a letter and i sent you an email correcting one thing in that, sort of a minor correction, not really but anyway. but i want to jump off the planning resolution, 20024, the flat policy. and i think how if you decide to codify it, how are you going to do that? and in the findings back from 2017, their really good

findings and i think they're still pertinent even though we have a new housing element. and the main one, is that it's flats are a typology that satisfy housing needs especially for low income families, market rate units 16% of production affordable to moderate income households and 31 percent production as to find in the earlier. so that's history but it's interesting. so, the letter i sent, with the attachment how it's loss of housing, and the dramatic increase in prices and flats when they're not preserved. and same thing in the email i sent this morning. last week, i discussed the flat, with a tenant and that tenant no longer lives there. so in this photo it says, do

not disturb tenants. so how should the policy be codified? and it's necessary to have strict objective to design those in its original configuration and location hallways are very important thing. and that would ensure the intent when you pass this policy, back in, 2017. and i think it was a good policy and i think it just needs more teeth. so here's my comments on that for the minutes. this morning before i came, i read the socket side column and i don't know if any of you did, i just gave a copy to city attorney and here's a copy y'all, you can share. it's about a project down on 7th street that can't be sold, the entitlement can't be sold and it says here, at the same

time they're over 20,000 units of housing and projects across the city that have been approved bit city but yet to break ground. and over 7,000 units in the pipeline. so hcd, hello. thank you. i didn't mean, that was a little snarky to say but they should recognize that san francisco. have a nice holiday, three-day weekend. >> okay, last call. seeing no more, let's go to our caller >>. irene, regarding the most resent commission about the

development project. all, these comments speaks references to the hotel office space and institutions. speed's comment will focus on horizontal infrastructure. the west side of the city is the most heavily wooded part of the city. with stern grove being just a few blocks from the project site. the zeb site is closest to the san andreas falls. this this insurance company to address the city. is there a place to address this? there is. the 1906 not only devastated the city but created massive losses. over 100 years ago, the city had to convince the insurance companies not to play the san francisco market. the city was able to convince them not to flee the san francisco market by demonstrating that the city would do all possible to

minimize their future losses. the emergency fire fighting water system, was the city's solution to minimize the loss of lives and property but also to minimize losses to ensure its companies. a was would have a, piping independent of the drinking water pipes. they would have a higher pressure and volume than the city's drinking water pipes. would use bay water so the drinking water supply would not be impacted. both planning and bpw, that the stone project would have as part of its development agreement. this is consistent with the other brooke field projects at 5 and peer 70. however, the puc has stated that it lacks the resources to

hook up the pipes to the city's a wasp pipes. it should be noted that the pipes would also need to be connected to the going to the ocean site treatment facility and also a new water pump station. at the commission presentation, oaw, proposed use iap to fund an infrastructure. to fund independent awasp piping from the project site to the ocean and partially funding the oesh water pump station, thank you. >> next week, you will consider remote public comment

abolishing it is trouble some. please put your proposed language before the commission, that before the public, before the commission meeting. this is the last time that the public can comment remotely. this is really important to have this what you're proposing. do this please, don't just do it at the planning commission. put it in writing and that is also a request to the planning director. thed things that are coming out after thanksgiving when you're going to talk about what the relationship between the instructions from the state and in tefrmz of how we do staff reports is very important. so there is a lot of burden put on the planning director and

his office to explain in writing in advance, what the proposal is, especially if there is no more public comment over the phone. people have to come to city hall and get three minutes of time to talk. that's a very big burden on the public. the public really tries to be informed. thank you very much. general public comment is closed. we can move on to your regular calendar item 10, case number 2023-8200 for the nonprofit arts education special use

planning code and zoning map amendments. >> good afternoon, commissioners, veronica flores staff. the item before is special use district which was introduced by supervisor peskin. the proposed ordinance would establish 800 chestnut which is the former site of san francisco arts institute which has been dissolved. this property is zoned rh3 which does not permit institutional uses except for a few exceptions such as childcare facility for a few examples. the sud would allow a nonprofit arts education institutional use which for the purposes of this sud would be defined as a public or private institution

ol' use operating a second secondary and it's not required to be a crd by the schools and colleges or wosk. all other provisions shall apply except arts education institutional use should not be obligated with the institutional master plan requiremented. ther respective business owner is still in the early stages of this process and this will help facilitate at the site in the future. that being said, there are no proposed physical changes for the building or diego rivera onsite of which are both historic landmarks, any such physical changes would still have to go through the and appear before the commission

for their full review. the planning department received three letters of support for the proposed ordinance including letters from brenda the founder and artistic director of otc,etdaughter of ruth asawa and beal, the president of california college of arts, although i believe he recently retired. all letters site support to create a path for non accredited arts education institutional at the arts site and also support for foft erg a new generation of art. this item appeared in front of a historic commission yesterday during at which time they adopted a recommendation for approval. the department also supports approval of this ordinance because it supports arts

education at this site. again there are no propoeds alterations at this time but they will still go through the standard certificate of review process in front of the historic preservation commission. this concludes the staff presentation and i am available for any questions. thank you. >> okay w that, we should open public comment. this is your opportunity to speak on this proposed legislative amendment. if you want to make a comment please come forward or raise your hand via web ex. >> would you turn it the other way, please. >> use the dial in front of

you, on zoom. --and zoom. >> thank you. >> you can zoom out further. >> that's the best we can do. >> that's the best we can do. >> good afternoon, commissioners, hi, my name is andy lavigne, i'm an arc terk, practiced in san francisco for years and i'm not representing them, i'm here as a volunteer because i'm committed to making san francisco better place and i'm also here to support the requests by supervisor peskin to rezone the site to allow

the, the direction of the future. i first was, understood about what was going on in article in the paper in april when art declared bankruptcy. i was concerned about the diego rivera mural, it was done in 1931 by diego rivera as an incredible fresco and open to the public. not only about access but preserving it. what i discovered was that in addition, the historic buildings that are now have been land marked by big well brown are gorgeous. they're classic example of, an italian hill town.

and then also the duoma, the cathedral that housess the diego rivera mural. and the entry at 800 chestnut that bako brown designed, that you can see in the schedule on the left, my water color is influenced by mayback and historical precedence but modern realization. with a tile roofs. and maintain the site that has a entry in the courtyard.

it's the south addition that is, it's a warrant, it has a lot of differed maintenance and it's a warrant of ramps, but additionally, there is, there is two parts of the site that, on the north. that have, that are vacant that have the opportunity for development. now, no one has asked me to do this, this is just an item of concept for affordable housing. and, just want to. >> thank you, mr. lavigne, that is your time. >> thank you.

>> i am the directer of gallery a block and a half down the hill from the san francisco campus. i'm here to support this site that would allow for a non accredited post secondary arts use. i have been a member having worked as a require and galleryist in the city. my connection began immediately and has conditioned ever since. earlier this near, i was involved with the fundraiser with to* create the arc chief who's goal is to make the ar chiefs accessible to the public. the closure of sfai has been a

devastating blow to the san francisco, northbeach and neighborhood and the city as a whole. for more than a 150 years, they produced artist who's words have substantial contributions to the evolution of fine arts and not just san francisco but on a national and international level. it's presence at the corner of chestnut that's brought on vibrancy but through the impact the school has had as a tourist destination and draw to new residents in the city. began in the 1960 when your building was converted into a gallery space. charles gallery immediately

began showing faculty students and this closer relationship between the school and the gallery has continued as the gallery has evolved to its present form. the gallery has hosted numerous artist talks and other events over the many decades and sponsor educational initiative and programming that took place on the school campus. it's our emphatic opinion that the conditioned use of the property located at 800 chestnut street as a nonprofit institution is critical to flourishing not only the northbeach but the arts ecosystem in san francisco and greater area. it would also be a huge catalyst as part of its economic recovery efforts. the affect of the chestnut campus reopening as a new multi nonprofit school cannot be overstated, it hob huge. >> thank you.

>> okay, seeing no other members of the public, coming forward, let's go to our remote callers. >> caller: in strong support to form a special use districts parcel block number 49, lot number 01, the language of this proposed ordinance is clear and unambiguous. they focus on institutional uses. at the zoning variant hearing on august 23rd, several items in the agenda were in the special district. 151 nevada street and 801 crested avenue. during the hearing, the zoning

administrator stated that the purpose of this sud is to be more restricted. the arts education is consistent with the criteria for the heights sud as it's more restrictive. there are currently several other suds, are they consistent--are the other proposed suvs using unambiguous language. do they have a clearly defined purpose definition and controls? how are these proposed sfuds versus continual uses. thank you.

>> caller: hi i'm suk ada and i'm here to support. i am one of the founding members of odc deaf organization in includes a professional company a large deaf school and a presenting theater. i'm a school director and choreography for the company and arts founder with brenda founder of the. brenda is part of a non advisory group that will be starting the new institute. the vision for the project is to have a nonprofit institution which supports emerging or early stage artist. with a rotating faculty of established artist rather than as not institution issuing formal degrees. it will continue the legacy by training and creating world class artist.

this could be a great catalyst with resifing san francisco as a 52-year-old organization, odc knows the importance to create deep roots to support the artistic eco artist from seasoned artist to professionals. we fully support this legislation. thank you. >> good morning, my name is steven biel and thanks to the opportunity to expand on the letter that i submitted. i spent my entire career to a school similar to the institute. my first was in chicago and for the past 25 years, i've been at california college of the arts here in san francisco where last week, i did officially retire after serving as president for 15 years. many of my friends and

colleagues worked at sfd 'ey, and i spent a lot of time attending meetings exhibitions and events. i'm a passionate believer that great cities need great schools, and while the loss of the art school was tragic, this loss would be en forgivable. that's why i support supervisor peskin's creating a nonprofit's arts special use districts allowing for non accrediteder arts institution at a former campus. reimagine arts institution would not only carry on the legacy of training and supporting world renowned artist but energy the artistic and culture life of san francisco while preserving the chestnut campus with the architecture and world famous diego rivera fresco.

and the distinctive and culture life of san francisco were factors that attracted me to take the job 25 years ago. with new student housing in san francisco designed by the mcarthur genie, california college of the arts is now fully invested in san francisco. the addition dedicated to supporting talented artist on the campus, would be a dynamic catalyst for faculty and students at california college of the arts and for the arts community in san francisco and across the region. along with cca, i will do whatever i can to support this endeavor and urge you to do the same. thank you for taking the time. >> okay, last call for public comment on this matter, again if you're in the chambers please come forward. if you're calling in remotely

raise your hand. public comment is closed. and this matter is now before you. >> commissioner diamond? >> i need to make a disclosure on this item, i didn't realize until a couple of minutes ago, otherwise i would have done it at the beginning of the matter. i saw that ms. tabia is in the audience and i just asked her which item she is here for and she said this one. we have been cocouncil on nonprofits. but the last time we worked together was in 2019, prior to the time i joined the planning commission. the items we worked on had nothing to do with this particular matter and i don't think that relationship would an impact on any ability to be neutral on this item. >> thank you, commissioner diamond. >> i would like to make a few opening comments, it is an

extremely exciting opportunity to reimagine an arts institute in an area that is pretty mono use if you look just a glance. when i look at our ula recommendations a few months back, and while they're focused on the financial district, i heard loud and clear for us to diversify inland use and reenergy. i think this particular projects leads us directly into that type of thinking. and i am delighted to support, i do live in district 3, have been around institute for many many years because i have friends that live next door. so i didn't notice that it went bankrupt until i read in the paper. that immediately was real concerns because it's a valuable real estate. but i'm glad that we are doing this way not only for the

protection of this great building but for the arts which would not be removed from where it is. i want to acknowledge architect lavigne for acknowledging these sketches, what's the real quality of this building as seeing by the eyes of somebody who can convey in this drawings. i'm in support full support and i'll be calling on commissioner. >>--commissioner ruiz. >> thank you. i don't have any questions, my only comment is both that grandfather and father were artist in san francisco. and there were the changes to the cost of living, he always voiced to me the impact that that this had in the art community so. when we can foster opportunities to create that's wonderful and beautiful thing. i was just going to make a motion to approve but i see commissioner braun has

questions. >> second. commissioner. >> no questions, i just want to throw my questions behind this as well. i've had opportunities to be on the campus before there was an institute and see the diego rivera mural and knowing that people who respect that legacy and will stay in place, is meaningful so i'm in support of the ordinance. >> we have a motion? and a second. >> in teedsinger, if there is nothing further, there is a motion that has been seconded. op that motion, commissioner braun. >> aye. >> aye. >> aye. >> imperial. >> aye. >> koppel. >> aye. >> moore? >> aye. >> the motion passes 6-0. >> and i welcome president tanner to handle the gabble. >> thank you very much. >> item 11 for case number

2022-010182cwp. this is an informational presentation. >> some of them will be presenting today. so, so,--was on the panel she is my long time colleague, at my employer prior to her departure in 2021 to take the job at spur. i don't know kate personally but direct competitor with my company for project works.

i just wanted make that disclosure. and i'm currently principal in charge of a project in my employer is a direct sub consultant. i'm also supporting other economic staff in their work on other projects. however none of these items directly relate to this item, and they should have no bearing on my ability to be fair and impartially in hearing this. >> thank you, commissioner. >> thank you. planning department staff we're happy to provide an update on downtown. our last update was in february and we've been here during summer to discuss pieces of legislation. we also have a lot of stakeholders as well as equity council that are joining us and

i want to thank for their partnership in this work. so we have a lot of people speaking, we're going to be very efficient, there is a lot to share with you. so we'll start with an update on the mayor's road map and then, allison and myself will share the planning department approach to developing key geography downtown. and then raquel, will share perspective from the community equity council and highlight the work that they've been doing to advance work downtown. and then i'll turn it over to natalie and eric to discuss the advisory services that took place in play. so with that, i'll hand it over to jacob. >> hi there, good afternoon, jacob, thank you lilly for the introduction always nice to be back with you. yeah, i want to provide a bit of an update. >> sorry, you're very tall, can

you put the mic a little bit closer. >> thank you, good looking outed. yes, so i want to i want toup date to the future of san francisco. i'll be quick, i look forward to any discussion or questions after the presentation. just to wonder why downtown is so critical, 80 percent of g.d.p. came from downtown and 70% of our business revenue and half of our sales tax revenue is also the center of our transportation. there is nowhere else you can get to as easily as downtown san francisco. that is an investment that we need to build on and also of course our built environment, the tens of millions of square feet buildings that we have down there that we need to make use of. here's a few snapshots of where we are, office attendance remains at 72% prepandemic.

i want to say that 48 is% and l.a. is 46 percent. every one is struggling and we're feeling that. our office vaik sant' is a all-time high and growing, about a third all of our office is currently vacant. we're seeing some improvement on m*u ni ridership. a little higher from last year. bart is still behind but we are around 40% of prepandemic levels for people coming down and doing better for bart. the bart staix right side still the highest performing stations so people are coming downtown on transit. i want to focus, we talk about a office vacancy it is high but for people looking for office

space, is at 5.5, that is up by 50 percent from last year. and i was talk to go somebody in the industry who mentioned that's around where our annual office demand was before covid. so the number of people looking for space was around where we were covid, we but we have a lot to fill. international travel is at 97% before covid we is remarkable. we're looking at 2 million inter nationals who are projected to spend 2 billion and our national travelers, tend to spend more. domestic is at 85% and hotel occupancy reflects na 85% before pandemic. so going back to the mayor's road map, she laid out a vision for the future of downtown san francisco.

economic and resilient, also a welcoming clean and safe environment. a dynamic that is good all the time not just thursday through thursday. a world class transportation experience and equitable economy that supports. how do we get to that vision? we have various strategies, the first is making sure that downtown is safe for every one. creating a new contract that will have us have the highest starting salary for sworn officers in the entire bay area. we're seeing more officers come into our academy. there is a state federal partnership to disrupt drug dealing. we're focused also on non police responses for community ambassador centers, centered largely on downtown.

sxl funding for new shelters beds and building on the process since 2019 where we have added 4 shelter beds and placed 15,000 people in the permanent housing off the streets. a lot of people don't talk about this but since 2019, we've had a 50%, yes, decrease in unsheltered homelessness. i think when we have seen throughout the covid pandemic, it became more obvious as we have fewer folks downtown. but we need to remind ourselves that the progress we're making here in san francisco. second is retaining, and employers, extended business tax relief to industries like retail restaurants hospitality and arts those businesses would have seen a 50% increase under prop f, that was passed and that has been delayed until 2016. we also created the new office tax credit.

so if you're a new office user, you're business tax is cut in half up to one million dollars in business. there is also a process under way to comprehensively reform the tax structure being lead by the controller and treasurer. an area that you have been involved with and your staff is to facilitate new uses in our building downtown. we passed that legislation to you on to allow a lot more flexibility and to pave the way to housing conversions. the work field building that i think would have needed that is now able to be approved administratively so that is one example that we can see that is paying off, that's adaptive reuse program. and we also put a request for interest to gauge interest to folks who may be interested in pursuing. we have 8 developers express

interest for three different locations in downtown. the market is very challenging. so we're learning about more tax and policy and other, and i want to focus on the transfer tax mayor that the mayor has put on the ballot for march that would waive the city's transfer tax for a period of five years, that's one thing that came out in these rfi responses. as a need. making easier to start and grow a business downtown. we launched the vacant to vibrant program earlier this summer, we have 17 pop ups and small businesses people that didn't have a brick-and-mortar location before. i'm a big fan, also business training grants for small business and a grant that can provide 20 to 50,000 for a new store opening up.

our first year free program, have been able to start with no feescious since that program rolled out. there is also that small business reform package that made over 100 changes that you all approved and sent on to the board of supervisors, that is a land committee now. thank you to you and your staff and we talk about the retail vacancy so much but we have 800 new businesses start ining san francisco, every month. that's the average. so people are out there, they are trying to, you know, offer their service sxz their creative in san francisco and we're here to support them. growing our workforce is essential as well. we have an entire workforce division number of job fares, neighborhood job centers, we have connected to opportunities and resources just in the first half of this year. and of course housing is key to our key force challenges. i want to thank you and your staff ton on the inclusionary housing program.

that introduced the amounts by half and lowered fees by a third for the next three years. that is also something that we heard loued examine clear. that's critical to bring new housing. really centering on arts culture and night life and entertainment downtown. we have funded many that focus on this area, our bonger examine beats market that focused on the south asia dance music and all the vendors at at the event were bipoco queer women, they were receiving money and folks also spent about $80 bucks in the businesses around the area. the block parties and so ma is something that we contributed funding to.

our place in the park, is something that we participated, i could go on. i want to talk about carts to create new programs. that we're looking to launch next year. and, that will allow us to create what they're calling entertainment zones where you can have alcohol sales by the brick-and-mortar rather than trying to use a third party vendor. when you play colic, that's not the business. we're able to allow the bars examine venues on the parameters. to make it a market street arts destination.

of course giving people new chance to come down. hang around afterwards. right at the foot of the trans america create thising new environment for people to come out. the businesses have been doing well, there is several local restaurants right there who are all benefit froming this lovely space, you can you can see the image to celebrate the life. one of the earliest black leaders in san francisco. also we're working with your planning department staff on paul street on how to improve the public there as well as downtown. we had our skate park opened so i'll see you all out there. i hope you brought your boards, we'll see you later. there is ping-pong and chess too there is a little bit of everything. it really does look like, you can feel the energy and there

is the whole community that is based in this area in soma that we don't talk about it often but you can just feel the joy. using our public realm to bring people downtown, we're bringing winter walk. so we're excited about that. that's an event that brought over 2 million people to union square to enjoy the holidays and the tree will be lit. and almost finally, the ridership numbers are the most important because they need the riders to please continue to take part when you're coming into town. we did get in a good position but still really a challenge. and i also want to point out some of the work that amt has done a good work of adding a lot of protective bike lanes. and those are actually really

nice facilities if you have not had a chance to bike up there recently. finally, i'm really turning a narrative around. i've never seen a occasion where the message is the substance as much as we face right now, it's a negative narrative that is coming from media our fox, who want to tear us down and make us example of urban living. i keep on seeing people that visit and say that's not the case. we're working with director advertising campaign, social campaigns. we have our always san francisco and five markets, that is the biggest advertising campaign for san francisco that anyone can remember. and i want to thank our friends at advance sf philanthrophic,

they're really emphasizing all the things that has begun in san francisco like blue jeans. come on, my ties, there is a lot that has started. we need to remind people of what can come from san francisco and wore seeing that from folks coming in for a i. and we want to mention the apaac, we're expecting 20 visitors who have expected to spend about 40 million of impact of about 52 million in san francisco. we have over 50,000 hotel nights booked through that night. and while we are focus odd disruption that is causing for businesses, which is a reality of a high security for this. we're waiting for a positive image into the world. we have the heads of state

in--including some of the highest visitors. we want to show them that this is somewhere they want to come back and visit after this conference. thank you and with that, i'll turn it back to lilly. thank you. >> thanks jacob. so as we mentioned in february, the department of future of downtown is coordinated with the mayor's road map with a focus on three areas that are critical to the economic fatality of city and downtown. that's the diversification, expanding and activating public spaces. as jacob mentioned, there is been a lot of progress, new legislation, new policies, all looking to a support a more mix district and to give people a reason to go and stay downtown.

so now that we have these tools in place, we would like to bring these pieces together for three specific geographies. the boundaries are flexible but we woik lao focus on mid-market, the union square area and include parts of yerba buena. the vision is to work closely with the relevant cbds and culture districts and other organizations to prioritize and develop an implementation plan. and our hope is that it can turn into a catalyst. so with that, i'm going to turn it over to allison to talk about the opportunities for these three geographies.

>> they include inter mediate midterm mediate and long term efforts and they're focused around the main geography that you see here. what i would like to do is invite you to image the impact of what may otherwise, may seem like discreet activity. so the focus is leveraging the institutions and create aoek other systems to cultivate a nexus for programming. this includes to bring new activity including housing and community space to the area. heritage and item exchange venues and, the museum and many

many more. and we've seen many new attractions being introduced or under way including the dog park, the u.n. escape, plaza escape pilot. the new pavilion and entry improvements which are under construction and the greenway which is being developed as the tenderloin action plan. so we know some of the challenges that this area faces as we walk around. >> we have the better market street plan under construction.

they're working with the business association and foundation mid-market community district and other organizations to support regular programs in public spaces. and to make existing new outdoor events easier by reducing barriers to host the events. and the ground floors we're supporting a creation and implementation of market street plan applying tactical, celebrating xwrand opening, holidays and other cultural relevant support and supporting other temporary needs by allowing signage and video and art installation in store front windows. and then as public realm, ground floor activation strategies and live in the pedestrian experience, transition upper floor uses can bring more energy to the area. so this enables a virtual cycle

where incrementals. in union square, our focus is in reenforcing our, by expanding to include housing and other commercial uses. this man's holiday plaza and minute plaza and the new plaza among others. it means cultural districts and other actions to activate in program basis to support new events by reducing to improve these events with the seasonal activation and its link to

china town or the creation of an independent room along maiden lane. and then of course we need to secure the future of san francisco with a new recreation al or experiencal anchors. so for public strategy, i believe jacob already mentioned pow street to create a more inviting environment. there is a 4 million dollars allocation in the city budge tote do this and a design process to begin in january. later on to that facade

accessibility upgrades, temporary and new retail wants and recreational uses on our ground floors, grand openings and holidays and celebrations and of course supporting the needs that is previously described. as these public ground floor activation strategies live en the experience, adoptive can bring more residents to the neighborhood along with more residents serving amenities and businesses. so this brings us to our downtown gateway. we're here the focus is on our iconic entry to the city and the market street to the water front. doing this means reshaping and

reimagining the public realm bringing more programming to these spaces to invite a dynamic experience and upper floors with activities including housing can and institutional uses. working with the port, will be advancing a new design for the gateway as part as their adaptation, we'll be cooperating with rpd and cultural district and other organization to see activate in program spaces and, highlighting specifically the california cable car line to bring more people to this key termnous point.

so the interactive public art and lighting. incentivize to provide satellite or exhibition in vacant store fronts and in public spaces and work withing the downtown partnership and other organizations to reduce barriers to hosting outdoor events such as, leveraging the existing shared spaces, roadway closure permits. as moore residents move to the area, we'll look to attract more neighborhood servicing uses including childcare, educational play and uses at the ground floors. and then in addition to the strategies in this area, it will be important to embark to

serve new and existing residents. so this is a vision of collaborative synergytic business owners and to bring new energy back to the downtown district. and raquel will talk more about that work. >> i know we have he quit council and a sp so we're over our 20 minutes that we usually allot, do we have a sense of how much time we need for the other presentations? ten minutes? folks?

another ten minutes, thank you, raquel. >> good afternoon, raquel, director of fill pi nas and i want to acknowledge that i'm joined here by other members of the council that will be speaking another public comment. as you know, compose of representatives from various immigrant bipoca and lgbtq communities. for the last two years, we've been working with the public to under harmed and under served. today we want to share our equity vision for downtown and i apologize in advance, i'm not going to be as cheer' as the other presenters as we speak. this morning, my phone started blowing up from seniors and small businesses who saw the permit fence going up, blocking

out their customer base and, you know, their care givers from being able to get to them. so this is part of the reality that our communities are facing, you know. what is happening in the city today and this coming week. one reason that we created a working group on downtown cover' is because, we have, we have been hearing about all of these initiatives and hearings and circles in which downtown recovery was being discussed and none of our communities were involved. we would hear about, you know, the importance of arts and culture, of small businesses, and division and yet no one was talking to our community base artist to our arts institutions to our small businesses. it felt like we were

afterthought or flavoring to the master plan. so we came together, and created a working group and so we want to present to you, a draft vision and again it's only a draft because we want to make sure that we have time to share it with our broader community members. some of the themes are affordable housing, can't see. economic participation, cultural identification and community gathering places and ininstitutions. in terms of economic participation, there is a lot of talk about thriving eco systems and supporting locally, owned businesses. i think just the last couple of weeks, we were very disappointed and you'll hear from my other colleagues on the equity council how up to 2 million that was suppose to support a small business for

activation, close to half a million went to celebrity chef tyler and lawrence and this was granted from the city without any transparency or any process whatsoever. so, we do want to emphasize that if we're talking b you know, including small businesses that we do need to make those investments and you know, again like that story, that was in the chronicle just speaks to how we're continuing to support the businesses that are already well capitalized and doing well in contrast, i think the vibrant to vacant small business got like 8,000 each. in terms of cultural identities, we want to make sure that there is actually participation from our communities and again we're not

just, cultures are appropriated. and there is actually meaningful participation and connection to not just our communities but also the neighborhoods. you know, we're a small city, so downtown recovery should not be focus but we should be looking at how it ties in and supports all of our neighborhoods. community gathering, places, we need, we want to advocate as tha* as we rebuild the infrastructure, that it could be useful for communities to be able to gather, come together, you know, and be able to have cultural expression and that. the burden will not be on non prove pits to kind of make it useable. so they can work with community center. in terms of affordable housing, we know that there is a lot of

proposals to streamline, housing and yet we're very concerned that there is very little talk about how to ensure that this housing is affordable to our communities to those, who are, experiencing having scarcity, but the type of units serve our families and not just going to be, you know, again million dollars tiny condos and lastly, a lot of talk about educational institutions, you just heard an item earlier this week, the chronicle is proposing to gift 5th and mission garage and the old mint to the community that could bring in 1,000 students. we want to make sure that we're looking at this from the lens of equity and bringing historical black colleges and we want to make sure that

institutions support minority and being able to access not only higher education but jobs. and that's it from us. but looking forward to public comment from my colleagues as well. >> thank you. >> i was co-chair of the asp so just for a few people who is what urban institute. it's 4 2000 members worldwide, 3 2000 in the united states and san francisco has been one of the leaders in the district council in the world. our goal is to help shape the future of the environment for transformative impact communities worldwide. the panel is one of the most

groups programs that uli has been doing, we just celebrated 75 years. we do a deep dive for one week and we bring in experts from around the world and we ask that they bring their expertise and wisdom but be objective and have an honest approach to try to address the problem. as part of that process, we interview, stakeholders, many are here today including raquel and commissioners and mr. hill is here. and i think what is interesting and you'll hear more about it, is our findings confirm many of the findings that oaw have found but also from raquel from the equity council. i'm going to hand it over to talk about what this assignment

was and our approach. >> thanks eric, with perkinson is a oil design practice. but charge from the city of sf and county of san francisco for advisory panel was to look at recommendation that would look to bounce back downtown and to being a more resilient and to make it look inclusive. very important to highlight is, the city really wanted to focus on a near term 6 month effort versus a one-year, versus a long term effort what may be those recommendation to see move forward with. 11 panelist will pull together,

national experts from, new york, help people who have had experience helping downtown bounce back up to 9/11 and new orleans after catrina and representatives from detroit and seattle and people present, experienced helping vancouver and los angeles. so this panel bringing their experience forward and all of them volunteering their time for four days. the panel kind of, at the city helped to orient with the presentation on some of the challenges but also expectation that's they had of the panel. many of you were part of that discussion and it was a focus day of deliberation to really figure out what might be some of the sound kind of bites to recommend to the city.

i will let eric continue. >> so you heard from jacob and why downtown is a no brainer. oh my god, your downtown is beautiful, why do you need to do anything. so we did start with that question and we did interview. and one thing that we did find, a lot of people say, why should we do this as well. they don't understand the value overall. they say it's their downtown. a lot of are business owners and property owners and the question of why are we helping your downtown? what is it for us? the answer was consistent but at the end, we need to do this but we need to make downtown our downtown it needs to be part of all of san francisco. going back to what they're doing, we need to put all of

that together. so the next downtown is i will not go into detail, we will reaffirm a lot of what the city is already doing. it needs to be socially, and diversified as vice president moore pointed, we need a diverse, neighborhood. even that word neighborhood is it's not a neighborhood, we need to bring it back and make it one of our neighborhood. we brought people who have been revitalizing, neighborhood and revitalizing downtown for many years from philadelphia to detroit. and we need, tools, money, funds and financing, we need structure, organizing for and last thing we need a plan. we need have a vision and plan. we need overall vision squ plan. and before we get into talking

about plan structure and money. real quick, i would be remiss to not again applaud the city for all they've done. right smack in to a lot of our findings. so the you get to talk a little bit and i think in two or three more minutes, woel be done. >> so, a picture speaks a thousand words. we wanted to bring the plan or vision, that they were thinking about and stuff to create these notes and be able to in people's minds create a mental map of more destination that's might be places that they would be drawn to within the core of the downtown, and we did have, and i do want to he iterate a

message, we heard that they talked in terms of taking these ideas forward. but starting at the footprint of market street and embarcadero, start to reimagine people's park that would further the life and vibrancy along ferry building but moving clock wise from the base of that note to look at the embarcadero center as a place that would bring back people but with a focus on wellness and what that may offer in terms of being a place where has centers and, adult learning and our possibilities and childcare and what may be that wellness for family owned families and employees. downtown and look at the market front plaza between day street and market street. to go back to the history of market street where they used to have a produced selling of

goats and maybe that's an opportunity to bring that life back. but also look at opportunities around what is happening in the leader alley, but anchor that 7 blocks with an arts culture and entrepreneurship and shown, which is not a new concept. the block used to have the creators and points living there once, so back into the history and create that as a destination in people's mind and look at front street entertainment, a couple of blocks to anchor another diverse experience which is around celebrating some of the aspects of cafes and restaurants and bars in that place and make it a 24-hour life. and lastly, really thinking about what might be that framework that you enable in downtown so that you're able to

receive all of the diverse demographic that you're in inviting here in the diverse businesses. so that has a connected framework of walkable and low carbon mobility kind of a network of street that stitches residents and defendant naturesings north and south of market to stitch it together into a cohesive vision plan. eric. >> so, a lot of this you already know, you know, san francisco, we tax we return to work. we need to diversified uses and including and it's something that you like, we have a lot of business owners and building owners and we can facilitate negotiate, maybe work with some tax abatement. they're doing that in new york right now. so we need to build capacity to facilitate action. that's one of the findings try

to empower the cbds, these are some of the tools, we have greater private sector engagement. and part of the building capacity is to rebuild a reinvitation authority. we don't have redevelopment anymore but we do have the ability to create some type of rda like an entity that have taxing and bond issuance. we were asked at the beginning and pointed out by the city to come up with a immediate, 3-year and 5-year plan, we came with a immediate 1 year and 3 year plan, and i will not go through this, it but it includes business and taxes and attractions, tax incentives, we can't ignore again, clean and safe. every one fell in love with downtown clean and safe but

when we ipt views employees, getting in and out did not feel safe. and of course the governorance, so we start with a plan, we're bringing all stakeholders together to have a coordinated, independent, efficient action. here for any questions and answers. thank you. >> okay, is that finally concludes the presentation, we should open up public comment. members of the public, this is your opportunity to address the commission on this informational item. if you're in the chambers, if you're calling in remotely, you need to call. >> i'm lamar i'm president of asian inc. our office is located in the mid-market area. i want to thank your work and the work of the equity council for commissioning this presentation. i just wanted to put a face on,

folks who live, work and reside in the mid-market area. i know raquel our colleague down the street is in that area, leader here. but i wanted to make sure that they know how important this is to ensure the safety of the folks living and working in this area. we are nonprofit, we operate a non business center, development agency, we also are a hud approved housing counciling agency and a major reason why we cannot be as affective as we would like to deliver in-person services, which we are, but we can be more affective to do so if we can provide for the safety of the folks we serve. and i'm not here to prescribe how safety is to be provided to the folks who are in the mid-market area and the folks who operate nonprofits like us. but i ask that safety for the

most vulnerable communities be a more foeft concern. we are a nonprofit, we are part of the private sector, we rely on the private sector to do our work. we want to continue to do our work in the mid-market area. we want to be a good resident of the area. please i ask the commission and staff to provide good definitions of the area. we also want to know specifically what that means? and we really want the lens of equity to also include safety for the most vulnerable communities and those who serve the communities. thank you for your work. >> speaker: good morning, i'm william ortiz i'm a member of equity council for planning. i'm thrilled to be here and show the world the resilience

of san francisco, i appreciate the work of the mayor and i'm glad that we got rid of the transacters. bipoc communities and generations of san francisco. me myself, i'm good for three generations of san franciscans, we were here in the 80s and 70s and 90s during the war on drugs and during the 2000, when you wanted gentrfy us out. we want to be included in all the steps in all the process to make downtown something unique, special and, and show the world what san francisco can do

downtown. but we need to be part of the process you saw what happened when we gave downtown to the extractors, we partnered with ltf during 2021 with programs already in place in a very small fiscal amount of money. we were able to reduce vacancies by 25%. i don't think any other neighborhood with so little resources can say that. the heart of our district, our vacancies are at 5%. that's what we do. we're san franciscans, you put us in the sahara or ant arctic, we'll have a farmers market within days. that's why we need to be in those rooms when they're

talking about downtown reinvitation. we will get it down. we know how kf kf's move and shake and enjoy san francisco. and we want to share that with the world. but please please please ensure that our culture district and bipoc are in every room and part of the process. thank you and have a great day. >> speaker: hi, our organization was won the jefferson award for raising a million dollars to support black businessds on third street. this year alone, we were raised 600,000. these funds are coming from the city's small business program.

a lot of different programs. we were also excited to help, organization that really suffered from could vid to raise funds from the san francisco initiative to do a, a soul music festival right here in the downtown of san francisco. we brought down about 2000 people. it was very great work withing yerba buena, we were able to get the space no problem. and so there is a lot of resources to support businesses of course not enough. i was born and raised in san francisco, the district and so while our neighborhood was being bulldozed by a bulldozers, we were des infranchised. there was a lot of things that was not done.

so whaim asking for now, we're in a different time now. we have different city, grants that is needed. but, for some reason, some of the businesses and corporations receive these, i'm not against 50% of office tax. but learning from the tech boom, how do we make shao we get 50% office tax. are they going to be open to leasing their spaces to, the bipoc communities, maybe they don't look the best, maybe they don't like outside companies that has blz and blz of resources. but if you take a look, this can be a business that can thrive. so i'm asking the planning department, if it seems like the corporations, the landlords that get these incredible breaks, they don't see very community friendly.

sometimes you have to call. i'm asking the planning department as we go to this new phase. can you include that they're going to identify partners that really, that really, that really is is equitable and really try to see us, because right now, i feel like sometimes it's a close for a lot of these people. >> speaker: good morning, i'm lucia i'm part of coalition. and i'm a proud immigrant and also a local artist here in the city and i live and work here. i think that this presentation of the vision of downtown is beautiful one. and i think that often times we

see that equity comes against those policies that really, it's more of a yes and, it is important to always look at all policies from an equity lens. and equity policies extend beyond short terms and establishes a solid foundation for feature growth and prosperity that is rooted in all of the residents. by providing funding opportunities and programs we cultivate a sense of ownership that drives growth not dependent on big corporation but driven bit diversity and culture organizations. one of the strategies that we see is of increasing funding for community ambassador. i had a focus group with some of the community ambassadors just this week. and some of the things that

they mentioned is that there is not enough places for people to go to. there is not enough places for them to refer people to. so we can put as many ambassador but if there is no pathways, they're not going be successful. we need more shelters and pathways for people to get off the streets. there is also a lot of talk about artist and artist being included. i myself as an artist and i'm happy that we're being included. but i for one have a local band, we've been performing for three years, i don't have access to downtown spaces or water front spaces. where is the out reach for artist? and also are we paying them equitably? we don't treat artist like

they're a legitimate career that needs a living wage. and art culture organizations have the opportunity to participate and you know, we give, i'm asking you to treat all bipoc like tyler florence from south carolina with who has three restaurants and we are helping him expand his business. right, they need capitol that expand their restaurants. and finally, please allocate the rest of the 1.5 million dollars to those to prioritize bipoc in the vulnerable community. thank you. >> good afternoon, i'm member

of equity council, i'm also the advisory board for the american indian culture district, born and raised in san francisco. my mother was from central america. my father from new york. my culture, we stand and represent ourselves based on our ancestors, we acknowledge them. and i want to thank this council, this committee for acknowledging, the land acknowledgment but i'm going to speak to that. because it is also a commitment in recognizing the original people of this land. it is also, recognizing what that means to the original people here. the ramaytush ohlone, this is their land but many of our

community is here because of relocation and they were brought from reservations with a promise that they would get a trade and be part of this community. i regular growing up in this city, and being, only allowed to live in areas that opened the doors, pl full more, lakeview, mission district because of the lining, so it was not welcoming. and because of that, even at that, our community struggled to establish itself. and our community is also part of a landscape. my father in law, built and worked on pyramid building. but i also want to speak to the fact that we on the equity

council have come together to solidify our support for each other. we come together with common needs that equity, that give communities what they need when we talk about revitalizing downtown, we want our communities to benefit from those plans. we need to be at those tables. we need to be heard. our contribution, we need to have downtown reflect what our communities and our considerations are. and in some of these plans, i don't have native americans being mentioned. this is american indian heritage month and that's the only time we get recognized when we're being invited to do a land acknowledgment to present our culture. but we're integrated here. and the people here, on this

land, these businesses, your ancestors, thrive because we welcomed you, we supported you, and we lived by the fact that as communities that's the only way that we can thrive. >> thank you, ma'am. that is your time. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> speaker: good afternoon, i'm proud many of the community council and arts community. it's my first time taking public, comment. so bare with me. i just want to share that the vision was a result of our entire work by our entire council. so it was not something that was brought to you without in depth conversation and mindfulness. and we wanted to make sure that

we present a collective of entire communities. for always directing impacted by the policies and decision of the city and doing this very vital moment as wore moving forward, we're reinvesting in the san francisco for the future that we're envisioning together. so there was a comment somebody said that they were, making sure that people get reminded that it all started here. and it's very true, and i cannot emphasize how important it is for all of us stakeholders and also to make sure that our diverse communities are given the opportunity to be part of this future that we're envisioning. so on behalf of council, as the city is doing its collection process for all of these grants and opportunities that we're putting out there, that for our

smaller businesses, that we're very mindful that our equity community that were proposed today and i think all of you had a copy delivered to you by a council of vision statement is adopted as part of the, this on going policy making. so thank you for your time. >> speaker: good morning, commissioners good to see you again after several hours. i'm here to urge you today that this department and this

commission to start the process of thorough comprehensive, urban planning long-range that all of these good items that you've been hearing for the last two hours need in order to be tied together and to take hold to actually delivers the results you want. for an example, if you look at the first of, example here, yerba buena, the neighborhood where i've spent 45 years of my life working on community development is still unfinished. tt a crucial part of downtown. it's the convention hotel center pu also the arts culture center of downtown. but it's not finished but it has great possibilities. it has two ob delete garage.

or the 75th-year-old garage na is excellent site for conference expo advertising center that would trau tens of thousands of people from the bay area every year for trade shows and holiday fares. that now have no place to come in san francisco. musconi center does not work for that kind of activities. that is sitting on mission street waiting for an occupant to fill it up with a new cultural institution that now exist. we have the united states still waiting afterdeck aids to be

finally transformed into the san francisco history museum that is long discussed but never completed. you will know both proposal and the departments included an icon vision for a brand new park. but it will take an implement ago authority to get this done. you have to also plan for an agency to make it happen and, the planning department has to take the lead on these things. this commission has to take the lead. so i'm here to really push you to get started now. thank you. >> okay, seeing no other members of the public in the

chambers coming forward, we'll go to our callers. >> caller: hi i'm tiffany carter proud member of the san francisco equity counsel down and cofounder of sf flag--which is any main priority and i'm urging city leaders to also prioritize to prioritize san francisco black----in reference to what raquel said, the mission will be great. in conference to san francisco african reparations sport, we need to prepare all in future careers in a i, but stay in san francisco and not be dependent on nonprofit and other programs that it takes to live in this city. and in honor of his legacy,

it's vital that we build investment around the main communities than thinking of downtown and water front and black business belong in that water front. we can't be the big stature and muir and all of our people that have added so many value to this city. and also thinking about union square, you cannot keep using our spaces to allocate funds and encouraging our community to spread out the word for our rfts and when the time comes, it goes to the wealthy man. i as a chef, i would like to see a business, we need to center small business around him so we can all build wealth

in san francisco and stop the erasures of black people in san francisco and start with reparation now. thank you. >> we wanted to just thank the planning department and our other city partners for working with us to make sure that union square comes back stronger than ever and moves towards a more complete neighborhood in the future. and as i think you know, we are working with our city partners on a number of initiatives including the very important reform to zoning that was passed a few weeks ago. we're talking on main street

improving the public realm and attracting new tenants. and we of course are continuing what we've always done making sure the area stays clean and safe. i just want to make sure that we're still sfrong and look forward to work withing your staff and all of our city departments in the future. thank you. >> what up commission, before i want chime in, i want to say had you to my papc frenlds. --friends. i've been working a consultant for the mid-market association. i'm calling to highly encourage your support of the market

street art plan, the only real estate visionary for the mid-market neighborhood. to that end here is a story and facts. first the story, unquestionably a that's right down prior 1906, ever major theater burned down to the ground except for the pete, remained in tact as it was built of concrete and steal. when it opened in 1907, it was a huge success. to the point that others rebuild their--for over century, market street has been san francisco's home for live performance and entertainment and arts and still is.

and--[speaking very fast] to go along with the new skate park, creates a green shake all contribute to a vibrant screen. mid-market can and should be arts and entertainment district. and i believe with your support and curiosity in the counselsing, market street plan has a best way forward. thank you i yield my time. >> is that our last caller? >> let's take our next caller. >> hi, my name is stacy, can

you hear me okay? >> we can hear you just fine. >> caller: there is more background noise. my name is stacy rendecker and i'm calling about, grand and embarcadero and that's a concept of making the embarcadero car freeze and we think that in conjunction with the work that is going to happen to our city level for rise this would be a great time to make it safe for people. there is no, turn around story that ends with and they kept doing the same thing over and over again. and, cars is what got us into, that climate change. and it as you've seen with

things coming in, it's like, it really enlightens the area. so in thinking about making that beautiful gateway, ferry building and connecting market street, please think about spaces. the gentleman that was just speaking about union square, like wise, we need to look for making space for people and not motor vehicle. we have a excellent transit system, embarcadero has it running, it's perfect for access. but we really need to think about how people may be able to use the space, to make a better san francisco. we need to give access to the water front and downtown and we need people to be moving around in ways that aren't motor vehicles.

same thing for goods. we have to start thinking outside of the box and part of that is would be taking some of our street base and turning it over to people. i think you'll people, i think you'll find it will do wonders for downtown and a quick plug for uc san francisco downtown campus. the university of california is in desperate need of for seats. we need there to be public education and it should be right in the heart of san francisco in those beautiful buildings. thank you so much. >> caller: i want to double down the what you've heard today. i do a plowed the city effort to recover from the pandemic as

an organization that was founded as a resulted of the xeno phobia. i want to emphasize more on what we want to cover downtown. time in dene the city focuses downtown and. this happens when the oil companies left and the city was desperate to keep them. and after the dot-com busts and it's doing the same as the tech leaves. over and over and expecting different results. i'm sure that we're not insane but i hope that we stop making the same mistakes as the past. we don't care if google leaves,

what is hurting is closing at right now, that hurt. what hurts is when community building places, are closing. so as you're considering recovering for san francisco please don't just focus downtown. downtown is important but we need to look at our neighbors across the 7 by 7 square miles that is san francisco. thank you. >> i'm glad to be able to speak a little bit today. we have a unique deal. we're one of the only cities in united states that does not have a downtown. we call it different names, the

ferry building, embarcadero but there is no destination, no downtown in san francisco. and that's a good thing. because we can imagine downtown. we've got to be bold, very bold and know what we're doing. what does bold mean? make them make bulldozer and bulldozing to make it sunny, make it like a, i heard the story this morning to be a margaritaville, we cannot deal with the old buildings that were dedicated to the financial market. what do you do with ob absolute? what do you do with obsolete in you get rid of it. it's brick-and-mortar that should have been destroyed years ago. i heard anti motor vehicle, i respect you 100 percent. but without safe and affordable parking, we're not going to get

anybody to come into this model. i went to two events in san francisco, one cost me $50 to park and the other cost me $40 to park. no one is going to come. we can build everything we want to but nobody is going to come unless we have safe and affordable parking and it's got to be the asker or. i was in memphis tennessee a few weeks ago, 2:00 o'clock in the morning, you can walk down the street there was so many people. because they have safe affordable parking and it's the reason for bipoc people to come downtown. we need our bipoc anchor businesses. we cannot always depend on the city. some promises that have been made, may or may not come out and we cannot depend on that.

we have to go with some private partnership to get this done. i know there was a couple of developers on this call fm this is your time to stop in and make some commitments to make us a viable, fair equitable downtown. thank you. >> okay, last call for public comment. seeing no additional, okay, let's go to our late requester. >> i agree with the comments of the last gentleman about cars. there should be a better balance. my business involves goods that are too big to add to park.

i think it's important to explore public policy decisions that emphasis massive transit but still supports all business. i yield my time and i appreciate the folks looking at the city. >> okay, final last call for public comment? please come forward, if you're coming in remotely, seeing no westbound to speak, public comment is closed. this matter is before you commissioners. >> thank you, i want to express a lot of gratitude, thank you to the councilmembers for serving on the council, because you don't have to do that so thank you for your time. whether you spent other hours it's, thank you all for being here. thank to our live panelist, a

small fraction but i was so glad when we were able to hear the esp's presentation the richness for those who live and work in san francisco along with the brilliant minds who came along to help us. and thank those leaders where they are and thanks to staff for the presentation, which is lots of work by lots of other people. so we want to thank every one for everything. i would almost say, what there to say? we said in the last hour or so. i think we covered every topic from activation to what is

going well to what is not going so well and the plans for the future. maybe the, i will share, is exciting to see how many things came out of the live panel have been incorporated into the staff work and into the implementation of what we're doing to revitalize downtown and we're thinking about the media campaigns. that was a huge thing. so i'll just touch on a few notes, maybe just to say, i'm so glad that we're doing all of these things. there is no silver shot. we're hoping that that will flourish. that's where the ideas come into play. when you're a moment at panic, trying to get to this future that we hope for is really easy to short change he quit, not feasible like whatever list of reasons, saying, we cannot do it the right way. and when that cuts off is the opportunities as the seeds boor issue and grow, it means that we have inequity again in what is regrown. that's what it has to be at the

core when things are at the worse not just a strategy but part of every seed that is planted. i think that's where the relationship comes in, eric, jacob, all the folks that are working so they can be realized. i think it was lucille being in a band. how do we make sure that our staff ha has an understanding has the network of relationship of saying oh you would be great. and that's what they do really well is network the relationships between real people and real places in order to ensure that they realize. that takes like work of knowing musicians and having the gear and all of this stuff and actually bringing it altogether. so i think getting more and more infrastructure so that can

happen and people know how to do that becomes routine for downtown. i think it's really really critical. i think that's where i would be curious, i'm not sure if this is a question for you. when we're thinking about leasing and space use. how do you use the space we have, better. how do we activate it, and super excited about, i hope that we can ex pabd that more. and do we have opportunities whether it's as a city director or through our partners to do more master leasing. i think what of the things that is always been a challenge and i think it still is the sub attorneyness of property owners. no offense to property owners. and i can understand why they want that, but that's not lined with the amount of vacancies that they have, if they want everybody to be super successful, they're not going to find enough tenants. so are we seeing flexibility in

retail space? to we have opportunities? proof the concept that people can take the risk and how do we further that? >> thank you, president tanner and i think you're right that we rely on our community partners to make the connections. and that's what i like. ?fm you can slow down, you don't have to rush. >> i was trying to out do my friend but i'll take it down a notch. >> thank you. >> it was fascinating. >> this is not leasing but on activation, we have language that is talking about making sure that there is corrective efforts in the bipoc communities. we saw our makers market of yerba buena, the first events they brought in api to really

do that event. on leasing, yes we're seeing that property owners, we're hearing about deals and conversations where people are saying, this is not a deal struck sure that we have tried before. there is generous deals. i'm talking about tenant improvement. so we saw that with the vacant to vibrant where we had nine spaces hosting 7 to 8 activaters. we're going to do another round last year. it took several months, we also saw it happening or gainingly. unset is going to be in the old men's building as part of winter watch to do a holiday market that is going to be sources from their vendors. so we do see that happening.

and i think it's what we're trying to poster. and i'm encouraged to see some of the large property owners and say, can we learn more who is interested. can we learn more about who you're connected with so we can see if they're a fit. >> i'll close my mark. we got pages and pages of what we need to do. and part of it is continuing to work together to see things realize and then seeing the metrics. we have the one slide showing like high level metrics of what is the recovery looking like. how are we doing on equity metrics?

it's colors or numbers, whatever varies by category of things that we're talking about. let's measure what we're doing so we can report out, and not just share a good story but give attention. and i'll say again, i really appreciate the vision that the asp laid out. way to see activate downtown more. and i think we got the blueprint for what we need to do and now the hard part is doing it and together it together. it's several different places that are contiguous together that are really of sf downtown that we come to.

with that, i'm going to call on commissioner ruiz. >> thank you. i'll keep my comments short so we can move on to other items. i did want to elevate the comments made by those on the equity council about how we ensure that we're not repeating past mistakes some of which benefited from the previous tax breaks that were in place. not to say that we should have forced them to stay if folks were not coming into the office but how can we use that as an

example to reflect that. maybe not today but in future presentations if this comes before the planning commission, how can we learn from the past and apply that to the now new office attraction tax credit? what sort of businesses are we attracting with this piece of legislation? will they be businesses that contribute positively to every one in our community? will they hire our residents who are in need of employment and will they plant roots here? i really look forward to hearing how equity is being implemented in that piece of legislation and how we're thinking about that overall. but very thorough presentation, and i look forward to hearing more. >> thank you. did you want to respond or offer that as a thoughtfulness. >> if they want to, but maybe just for future. >> great, thank you.

commissioner braun. >> yes, i want to echo the thanks to the participant and processes and the efforts downtown especially for equity council. i'm glad to see the multi prong and the shots, and the for a long time, parts of downtown have been, busy but not particularly interesting not particularly inviting and i think that they found a few of those places what has been called the market front areas an opportunity to rethink what they are and how they function. and i'm particularly excited about the arts district that was included in the mid-market area. in the future we're hoping to see one that is can reflect the variety of cultural experiences. that area has historically included a lot of weird under

groan sometimes literally performance spaces. and i'm seen xerment al plan. it's great to see what we can do to maintain that identity in that area and continue the arts district there. and one last thing, there is a lot of hand ringing and fire district turning it over and, you know, the decline in vacant he's. this is a great opportunity right now. as those buildings turnover and the new owners are purchasing them at far lower cost, i have a hope that there will be higher toll ans of those rents and maybe start to see a little more diversity mix. and thinking that there are more property owners who are more flexible on the deals that

they will make and tenants that they will take. i'm a cheerleader and champion for san francisco and i think we're going to have a transformed downtown in many good ways. but right now, when it's struggling, it's time to strike when the iron is hot. so i hope that we can see as a real opportunity with these buildings turning over the lower prices. >> great, thank you. commissioner diamond? >> thank you to every one and yes to everything. it's all great ideas. i don't want to repeat anybody said so i want to focus on three different areas. the first is all of this empty space above the ground level

that is a massive asset for downtown. happy that a handful responded yes. can you give more detail what kind of incentives they're asking for. mostly because i just, really believe that having, mix downtown that has many residents possible will provide the resilience. >> so on the regulatory side, the responses affirm the response that we did. so the planning changes that we made were in line with the project. and waivers from the transfer

tax and property fax abatement. those are the three. so we know inclusionary has been lowered and the property tax is the most complicated issue and we've been exploring changes at the local examine state level that would perhaps help facilitate. >> that's what i wanted to understand which is the third one which is a local discussion. and are you getting a warm reception? to that conversation from the state? >> a warm reception but it's complicated. so i think we're diving in and there is not much i can share but we can come back and provide more information. >> i would love that. >> second, beyond the residential conversions and i didn't hear any discussion today but i did hear a little bit when you all was here and i felt very privileged to be part of those discussions that took place. but, academic institutions and what is being done to seek and

incentivize academic institutions, can you give a brief update on where you are in those institutions? they need to find the academic and business side. there are two sprongs but also student housing. i want to highlight that actually we need to take credit for the progress that just happened. we had uc law right down the street open, which has 600 units and they're going to have 1300 when all done.

while keeping their classroom space. the state had the property, ak pying the property is the biggest step in some ways but they have pointed out the opportunity that commissioner ron mentioned. this is a good time to come to the city. they have been flagging some regulatory issues and making sure that that is flagged to make it as easy as possible for folks to come in if they have the case to do that. there is a lot of energy and i'm glad to see there are conversations on the front. >> can you keep us updated with that. >> sure. >> and the third is, when mr. braun made reference to that, do we have a way to

deincentivize. >> we switched from prop s but still has elements of our ole pay roll tax and the pay roll tax is based on where is the employee located? it's that that does actually incentivizize or provide, if your employees are not located physically within san francisco, that is counter to these objectives. so that's one issue that is within the whole business tax structure that is being looked at by our controller and out reach and research is under way right now tha. would need to go to the ballot. so the goal is to come wup something that can be on the november ballot po teptionly. >> great, thank you. and the second area and i don't need you to respond now but this whole area, discussion within the very long package

about how we, finance all of these efforts and various suggestions that were put out there. and whether where we are on these financing mechanisms like the infrastructure district and downtown reinvitation authority which is not a necessary a financing but governorance mechanism that may make things move faster. maybe what you can speak to is how, and i guess, i hinted at that and i didn't hint, i directly asked about how you report back to us and when? so that it's not an annual massive update like we got but that we're in the loop as to what is happening. >> i think we can do it in a different number of ways. when we have progress in his

direct's report, we can provide a memo in your packet and be available to answer questions. i think we're available. >> we should discuss this, but i really would, applaud the idea of a memo that we could read ahead of time and ask you questions at a particular hearing. >> sure. >> and then, the third subject which i had not thought about today but mr. o behrling raised it, which is the mint, what is the status of the mint? and is there a history in san francisco museum that is proposed? and it feels like that area of town got a lot of attention when 469 stevenson, came before us on numerous occasions but but without a discussion about the mint in plaza. so can somebody way in and if you know and if you don't know can you get back to us? >> i think we don't know enough.

>> so we'll get you some information so we're not telling you things that may be inaccurate. obviously it's a costly building to renovate. and to turn into a history museum, those did not pan out because of the costs. there was resources put in through impact fees. we can, we can provide you with summary of what is happening or what is the plan is. but i think the comments is we look and there is a mid-marketing square. >> and i would expand it beyond the mint, i used that as a example because i had not focused on the building in particular. but if the whole yerba buena plan that seems it should be

part of the discussion especially in the mid-market area. thank you. >> thank you, commissioner imperial? >> yeah, thank you for all the presentations. and it's been, the last two hours has been educational and also for me to see what is going on in different sectors from the mayor's office from the community equity sector and also the uli panelist. what got me, is three words, incentives, participation and investments. and the committee equity council brought up which i think is very important is meaningful investment. and i'm also going to echo what president tanner in terms of how do we measure this meaningful investment and that would be coming into the lens

of social equity as we're trying to achieve this resolution that we have passed. so it will be great as well, even as part of a memo as to, how are the meaningful investments are going in the committee communication and artist. you know, i've only seen in terms of the news of what is going on the vacant vibrancy program. but have not really seen the totality of the effectiveness of that and i thought that was a good idea. how are we really out reaching to the community businesses? local, low income businesses? i think that would be for me the measurement of effectiveness if we're talking equity and access to this kind of investments. also the as we're talking about the incentives, the uli, i

don't know what that would mean our planning department? and you know, i guess that would be additional funding as well. and investment, then what would it take for our city to do that. it sounds good but also in this financial, you know, crisis, that you can say and in order, i think in order to materialize those actions to be made, is creating a time line for it as well in terms of like whether can this achievable in three or five years? you know? if we're use about making this downtown be for it all and not just visitors but for residents and workers, that's also the

kind of, cool quit or measurement that i would like to see. and market investment then what kind of participation and that's when it comes to the participation of community artist local businesses this are coming back to our local economy. looking into this downtown recovery is that, the measurement, and maybe because i've been working in a nonprofit, i tend to look at a timeline, you need to budget at all. it's kind of like that. and if we're serious about this recovery, we need to create that timeline. but as we're talking about incentives, i'm worried about as one of the public comments mentioned if we bring more tax

abatement, the property tax let's say, then what would be the return for committee base organizations as well? so that's what i'm, you know, i don't know want to promote tax abatement if there is really no return for the residents or workers here in san francisco. i would like to see more updates for us to in terms of the, what is really going downtown recovery. i would also implore the committee equity council to give us a memo. for me as a commissioner, that's what is on the ground. and i would like to hear different opinions and different perspectives from different sectors as well. thank you. >> thank you, commissioner moore? >> thank you.

i appreciate my commissioners comments. and i want to step back and reflect on the spring paenl of the uli in san francisco, it was an extremely inspiring panel, high energy and great ideas and seeing how in our dark time people from the outside appreciate what we are and what we really can present to the rest of the world. out of 11 panelist only four were local, the rest came from across the country. that was a very positive moment. but seeing the gusto with which the city is embracing these recommendations today for the most inspiring and heart warming for me. sometimes when experts come n they fraun a little bit but they don't know what we do.

but it is opposite. starting with really with the city's speaking first. obviously, we could have sat here and heard mr. tau finding about there and then but it was the opposite. that'sed where i see the power of outside advisory coming in and seeing things which we may have approved. it's a big green open space. we toent have to go into discussion, discussing what is the sacred cows are and we know that and we all say, this does not really work. i think we've been given a solid ability to look at ourselves and work with small steps to achieve big things and each of my commissioners pointed out in their area of

expertise with some of those opportunity lies. and three prong observation and that again connects to, commissioner diamond comment and picking up. san francisco has a rich rich fabric of connected city which many other cities don't have. and the opportunities really lies for us as we focus on the three key areas to always keep in mind, what is just right across the street, what is one block away, be it the men and other things. ultimately the power of san francisco, and small and large steps will be to find life in every little piece that can

contribute to make the whole succeed. and in the end, i'm looking how our local uli members, i would like to see an expanded conversation with uli and the tools that they're using to look at the connected fabric of the city to create a larger discussion about what our other opportunities project that we can realize simultaneously, with focus on the key areas that were identified in this particular strategy. and last and not least, i would say that perhaps a downtown reinvitation authority with a slightly larger local downtown really is, it's not just the three island district would be a really great idea and thank you to call. wooer going to take a short

[commission on break] >> okay good afternoon and welcome to the back san francisco planning commission hearing for thursday november 9th, 2023. we left on regular calendar number 12. this is a coastal zone permit. >> thank you. >> good afrp, planning department staff. the item before you is a request from the recreation and parks department for a project known as highway project and includes a temporary restriction to upper highway for the approximately 2 mile stretch between lincoln way for a car free and pedestrian promenade on weekends and holidays. the project began in april 2020

when the recreation and park department at the supervisor gordon marand mayor breed temporary close thed the four-lane to automobiles. the closure as a response to covid to allow outdoor safe recreation. in august 2021, the city modified vehicular restrictions to apply only weekends and ending monday's at 6:00 p.m. in addition to holidays. on december 6, 2022, the board of supervisors passed an ordinance to restrict public vehicles until december 21, 2025. it also consist of speed cushions stop lines and speed tables to help address pedestrian concerns resulting from diverted traffic. just one point of clarification, the agenda

incorrectly stated that today's action by the commission constitutes the approval action for the purposes of ceqa pursuant to san francisco administrative code section 31.04h. however the approval action a occur in 2021 and 2022 when the board of supervisors respectively approved the independent projects as accurately reflected in this case executive summary and draft motion. the project falls within the coastal zone permit area and subject to coastal zone permit review. given the temporary nature of the highway project, department staff find it to be consistent with the city's coastal program including the western shoreline area plan. furthermore department staff find the projects to be unbalanced consistent with the plan. as such the department

recommends approval with conditions. with that i would like to turn it over to brian from the recreation and park's department. thank you. >> fwaod afternoon, commissioners. director hellis, thanks alex. i'm brian, i'm the planner representation the recreation and parks department. i'm joined today by haba from the sfmta. and we're here today as mentioned regarding the coastal pilot and associated traffic calming measures in the coastal zone. our requests is for an after

the fact coastal permit zone permit for the changes along the great highway and those traffic measures implementing during the pandemic and became the great highway pilot in december 2022, when the board of supervisors and mayor approved the pilot. the recreation and park department with the sfmta submitted application in january 2023 and continued to work with the planning staff on the permit during this time. the great highway covers the segment between lincoln way and slow boulevard. this is parallel street also called the great highway known as the lower great highways. for the pilot, the space is configured into two scheduled used periods as a promenaded

start and ending on sunday at 6:00 am and used as a vehicular roy on weekdays startding on fridays at noon. on freeway, afternoon and afternoon of 14 hyundaily visits by bikes and pedestrians have been recorded in the period since last december when this pilot was legislated. on weekends an afternoon of 3800 visits have been recorded since december as well. the purpose of the pilot is, to study the great highway for configure as previously prescribed but collecting and

analyzing data such as visitor usage and traffic conditions in the neighborhood and on the great highway and gathering public feedback. the study is informed by the ocean beach master plan and will coordinate with other near by projects and planning efforts including the ocean beach primate climate. the study is also informed by the institutes sunset natural resilience project which includes a study of the ocean beach dunes regarding sand management and dune habitat. we expect to provide a great recommendation in late 2025. moving on to transportation, sfta provided a comprehensive

calming strategy at key intersections and streets adjacent to the great highway from 2020 to 2021 installed elements as, speed cushions, speed table to see address the safety concerns when the great highway is shut to vehicle access. some of these measures were installed in the coastal zone which have retroactively included in the permit application. thank you for your consideration. we have mta rec and park team here to answer any questions you may have. thank you. >> thank you, that concludes presentations. we should take public comment. members of the public this is your opportunity to address the commission on this matter. if you're here in the chambers please come forward and line up on the screen side of the room, if you're calling in remotely,

you need to press star-3 to raise your hand. >> we'll do two minutes of public comment. on this item. >> through the chair, you have two minutes. >> good afternoon, it's sauk, i'm a friend of to support issuance. this permit is fortunate because we don't have time for this, not about making any long term decisions about the future and the great highway. it's about maintaining the status quo of the pilot that was approved by the vas majority of the board of supervisors last year and pronounced public support of issuance with 65% of voters. rejecting a measure. issuance of this permit is in line with the western shoreline plan and coastal act by improving access and opportunities for public recreation on the beach. the pilot enjoyed by thousands of san franciscans every week

end, cycling and taking in enjoyment. ranging from live music and wellness classes to major holiday events like the auto moon festival have brought a lot of diverse constituents out to enjoy the water front. this permit or so incorporates the traffic calming features that have been installed throughout the area. this was calming requested by local neighbors, they've been vital for pedestrian safety in helping fulfill the mandates. issuance of this permit will ensure that the traffic calming can stay in place and protect every one in the area. and part of a coordinated system stretching across the sunset. there has never been any parking so this does not affect

coastal access. we thank you for your support in continuing this pilot while they continue and out reach towards making decisions in the great highway. thank you. >> okay, seeing no other members of the public coming forward. let's go to our remote callers. >> caller: irene, speaking in strong opposition. it's a land use component of lcp. the original plan had 11 objectives with their related policies. policy to 2.1 is and i quote develop the right-of-way as a four-lane highway end quote. these 11 objective the and policies are still in affect. on may 10, 2018, they certified the amendment of the area plan

and objective 12 coastal hazard and relative of policies. policy 12.1 states and i quote, adopt retreat and skyline drive end quote. policy 12.1, section f, states i quote, shall consider recommendations contained in the spur ocean master plan end quote. note policy 12.2 states shall not will. objective applies to the great highway twoen slope and skyline. based on a public records request, coastal commission has vids, and i quote if they take a action for a project, the use of condition curing that future

lpt does no such thing. the standard review that it exist and certified when they take the action. thank you. >> caller: hi i'm lucas and i'm a part of all volunteer park. we have three monthly hosted living and mobility and man yoga courses and live music. and we also host annual events like our halloween events which brought more than 10,000 to trick-or-treat by the beach last weekend. all of this coastal recreation is possible only with this pilot program. and beyond our programming, the pilot opens up to more activity

like biking or using a stroller. this is why we urge you to approve this permit. and western shoreline objected to redesign to enhance this recreational use. the pilot is also providing important data about how people can access and enjoy our coast. which we can use to enjoy future decisions of the western shoreline plan. finally, an incredible amount of public input has gone into this programment san franciscans overwhelmingly voted to support last november and the board of supervisors voted 9-2 to create the program at the end of last year. and finally, the calming, the traffic calming measures came directly because of the community effort. i hope you approve the permit.

thank you. >> caller: hi i'm stacy and i urge you to approve this. although it's actually not quite bold enough. the great highway park should exist. it should be a park today. it should be that way 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. june, july, august, september, and october, of 2023 were all the hottest months recorded. we are in a global climate crisis, the number cause of greenhouse gases causing climate change for san francisco, for california and the united states is

transportation. the more that we drive, the more we are causing and acapulco got wiped out off the map by a hurricane out of nowhere. meteorologist are seen nothing like it. it's going to happen to our ocean and bay. we need to limit access to motor vehicles. we need to find other ways to get around. we need to have it as much as possible. and as a matter of he quit, all the wonderful thaingz are happening for great highway park should be mirrored on our eastern side with a plan like grand embarcadero.

you should not have to drive across town to have access to our water front. we need to start to think about how we make the city resilient and accessible for every one without. thank you. thank you. >> i'm calling to object approval environmental and impact report. studies at the abuse expedited and disruption, need to be evaluated. just because it is legally possible to exempt this postal area from an eir does not mean,

to be rescued from road obstruction such as pedestrians and bicyclist in the highway gain. needing to be moved. speed humps and heavy traffic and gridlock to the quad street joined anytime, it's closed. we do not approve the permit today, i speak for my family, my neighborhoods and the community organizations called concerned residents of the sunset, open room for all. save our neighborhood sf, sf meets parking. san francisco neighborhood and each mission improvement association. san francisco has never voted on the pilot program or on closing only the xwrait highway 27 or even parts.

so, popeye covered many things but not that. and this highway, is really needed for cars. the 10,000 people that they say were called here for a special event on one day is not relevant to the usage. because you can close any street in san francisco for this amount of time and you can get that many people on it. these numbers are not realistic. please do not vote on this pilot project. >> thank you. >> hi my name is and i'm a district four resident at the corner of vicente i'm calling in a strong support of the permit for the great highway project. i use the walkway just about every week end to go out and recreate but also to access businesses in the outer sunset.

it's a great piece and highlight of our neighborhood and i would be, good with that. so please support this. thank you. >> so i have some questions rather than comments and i'm hoping to reserve comments until the questions have been answered. >> sir, not to interrupt you but this is not a answer and question period. >> caller: something in the record that i would like to continue and maybe one of the commissioners can call to the floor. the first indicated that approval actions already occured. and they said this is after the fact, approval. so which is it? can somebody please confirm how

the retroactive application works. and i'm hoping and confirm does the commission have the legal authority to approve coastal permits understate law which are permits that are associated with perspective, i'm asking because i can't really engage in extra comment as compliance with ceqa as well as the california coastal act. in fact, they state on this website that quote development generally may not commence until a permit has been issued by the commissioner or local government end quote. so the reason it's common sense and fundamental. first you get a permit and then you develop, not the other way around. i'm unclear where in the record the authority has been specified to retro actively. there is no clear explanation

of proposed comment. now there is no information whether or not a perm pit was in affect when it was passed by the board of supervisors. so my question is was a coastal pefrmity in affect at the time the ordinance was passed? i'm hoping for this clarification, because i cannot support the permits being issued they're out in compliance with state law. thank you. >> hello, this is patricia, asking do not approve this permit. without, a third party disinterested eir, i would like to refer to objective 7 in the document in the pilot project.

to respect and preserve the natural values of the land and serve the best interest of all the city, citizens. this pilot project is a sham and it will relate in full closure of the great highway in 2026. ginsper and his staff will turn it into a cheesy park which does not preserve the values of the land. the full closure of this highway, will mean an incredibly negative impact on the environment of the dunes and the median area of the great highway. it will impact negatively on the working class and the residents of the 4 account 700 cars on hour on the freeway

afternoon on the lower great highway. this is, this is not in the best interest of all the citizens. it's in the interest of the bike lobby which has been polluting with park and rec and mta for the last four years. please do not approve this permit without an eir, so we can learn the true impact of full closure of this highway, which will be a disaster for working class and for the residents. thank you. >> thank you.

>> caller: i strongly urge you to reject the coastal permit, the after the fact coastal permit. before the pandemic, about 20,000 drivers went up and down the great highway every single day on weekends. it's a fallacy to think that these drivers just go away, through far unleft fuel

efficient conditions, they now go through the streets and throw and accelerate at every intersection or they go further up to boulevard 19th avenue additional vehicle miles traveled. that is what emission standards look at. there is zero question. the streets become less safe, the great highway is the safest anywhere in the city. with the greatest highway closed there is new congestion points anywhere, burning fossil fuel into the area. every reputable organization recognizes that the best way to curve climate change is to work people into electric vehicles, not to make it more difficult

to get around where they need to get around. that just in creases streets dangers and increases carbon emissions. it's, and in addition, the great highway is a designated evacuation route for people on the west side, people in the district 1, we saw what happened in maui, when it is shut down, people are trapped, they cannot get out. thank you. >> hello, this is john elliot from district 7. i'm appreciative to do remote public comment for this, because i tested positive for covid so this is the only way i can attend the meeting, which has been on my calendar since i saw it.

senser citizens of the sunset, sound like they would not be fun at parties. the last caller said far less fuel efficient driving conditions, take sunset. sunset is a six-lane highway that is mere blocks away. i would just urge you to obviously approve this and say, the great highway is a my favorite place in the city and on the planet when it is close to motor vehicle traffic. i love it down there. i met community down there. i have seen so much joy and so much light down there that disappears when it becomes, away for a few people to get from a to b when they can do it mere blocks away.

so, it's interesting that this actually wonderful this that conversation is following the conversation about downtown because there is so much dreaming and imagining and creative emergency in that and that should be part of this conversation. let's reimagine that beautiful space and, it seems like approving this is a step in the right direction. so thank you. i yield my time. >> no, can you hear me? >> yes, we can. >> thank you, sorry. my name is rene and i'm a cofounder of the neighborhood. and a long time, residents of d4 in my family home. we've been here for 96 years, accessing cars and people who need to get from one area to the other to go to work, earns

and pickup children et cetera. this is not a parkway, it is not a park, it is great highway. we have beautiful open space accesses at the beach where that is a big open space park like place. we have the trail where every one has walked or ridden along safely. driving all this into all neighborhoods. but it is also making aggression in the neighborhoods because it's backed up and people have to go there instead of going from one end to the other. sunset is also a nightmare to get around and through. can you imagine if they close that? or what about 19? this is a travesty to think that we should keep this closed 24-7. we need to keep it open and we need to respect our environment

not trample all over the dunes, an endangered species. once in a while throw a party that would be great but otherwise not, i urge you to not approve these projects especially more in depth, eir, thank you. >> i'm calling to approve the coastal permit. i've seen the joy that this park has brought to the community and the city as a whole. the traffic calming that has come a long with the new park is very important and long overdue. the peace of being near the ocean without the cars. the events that now happen every week. the connection between the outer avenues and bike crew across to the rest of the city.

there is a lot of reasons to support this event. those things don't happen when it's just a highway and it's mostly being used to drive-thru by other neighborhoods. it's space that brings people together and allows bert access to ocean beach. better access than decades. when cars are there are a wall between the community and ocean. i hope you'll agree, we should keep a good thing going and approve this permit. thank you very much for hearing my permit. >> hi, i'm a t form resident and i, emphatic low oppose the granting of, and permit without a full environmental impact report. 1, there is been delays.

i live across the street from the upper great highway, i visually see almost daily delayed to emergency responders whenever the highway is closed. it's, if there is a beach rescue involved, seconds and minutes count. last week, we saw something where they had a vehicle up front to be able to try to help somebody up there. and the highway had been opened. so they went to the side. but when it's closed, they can't get through. so two top the commission from air from diverted traffic in the surrounding streets close to families, mandate it's a full environmental report. not the current studies being done now. abuse and erosion and destruction of a, by accessive foot traffic as well as median

celebrating the north and southbound lanes from pedestrians, trampling over them, it's horrible to what is going on out there. the sacred coastal release, eir just because it's illegal to do it, don't do it. questionable timing, this appears to be something that should have been done before anything started as oppose today after, but maybe people should remember maybe that's maybe gordon marwas voted out. thank you very much. >> caller: hello commissioners, i'm mike chan i enjoy the highway out there on weekends. i found it a source of joy,

this saturday i'm going to an event on the great highway, so i appreciate how it is right now. procedurely, the situation has been a as a result of a lot of discussion between supervisors and connie chan and the mayor, so we should keep it as it is. the voters made a--with proposition 5 and j in the november 22 elections and voters overwhelmingly decided to keep the highway the way it is. so in summary, the support the recommendations and ask that you approve this coastal zone permit. thank you. >> caller: i'm calling on behalf of the my neighbor teb ra hall who does not have the

ability to call for herself. she says san dunes which then are protected snowy clovers are by accessive foot traffic for beach access instead of beach access being confined to the crosswalk located by each traffic light. when vehicles are driving on the highway. additional this special event and many who abuse the dunes by sliding them, by bringing bicycles, picking names on them and leaving behind plastic and other trash. adding to the dangers to the local highway network. do not have an imparttial enter

see, through an environmental assessment of the impact of major artery in and out of the san francisco. our members of the well funded coalition complete with the lobbyist pushing for perm nature closure of the upper great highway despite the hardships that it will impose and than just bicycles. please, do not approve this. thank you.

i would like to oppose this action since during the week of apac, at the very least the street is open to traffic because we know everybody in the world is telling us, we're going to have huge problems with traffic. there is people that work in the marin county that need to get in the south bay for work and other reasons. and to close the entire city off, not only to people in the city but people going through the city to get from one place to the another is not the place to go. should be open, should be open. thank you.

>> i'm urging environmental impact assess--can you hear in >> loud and clear. >> hello. >> yes. go ahead, ma'am. >> yes, yes, sorry. can you hear me? >> yes, we've been hearing you. >> hello. >> just go ahead and speak, we can hear you. >> can you hear me? >> we can hear you just fine. >> perfect thank you. i am urging an independent

environmental impact assessment report would really has not been said. is that there are no calming measures on 44, 45, 46, 47, the only calming measures are on the lower grade highway and i think it has become a nightmare trying to drive there on the weekends, et cetera. i'm urging to do an independent environmental report. thank you. >> caller: the all voluntary tee nonprofit organization with activating for almost three years with free local and city wide events that help build

communities for economic activity and promote highway park to residents and towards alike. i urge you to approve the item before you today, thank the staff who have worked on this project especially brian of the recreation and parks department. the amount of time and work and care that has been put into this project is commendable and should give you the confidence that this plan, while this item should be approved, i urge you that you and mayor breed and all policy makers who oversee to make great highway park a full-time 24-7 park open to people to create a permanent place for people to connect and including insulation like table and public restrooms and other

amenities by reducing emissions result of people, cars and transportation and public transportation. mayor breed, the board of supervisors and you can make 24-7 policy now. and part formal legal work to make it a full-time park now. i urge you to approve the item before you. thank you so much. >> i may self for decades have been a road bike rider arcking around the city, never had any issues with using a trail, or the road, or the highway, or excuse me, the roadway and i have always followed the roads as a were a car driver and would be polite but the

majority of people who now are riding bicycles think that are lance armstrong and incredibly disrespectful and rude and don't follow the rules of the road and push the people, walking in the walkway et cetera, and we see vehicles that should not be on there like bicyclist like. as a bicyclist i don't ride that much anymore. we don't need to have another park which we have another park called the beach, the trail, you know, it's nice to have an occasional park here. one is organized and polite and not for the few. thank you.

>> are those all our callers? >> i thought we had one more? >> oh last call for public comment. seeing no additional request to speak, commissioners, public, well we got one last one. >> let's take, so, this is patricia eric, i'm calling a member of the mayor's disability council. in the documents regarding the check, policy 3.5. is to ensure that recreational facilities and open space are accessible especially. >> did we already hear this person? >> my question. >> i think we heard this person. >> ma'am, i'm sorry but you've already spoken so we're going

to mute you. and with that, commissioners public comment is closed. >> thank you. let's see commissioner koppel has his hand raised. >> microphone approved. >> shotgun. >> thank you. >> well if there is no deliberations, commissioners there is a motion that has been seconded to approve this motion. commissioner braun. >> aye. >> ruiz. >> aye. >> diamond. >> aye. >> imperial. >> aye. >> tanner. >> aye. >> koppel. >> aye. >> passes 7-30. --7-0. and places for case number-- item 12, continual use.

>> alex department staff. the item before is a request for conditional authorization pursuant for a project which includes the removal of vacant 702 square foot from the property detached garage for reversion back to garage use. no other work is proposed through the proj ikt. the project is located at 342 multtrie street in the r-h zoning district. the property includes two existing dwelling units and the main house and two class one bicycle parking spaces. since the publishing the space report the upon sorry provide aid sponsor brief which has been forwarded to the

commission revising the cost from 424,000 and 57 to 379,952. it's still deemed not to be financially feasible. also one other proposed revision to the draft motion before you, is to include the standard community liason an as a condition of approval. planning staff have received no public comment neither in support nor opposition of the project. the department recommends approval with conditions. the sponsor will now make a presentation. thank you. >> good afternoon, commissioners. >> you'll have five minutes, sir.

>> this is a sim plexer it's been fascinating. good afternoon, i would like to thank you with your time with this issue. the slide show is going to show you back up documentation, there is quite a bit of it. alex and his department and my team have produced a lot of information on this to finally get to this resolve. the project is a conditional use to revert unauthorized dwelling unit to its original use as parking and storage for the adjacent duplex. as a single father i saved this property from condemnation in the early 80 and created the legal duplex. i renovated around my daughters for two decades, producing two

family flats with over sized yard. i built the garage only the south lot with permits through the late 80s. in the 90s, while my business was growing the garage was created without permits from a shop to a one-bedroom rental unit for a neighbor who was going through the divorce. i'm 73, i'm a retired general contractor, living solely from income on this property and social security. in october of 2020 a complaint was filed for the unauthorized dwelling unit. from the ging it was my desire to legalize this unit and keep my retirement income in tact. my team consisted of a local san francisco architect, local structure and another general contractor.

current seismic and they cause the electric and heating systems to be completely rebuilt. it's impossible to bring into compliance with residential seismic requirement, though it's adequate for its urge use of storage. we met in 2021 with the building department to discuss many issues causing excessive costs but we were only automobile to delete two of the less expensive items. early in 22, our optimized legalization and reversion plans were estimated. construction costs at the point we finally got to with alex, came in at 379,000 with a total cost permits of 435,000. the construction costs to

revert the building back to garage and storage was 6 2000. we then conducted a de tail study between reversion. and the study showed the difference in property values less than half the cost of legalizing the unit. reversion costs is within my financial means. i'm not capable of borrowing the funds necessary to legalize the unit. at this point, at my age. and the cost of those funds would also exceed the monthly income coming from this unit, if it was legalized. what this is going to do is force the sale of the property if legalization is required. it also means that legalizing the unit creates a financial burden out of it rather than income source. worse than that, talking to the realtors a sale would be

affordable to somebody wealth hee enough to purchase the property with enough cash left to make the renovation. and to that, that highest demographic would be a single family which would be protwosed from ellis act that would remove the friendly tenants. this building has been filled with tenants and lately with quite a few children, it's wonderful to hear the children like my daughters back 40 years ago when i was doing this. the reversion would displace a single tenant but the electric charging stations would attract larger families in the adjacent duplex offseting the single tenants of single lost. in december of last year, the last tenant left and the unit remains vacant.

this september i met with five of the critical contractors to revisit the construction cost from early 2022 and the results show cost increase 15%. >> thank you. that is your time but the commissioners may have follow-up questions. at this time, we open public comment. if you're in the chambers please come forward. if you're calling in remotely, please star-3. seeing no request to speak, commissioners, public comment is closed and this matter is now before you. >> thank you for the presentation, i did have a question. the current tenant that you said would be displaced, i want to understand that a little bit more. >> no the tenant left for a different home. she had been there for several years. ?fm --

~>> you just said the reversion resulted in a tenant. >> a tenant never being able to live. >> future tenant, making sure i understand. >> it would displace. >> got it, commissioner imperial. >> move to approve. >> second. >> there is no further deliberation, there is a motion to approve. >> aye. >> ruiz. >> aye. >> diamond. >> aye. >> i am pourial. >> aye. >> commissioner koppel. >> aye. >> moore. >> aye. >> tanner. >> aye. >> 7-0 and places us on item 14 for case number 2022-11558cua. >> thank you.

please note on october 2023, we to november 9 with a vote of 6-0 commissioner ruiz, you were absent, were you able to review the previous materials? thank you. with that, we'll hear from staff, a short three-minute presentation from the project sponsor and public comment will be limited to one minute as this already been heard. >> good afternoon, sylvia jimenez, department staff. the conditional use. construct an approximately 10,744 three-storey over basement resident with a 597 accessory dwelling and

three-car garage with rd and 40x height. on october 26, 2023, this commission considered the project at a duely notice public hearing where public comment was open and requested that the sponsor explore the inclusion of additional unit within the proposed building. the sponsor has since worked closely with department staff. to include in approximately 597 accessory. staff has committed these revisions dated november 2, 2023. commissioners it's important to note that in the conditions of approval, the sponsor will continue to finalize plan to meet all applicable requirement and residential design guidelines. since the publication. overall the department finds

that they meet all requirement of the planning code and by providing more dwelling unit in addition to density allowance in the d zoning district will make the project and consistent with the objectives and policies of the general plan. the proposed building has been designed with regard to site conditions and develop a lot in a manner that provides multi generational size family with an accessory dwelling unit. the department also finds the project to be necessary desirable and compatible with the surrounding neighborhood and not to be detrimental to persons. this concludes my presentation and the department, the project sponsor and architect are here to make a short presentation. thank you.

>> project sponsor, you have three minutes. sf gov. can we go to the computer please. >> thank you. commissioners, director hillis, thank you for inviting us back. one point of clarification, the a du is not basement, it's on the ground floor, it's got a lot of light and two separate doors and its own garden. it's a very nice unit. on the plan that we submitted four weeks ago, overall house, and we have cordoned off the right hand portion of the south and made a 597 square foot unit which has its own kitchen,

bath, large closet, its own entry from the driveway, its own trash collection area and two doors. as a a way to get increased ventilation. we think that is a nice unit and we commend you for what you asked us to do. we hope this conforms what you asked for. i'm happy to answer any questions you may have. >> thank you. >> at this, we should take public comment first. this is your opportunity to address the committee. if you're in the chambers, come forward, if you are calling remotely, seeing no one to speak. commissioners? >> thank you, commissioner moore. >> thank you for your thoughtful response to the challenge, i believe the unit

is well designs. it fits into the design, no one would know that it's an adu, i think that the space are well put together and i am in full support and i move to approve. >> second. >> thank you, commissioner diamond? >> i don't have a question on the a du but i did have a question that i didn't raise last time, and i was not following from the diagram how the parking works. >> joan would know better than i. but somewhat elaborate, but i will say, it's for the goal of views of 17 feet wide between the two structure, 170 and 178 to offer this very nice view of

the marine and driveways, the view is by that garage and there is that one house that a couple with an open driveway and when i first went out there, i thought, this is fantastic. i don't know if we have the plans of it today. >> i'll ask the specific question and you can answer without the plans. i understand it was a shared driveway correct. >> yes. >> but the actual parking is two spaces that are in the house, correct? i didn't see where the entrance, how the house got into the parking spaces? >> it's essentially an invisible garage, they will be the car lift. >> a car lift. >> elevator lift that will take you down and the basement has room for parking cars in both

directions and when the owner wants to take the car up, the lifted takes you to the driveway but the goal is to keep that 17-foot wide corridor free of any structure. >> okay. so i'm just trying to i understand the physical mechanics, you go down the driveway and it looks like the driveway, where the parallel to the driveway? how do they get from the driveway into the areas where the lift is? >> you will essentially come down the driveway and stop before the lift and you, you call the lift and there will be a pedal stool with a button and you will watch the lift rise. >> the lift is at the end of the driveway? >> next to the home. yes, they are in the driveway. >> they're in the driveway. i see. so, you drive, i'm having a

hard time following still. your car is here and you need to get over here. >> it's in front. >> it's tandem. >> so you drive here and you hit the button and the lift will come up in front of you. you drive and go down into the basement and you park, in a designated speed and when you're ready to leave, the car will come up. >> it's essentially a vault. so the lift comes up, you drive into it, you get out of your car and it will go down into the garage. into the lower level of the basement. >> it's is is the lower level directly upped the driveway? >> it is. >> and it's the same thing for the host house on the other side. >> yes. >> thank you, i could have never followed that.

>> sorry about that. >> thank you, interesting topic. and i want to commend the design, it cop forms to what we were hoping and it's a very well designed unit, thank you. >> commissioner there is a motion that has been seconded to approve. >> commissioner braun. >> aye. >> aye. >> aye. >> imperial. >> aye. >> koppel. >> aye. >> moore. >> aye. >> so moved, motion passes, 7-0 and places us on item 15. for the property of continual use authorization. >> before we go, commissioner moore has a recusal. >> i need to recuse myself i live within half a block of said property. motion to recuse. >> motion to recuse vice

president moore. >> second. >> thank you, on that motion to recuse, commissioner moore, commissioner braun. >> aye. >> ruiz. >> aye. >> diamond. >> aye. >> i am pourial. >> aye. >> koppel. >> aye. >> tanner >>:00 aye. >> commissioner moore you are here by recused. >> great. >> good afternoon, planning staff. before you is a request for continual use authorization to expand into an add jaysed anted space, last occupied by a laundry use. subject property is located at 1152 taylor street along clay. the restaurant, has long operated at the site and seeking to expand its business to exist with its continued liability. the restaurant was last occupied by knock spring cleaners a dry-cleaning service that has been closed for nearly two years.

the spaces remain vacant since the dry-cleaners vacant. i believe the architect already circulated just two revised sheets to clarify that it's not an existing condition. no correspondence, has been received, given that the water use no longer appears to be viable and as a proposal will activate a vacant store front of a long time neighborhood business, the department finds that the project is on balance consistent with the general plan and necessary and desirable. as such staff's recommendation is there approval with conditions, this concludes my presentation, unless there is any questions. i believe the sponsor is available and would like to share in information. >> very good, sponsor you have five minutes. >> i'm michael and my sister

and i own the cafe, a business that my father started when he purchased the business since 1989. i feel like i've grew up and. many san francisco realized a ghost town it was in particular in knob hill. it's sobering experience to see how--many of the motels were either at very low occupancy and some of them are shuttered and remain shuttered today like the huntington. so as we received ppp money, we were able to do sidewalk business. vas majority of the local short-term resident nz san

francisco and on knob hill have turned over. i heard rumours that 80% of the renters have turned over. so we have a new large community of young residents who don't know that we've been there for 34 years, it does not mean anything. we're simply another noise as they swipe on their device looking for someplace to eat in their neighborhoods. this is forcing us to find ways to, you know, make ourselves stand out as they look to choice where they look to eat on knob hill. one is being able to expand to the space next to tuesday. i understand the city has some usual protocols to change into something that was laundromat. the space was never one of those, it was a drop off for clothes to be outsourced for dry-cleaning or wash and fold to be quite frankly, the space

is way too small, 300 square feet upstairs and probably not that downstairs. and the other would be a change of use. one of the things that we would like to do is a change of use, to facilitate a lot of this take out business. the knob hill cafe is a very small space, we have an open kitchen and the dining if you walk down the center aisle, it's easy to bump into tables. when guys show up to pick up, they're wearing full motorcycle gear and they look like they just came from from paint ball, it's kind of intense. but being able to move that service next door and create a little counter space where single individuals with dine, would be a big benefit to us. and all of this to state that

we're a legacy business now, and we've been there for 34 years, we would love to be here for another 34 years. so being able to expand and continue to serve in our community in the area would be a great benefit to us. thank you for hearing me and thank you for your consideration. ?u., that concludes sponsor's presentation. we should open up public comment. if you're in the chambers come forward if you are calling in remotely, dial star-3. seeing no public comment, public comment is closed. and this matter is before you. >> great, great to see new expansion and hopefully will keep you in business for the next four decades. >> move to approve. >> second. >> thank you, commissioners on that motion with conditions, additional. aye. >> aye. >> aye. >> aye. >> aye. >> and commission president tanner. >> aye. >> so moved, that motion passes

unanimously 6-0. that place puts us on item 16, 2395 sacramento street. >> thank you. good afternoon, commissioners. michelle taylor department staff. the item before you is a request for continual use authorization for a building height that would exceed 50 feet of height wnt rm1 district and to adopt findings pursuant to the program. the proposed project involves rehabilitation of an article 10 landmark, number 115 at 2395 sacramento street. and development. the proposal includes

construction of a 7 story over basement at the east elevation of the subject building and a six story addition through a four-story glass connector to the south of the historic building. the existing approximately 68-foot tall four and a half building would be modified to accommodate the creation of 23 dwelling units and 38 class 1, bicycle parking spaces and 4 class. the project includes a dwelling unit mix consisting of 1-1 bedroom, 9 three bedroom units and 4, 4 bedroom units. it would utilize the density bonus program, electing to elect 14.35 percent or 19 unit

project as affordable ami in order to qualify for a 26 percent density bonus of five units. the project require waivers from local height, the height limit of 40 feet. reduction of rear yard requirement and reduction of exposure requirements. the three below market units will be onsite and will include one-two determine and one four bedroom unit. all residents will be ownership units. 2395 sacramento street is a detached corner building that adjacent to a parking lot to the east and a vacant lot to the south. all he will vaigtses are visible from the street with the ornate being on sacramento street to the west and partially south elevation which

faces on to the vacant lot. the elevation on the east, features a blank wall and lacks any notable details. since originally proposed the project sponsor has revised the design in a number of ways, including reduction of the new southern and eastern additions by resisting the overall florida heights of the new residential units, reduction and height of the connector between the historic building and the eastern addition. and rl al of a two-story vertical edition on top of the building. 23, as i noted 2395 sacramento street is an article ten landmark and therefore the proposed required a hearing of historic preservation or hbc. h b.c. heard this on november 1

and unanimous lea proved with conditions of certificate. in addition to the letters you received prior, the department has received inquiries for proposed project from three neighbors along with comments from one minute voicing concerns or operation to the project for potential environmental proto wind and tree removal and run off and operational noise and telecommunications. in these general these comments were taken into and incorporated for the environmental review. most recently we have received letters from the neighbors on concerns on construction and wanted clarify that the proposed project is not anticipating any night time construction. the project is on balance, consistent with the state

density bonus law and objectives and policies of the general plan including the newly adopted housing element. the project proposed a total of 24 dwelling units. most of which will be family site and will include three below market rate units. the project predevelops a former library in a manner that preserves the features of the building and the department also finds that the project is necessary, deirable and compatible with the surrounding neighborhood and not to be destrimental to persons in the vicinity. staff recommends approval with conditions. this concludes my presentation, i'm available to answer any questions. thank you.

>> project sponsor, you have five minutes. >> perfect. good afternoon, raoub on representing the project sponsor. so this in our view is the team took time to create a combined with creating housing and preserving the landmark building. we've had on board since the beginning, helping advise on the design, and also worked very closely with planning staff including revisions, as michelle mentioned no additional and instead the new square footage is placed into the current vacant sites. we're here because of the height in access requires a

continual use authorization, however that ties into the density program and the proj is eligible for the high waiver. the bonus that we're using is about 26%. here it was important for the project team and project sponsor to balance the project design with the neighborhood and preservation context and compatibility. so in this case, the state program is a really a tool that allows the landmark building to be respected and make a well designed residential conversion and addition possible with the new square footage and height in the additions. you'll hear from the architect in a moment but there is a lot of logic and rationality that went into the design that drives the exterior massing for the additions. we are asking for three waivers. rear yard setback and then the height which is possible with

the density bonus waiver. there are three exceptions when the city does not have to waive the waiver, none of them apply here and i'm happy to go into those details and i'm going to turn it over to the architect and we're excited about this project. if we can have it overhead, please. >> good afternoon, commissioners, my name is william i'm a principal of via architects, staff has done a great job so i'm going to highlight a couple of things that i think you'll be interested in with regards to the design. this is obviously, an aerial of the site but here we have, a figure ground overlay and i want to point out that this represents our ability. the site plan demonstrate how

we're have the pattern and offseting our southern edition such as the southern facade is dis served and maintained more over this will house addition on the webster side. the main plan i would like to make about the sacramento elevation, it was to--and appropriate scale that completes the street edge. expresses two-bay and then vertically into two single story windows then a double hate window and then capped with another single story windows. the proportions of those window define the bays are taken from those existing resource. intentionally setback and lightly contrasting material to allow to be the primary

completing street edge. more over this material sink was selected in both sheen and color. the the same appropriate approach was employed in the webster elevation through resource glass hype en. here we can see the minute al removal of the materials, primarily existing windows to accommodate the glass connector. we want all resident to experience and use these elements. therefore we use the horizontal and circulation. this required tying the new construction floors into the existing floors where ever possible and where not possible we strategically locate townhouses to avoid more

demolition of the resources. i'm going to fly through this site plan that we can come back to. and, in this rendering of the--oops, in this rendering of the sacramento elevations we show how the base material, later than the existing resource by vertical will create acorn us line. >> thank you, but that is your time. i'm sure commissioners will have questions. >> thank you. >> very good. members of the public this is your opportunity to address the commission on this matter. if you're in the chamber please come fateder, if you're calling in remotely, you need to press star-3 through the chair each of will you have two minutes. >> good afternoon, commissioners, jake price on

behalf of the housing coalition, urging your support on this project today. the project team brought it in to our, project review committee at the beginning of october which was a committee of experts, architects primarily but also land use attorneys and general contractors and developers. the, the committee was especially impressed with the project land use. density although, we always like to see a maxization of the state density bonus, marking and alternative transportation with more than required amount of parking and thoughtful urban design and the preservation of the current structure. in addition to my comments today, and comments of the, other commenters, we had a petition which i believe you received a copy of the signers which had over 200 voices of

support and we generally feel like this project is in the highly desirable high opportunity neighborhood and a perfect place to add housing. we urge your support and thank you very much. >> speaker: hi good afternoon, hi name is bridget, i'm a former president of the san francisco landmark advisory board. the preurs cursor of prehistoric i'm approved consultant on the planning department, and i meet the secretary of secretary standard for professional qualifications in architecture history and history. i'm very familiar with this block because i worked on a neighbor on a their california eligible building. i'm here today as a member of the pacific heights association and as a 30-year resident of san francisco.

i'm dismayed that the state law can over side our designation program that has been in affect since 1967 and reaffirmed by voters in 2008 through proposition j. as you know, the planning commission approval today of this project would constitute the approved action for this project under the california environmental quality act. however, you do not have a full evaluation of the environmental impacts of this project. the project has not been mitt gated to a less than significant level because it does not meet the secretary standards. it's out of scale and character with the city landmark to which it will amend itself. the unarticulated roof line from an impact this designated

landmark. this project will fundamentally change the character of a landmark and it will only, only provide three affordable units of the 24 units, are we really willing to trade off, the integrity of a landmark with three affordable units. i don't think this is where we should really be with our landmark program. thank you. oh i have this handout for you, that i would like for the city attorney to see. thank you. >> i'm a resident of pacific rights a local neighborhood group that advocates for better and vibrant businesses. we bring the community by organizing clean ups, with the residents association every month, happy hour and organize

the block party showing up. i've called in to a lot of cities but this is the first meeting, and i'm attending in-person. it's the one i'm most excited about and that's why we support this project. it's a beautiful and reuse of historic building, with many decorative elements being preserved. the unit are what me and many others will be looking into. but much more important than my personal excitement and on behalf i strongly urge you to support 2395 sacramento street

to help with our desperate shortage in our neighborhoods. we are one of the best places and we really need as much housing as possible so that people can take advantage of our wonderful amenities. and you already gentrification and other neighborhoods in san francisco. thank you. >> good afternoon, commissioners, my name is jonathan and i'm represented by richard respected land use and ceqa attorney. through the dense of and through the requirements.

it doesn't exempt diligence under ceqa. because the general eir, does not contemplate impacts of this project. and potentially, what d--dynamic and my understand firm which i'll provide here, indicates an alarming increase on a streets due to its and surrounding large buildings.

thank you for your time and considering this long term of your decision. we respectfully request a continuance in full ceqa review.

more time is needed to review the safety issues. also we committed three emails but never heard or met with the city. it's unsafe for views. eliminate an escape route. 1 and 12 miles, the federal building is 735 years old, older than me. here is a photo, i took this year of the site location.

we have a wind probably, we should be planning for worse with climate change. >> try to speak in the microphone so we can hear you. there is a black box warning that states risk from matter and toxic. i'm not comfortable with the suggested, i would like a second opinion. tfps reposted 8 times, 76 those visible are all march management capitol employees. none appear to live in the neighborhood.

>> >> speaker: good morning, i'm dr. i'm concerned about the air quality from the construction project. the increases vehicle could pose a significant could cause a significant increase health risk on us not only for residents but also for the patients taking healing and healthcare services as a cpmc. it's important that it does not come in the health. more over the failure to challenge the current material and the machinery used for the

project site situated in a area with elevated, is a critical concern. sense--must comply with article 38, we need detail and environmental evaluation. save guarding both our communities health and initiative goals. in addition, proposed appear and i strongly advocate for subjecting them. the guarantee the protection for our community's health and integrity of our environment. thank you.

community efforts, and this assessment gap jeopardizing --thank you. >> i'm speaking as a resident of 28, directly affected by

proposed construction, the project raises concerns regarding noise and vibration levels which must be addressed. the reports indicate that the use of construction equipments, could exceed noise and vibration limit. could experience level per spekd, four times the stated limit. this is not just about disservicing the piece for properties with the historical value. the new building, will be so close to the old ones, especially where i live and the noise will easily pass through the walls which they have not thought about.

yes the tee tails are missing on the report. without proven measurement the project should not proceed as proposed. the noise will affect our whole neighborhood including children with young children. we ask the decision makers to provide more plans that complain with the legal noise and and our quality of life. thank you. >> i'm sam i own and i stand before you today, not just as a

concerned resident, but also a represented of community united and concern. every single homeowner of the properties that are adjacent to this project. to people are truly i am packed by this project. we align with the san francisco heritage foundation and pacific heights residential who have both request for condition ans in order to have a full assessment. we need time to ensure any development aligns with well being and safety of our community and it does not

sacrifice it for progress. it gave concern of safety, chan brings affect tour of life and privacy. that is both fiscal and symbolic. many other neighbors have had multiple concerns regarding the garage location, the traffic, the children across the street that will have the headline, rights on their windows, and it does say that they will be working but they cannot work three consecutive days.

>> thank you, ma'am that is your time. >> thank you for your service. >> hello my name is lilly and we live across the street, we've lived there for 15 years and we're definitely not opposed to having a project across the street. but, what we are opposed to is what we think is a agrecious. i'm sure all of you understand how this bonus program works. but after listening to kate o'connor, giving a presentation to this committee about this, we realize how complex it is and how difficult some of these decisions are to make.

originally be permitted. so we would still have a project going on, however it would be on a much smaller stale and much more acceptable to all of us who live in the proximity of the project. san francisco would allow, 19 units, instead of the 24 units. out of those 19 units, two of them would be affordable housing. so basically, what the city is gaining is one more affordable housing unit and what they're getting is 27 feet plus all the exception to lighting and compromise lighting and less open space for the residents. so the city is just receiving one additional unit and based on what they told us, those additional units will probably go for 14 million dollars. so the people that think they're going to be able to afford these units are not

really being realistic. additionally, they have not reviewed the dangers of having the garage on webster street, webster street has two medical facilities. we have, not only the usual buses but we have paratransit vehicles which is delivering handy and students going to school and a senior resident at jfk which has--most of them are also disabled. thank you. >> speaker: there is a issues, that not only affect us

personally but in place. i'm troubled by the efficient wind analysis for this construction project. the lack of the on how the construction will affect the wind raise concern. we've been waiting for key, to same a report about how the wind might be affected and unfortunately, they have not shared yet. we, we've been all waiting for it together. we cannot let it slide. i urge you commissioners to protect us, let's prioritize the well being of our neighborhood and have the standard that exist for preconviction thank you for your attention.

>> okay if there are no other members, let's go to our remote callers. >> caller: i'm calling, i'm a 40-year resident of san francisco specifically in pacific heights, not directly across the street from this project, i do live in the neighborhood. i'm definitely in support of this project that will modernize the building. that will provide housing. i wish folks would focus on overall housing not just affordable but i think, we need housing at all costs.

i'm also a member of the pacific heights [no audio] >> okay, let's take the next caller. >> i didn't choose to oppose any project on this site or to oppose, consider landmarks. i do feel compelled to reiterate that this is very important building appears to have been insufficiently examined and provided for. unfortunately, the staff report and the c of a language provided to the commission unsufficiently identified issues. the h pc at the same time

appears to not fully appreciate. it's been a long day. but the staff sited in the h b.c. report more than one, the structure is not on the california state or national registers of significant buildings. the reason for this of course but much less was said at that point, is that it's early designation, and our preservation program has never made it a priority to change that fact. if this is now daemd a deficiencies, that justifies poor treatment, is it not time to correct this by making it an urgent program item and i hope you make this consideration. thank you.

>> hi commissioners, my name is melony and i'm calling in to support this project. as a long time san francisco resident, i'm very excited to see how housing proposed in neighborhood. we don't see construction in this area. it goes without saying that san francisco needs helping and abandoned library does not help the crisis. the project sponsor has gone through all sorts of necessary steps so i don't see anything makes a argument. with that i strongly urge the commission to approve this project. thank you.

>> hello, this is kansas mckenzie. as people have mentioned this building has had legacy status for 23 years. it is the it's the tile that attracts new residents to san francisco. historic that have been offered by bridge ekt. thank you very much. >> hi i'm calling in support. i was really close to the project site and i think repurposing is very important. the design is also great and will be huge value as anybody

passes by. to remain visible which is great for preservation. and i have not heard any arguments against the need for housing. i hope that we can approve it today. thank you. >> speaker: hi every one i'm calling in support for the proj ejt. --project. it is looks like a beautiful project. it looks like a lot of these units will be oriented towards families including with multiple bedrooms and that is perfect for the neighborhood. le family oriented units, affordable units and sufficient near by transit, make this an

easy project to support. please approve. thank you. >> speaker: hello i've been hearing about this project for a while and i support it. thank you very much. >> my name is jana, i live in pacific heights. i would like to see more under utilized in our city transforming like this. we need more density across the city and certainly in this area. it's a beautiful building and i'm happy it's going to be renovated. thank you.

>> speaker: hi commissionrs i'm david and i'm here to support this project. san francisco is too far away for meeting mandated housing goals and this is making national news. with that in mind, there is no reason why this project would not be approved. please approve this project today. >> hi i'm warn, i'm cowing to support this project. i live in the neighborhood and i've actual will he had a lot of friends and family visit and ask if anything is happening or any progress is going to be made on this building. they have done a great job. i urge you to approve it.

i heard a lot of arguments against it, but i don't know if any of them made sense to me. so i really like this. and anyways, place approve it today. thank you. >> speaker: hi good evening, your commissionr, nacho sierra, as a san francisco resident, i approve this project. it's crucial to approve projects like this one to address our housing needs effectively. thank you. >> speaker: my name is cole and i live in the neighborhood, and i support this project. it's well designed, it's near public transit.

it for family it has vmr units onsite. anyways, please approve it today. thank you. >> good afternoon, this is catherine architecture and historian in practice for over 20 years in satisfy satisfy. last week addressed my concerns. there are two principal issues that arise on this project. one has to do with awe treatment of designated landmark and two i question how this project will do anything to provide the type of housing that we need. in resent years, san francisco has built fewer than 6,000 units of very low low and moderate income housing combined.

in the same time period, the city has approved 22,000 high income units. the project is receiving a state density bonus to construct 23 units. this will be nothing to alleviate the affordable housing crisis and while the developer benefits, the landmark building won't. its integrity setting and overall neighborhood context will be diminish by this out of scale project. it will result as it engulfs this beautiful historic 19 12 library. i understand that this commission is relatively powerless with regard to this project. but i'm speaking to highlight the treatment on the bonus program that results in the loss of our city's historical character. in addition, i wanted to mention as previous speaker

invoked san francisco heritage, just to be clear the organization has not taken a position on the proj but rather requested a continuance based on lack of public out reach. thank you. >> go ahead, caller. >> speaker: [indiscernable] [audio muscled] --[audio muffled] thank you.

>> go ahead caller. let's go to our next caller. >> good afternoon, i ask that you keep san francisco beautiful by not allowing buildings like this project to be built. it does not fit the neighborhood, it should be compatible to the landmark to which it will be a manneded. and--amended. and also coming from a family of architects, synch does not weather well. i don't know why they would use zinc. thank you. >> so my name is maria and i'm

sf resident, i'm calling to support this project and a fan of the project that keeps the mr units onsite. thank you. please approve it today. thank you. >> speaker: hi commissioners i'm linsay and i support this project. i work on sylmar street on a daily basis. i've seen the beautiful historical building. for the benefit of community and city warehousing. we need housing in san francisco and this is a project that is tackling the issue. this project needs to be approved. thank you. >> go ahead, caller.

>> my name is mike chan, i live on the other side of the park, speaking in support as part of the neighbors which is a neighborhood, you know, we, we need more housing and i feel like this is a great, and turns into where or go to the--and take their kids for a run and this would be a great addition to the neighborhood. i kindly request your support. thank you. >> i'm a resident of san francisco, it's all about restoring, i think this project is a great idea for making news and retrofiting, they do a great job of keeping the historic site and making good

use of it. and thank you. >> speaker: hi this is honda, i'm calling to support this project. my opinion especially when there are affordable included. it looks like this purchase would be for improvement and it's--i'm a big fan to bring help to this site. thank you. >> i live a block away from and i'm calling to say i support these projects.

i believe that's a priority in san francisco and besides market unit. i understand this project will have below market that i believe, are very much needed in san francisco as i am somebody that experiences that myself. so i approve this project. thank you. >> okay, last call for public comment. again if you're in the chambers, you need to come forward. if you're calling in remotely, you need to--commissioners public comment is closed. this matter is now before you. >> i want to thank all of those who called in and came in to speak and i think the project and staff for the report. i do want to note a couple of things. i know there were comments about asking for about air quality and vibration and part of is the phase that the project is in, there is design

that at the conceptual level. so there will be a building level after this. as well as other plans that will be asked. so there will be more information on air quality, there will be vibration and monitoring. two to the phase that we're in. so this things will be coming forward as the project continues to develop. i think this project is a that is intended to preserve and help to ensure that it can be around for its next several decades, if not longer so it can be continue to be an icon here in the city. i'm grateful to hear how the

design is thought to make sure that the folks that are living in the building can enjoy the interior features there. so i'm really supportive this project and i think it will be a welcome way to bring this way into the its next uses and its next life. any other commissioner comments or motions? commissioner diamond? >> i had a couple of questions from the project sponsor. can you ensure that, i assume they're, i had no idea? >> we share part of the property line with the temple, so i think what they're talking about is currently that property line that we use with the coast, so i think they're talking about utilizing our

vacant portion of the light. >> but, you talked to? >> yes, we met with them in november 2021, they're not taking any position. >> did they raise any concerns? >> they did not. and they're building independently accessible. >> thank you. secondly, i too like the way that you can stay up, i have another question. i too like the way that the historic building has been preserved and incorporated into the design, you got a certificate of appropriateness. my question is with the rear yard setback.

the requirement is 25% year yard. gents temple property. so the itemed between those three spaces, we have about 1900 square feet. and the item was let's try to match something that matches with the adjacent properties. do you feel like you needed that in order to develop all of those units? when i look at state density

bonus is that you need relief from these rules. so i'm curious whether you have contemplated any designs. if you're putting five stories. and the item is to preserve the landmark building. so the landmark building only has about 24,000 square feet in itself. i noticed in the housing coaddition report card, that

they wish the entry courtyard had been a little larger. i am in support of the project so i will move to approve. >> second. >> commissioner moore? with he will racing and to historic building, i believe that this project is skillfully designed. and when it comes to protecting historically. other historic buildings in this town, by income pe i'm sorry to use that harsh word.

that does not make it exemption from following, however, relying on the department expertise and h b.c. and i can well understand that the change and density is disturbing or--to immediate neighbors. it happens across the city, each time we build a taller or denser building, we have the same reaction. however, i think this project does something quite unusual because in its massing, it does not create an impacting of truth of mass. do i look at the price point? i differ that two other people,

that is quick hand and any discussion about housing in san francisco. do i discuss on density bonus, i assume for all of us to tell all of you that state density bonus has not and will not deliver the desirable number of affordable unit that this commission would like to see. so we're struggling with numbers. it will be two units and then state density guess what, we do not have any say over what the state is telling this commission. so we're basically, our hands are tied. the only thing that we can comment on is that a project is worthy of approval because it's a well designed project. livable in the city will be

proportional to the quality that they will support that we would like to to see for all income spectrums and i'm in support. >> there is no other callers on that motion commissioner braun. >> aye. >> ruiz. >> aye. >> diamond. >> aye. >> imperial. >> aye >> koppel. >> aye >> moore. >> aye. >> and commissioner president tanner. >> aye. >> that motion passes unanimously 7-0. is that will put us to

discretionary item review item number 17. >> good afternoon, staff architect. discretionary review for application number 2022-032206. to construct a three-story inside addition and vertical to two-storey over basement single family house. historic built in 1904. two dr requesters, 46 avenue of the adjacent property. is concerned that they will reduce light and privacy to their home. the second dr requester

adjacent property to the west are concerns that the pronl ekt does not respect the pattern of sites facing on the west side. west site. the department has to date the department has received 6 letters in support of the project and no letters opposed. the planning department review confirm support of this proposal as it conforms to the residential guide lanz and planning code. the project exposes to extend the rear corner of the building to the side property line with a two-story side addition and hip roof at the, to a third level at the third floor. the third floor would be setback 5-8 inches and addition to be visible to meet the secretary of standards. to for additions to historic

resource. the neighboring key lot are downhill and have a relatively small yards, in response, they incorporate a setback on the upper floor with unoccupied and to maintain privacy to adjacent neighboring properties to the west. living room. are partially blocked by existing mature vegetation. as typical where windows face other windows, privacy can be mitt gated. additional massing does not debrief the adjacent neighbors of significant light, therefore staff deems that there are no extraordinary circumstances and recommends not taking discretionary review. thank you. >> okay, dr request you have

five minutes. >> hi, thank you, my name is will ana, i live with my two sons and dog. i'm here because there arer a lot of inaccuracies, and this validate can sent and called the integrity of this approval into question. i'm high lighting some of the attempts you've given to mislead. the sponsor filed a 45-page state thating field war and recommendations are repurposed from a former owners in 2020. the reports are identical,

however, the current report believes in material paragraph near our property line. the deleted paragraph reads, unsupported, bedrock were not property line in predominant rock and are not creating conditions for wedge failures, may be feasible. more than 5 feet should be shorter, when soil is encountered and temporary excavation. which is not feasible at the owner expanse to the property line. a remaining wall resides inside my property and the wall runs the backside of homes on paseo avenue. they character the wall as failing. this contradicts with decades

of utility of undisturbed. the sponsor submitted an inaccurate survey with the length of retaining wall was represented which was significantly impacted. the sponsor visited the property, yet still failed to correct the error. such issues with not wnt per view of the department but in this situation it's tied to the expansion plan. the sponsor arbor support also mislead, we have four magnolia trees. they provide limited screen cofage, just beauty. the spas also embellish photos of the subject trees making them like they were made to order privacy screens. privacy are further misrepresented, this refuse to no sign of site claim.

will no longer have privacy of plans. the sponsor distribute three conflicting light studies to different neighbors depending upon the neighbor. we have been willing to collaborate but instead furnish issued with misleading reports. information submitted is true. it should be noted that two of the letters of support are from 1.5 city blocks away on washington street and at jackson letter 16 houses away.

suspicious is a letter, the sponsor did not disclose that his father of 3160 owner. i hope my comments have surveyed you, to withdrawal its approval or to minimum review the suspected for documentation and revisit the decision that there are far consequences. thank you. i live at 46, we're the lower key lot, i guess, there you go. oh that's, that's not the right document that's on the screen.

can we go to overhead. >> yes, sf gov., she needs to use the overhead. >> there we go. our biggest concern is a loss of privacy and light and blue sky. we have concerned about the extension of expansion, it's going to be as our neighbors and our views. we purchased our home with our children six years ago and were drawn to the turn of the century home and the setbacks that were very, they were thought out to allow more privacy in this bustling city. one thing to understand is about this property is unique.

for quite a distance below jackson street. we're affected by environmental conditions. the concern is, the fact that they want to construct a rear addition, a vertical addition, a third story hab tal space with a giant glass balcony and excavate and go down. it seems like they're moving in all directions. i've spent the last few weeks, coming through permits in our neighborhood and i cannot find a single permit that has this large of request and affects this many neighbors. the light and blue sky is always difficult to. we cannot own our air or blue sky. all we need to do is enjoy it and our request is that our kids get to enjoy it. we know that we'll end up with

less light in our home and this project, was voted down for losing 14% of the sunlight. we're losing 100% of at 12:00 p.m. in the summertime and winter time in the back yard. you cannot tell me that the loss of light will be not be affected by our family. home is purchase fpd below and we look at this beautiful mid-century home this corner that was cut out. they, the project wants to fill-in that corner so we'll be staring at a building and they'll be perched up into our home and back yard. into a place where my children play. that being said, i'm all for permits and requests. this is a massive expansion and

there is a lot of magnitude and our concern should be looked at and expressed. thank you very much for your time. >> thank you, that concludes the presentation, project sponsor you have ten minutes. >> hello, my name is steven sutro and i'm the architect of the project. with me are the owners of the property. they have three young children and looking forward to raising their family in this home. we will go through why we think it's appropriate. i'll also share with you the

major concession that we made with the design including 46 and 50 per seedio. this is the site plan of 3160 along the properties and the east neighbor along jackson street. the building area is very constrained and at the rear by the 30% rear yard tlairment was changed from the prior 25% requirement. and less billable than the pattern along the block. the buildable area of the lot is just 45 percent of the lot size. we built to residential design guidelines but we heard the neighbors and made very substantial. we're proud of getting to this point where we think we have a tremendousseded the concerns while still retaining enough of the project.

during the conversation with the planning staff and neighbors, we made the following significant adjustments to the design. where we received 200 square feet. we did this to create more access. because they do not visual access to the mid-block open space. the median color to the south, shows how to differentiate and the largest is made in the darkest green. it's adjusted to be feet. finally we removed the west facing terrace. in the next slide, we can see that it's less lengthy than the north facade of several the houses, the south edge aligns and shorter than most and proposal preserves light and

air and visual access where it currently exist. you can also see that this corner of the block has an excellent arrangement. all of the housing were historically placed with a rear yards that create a buffer within the building. this is not often the case. you can see that the corner run along the homes. i'll now address some of the specific points outlined and number 50. what you say here is a aerial view how it relates to the project. as you can see the alignment with 46 is with the open space of the open yard. it's clear that 46 has good and visual access to the mid-block open space because the proposed project does not extend further north, it does not change to the mid-block open space. the upper right hand side of

this slide, those the view from the rear 46, and as you can see the property of 3160 is much higher up only a small corner of the house is visible in the upper right hand corner of the view. this next slide, shows the view from 46 if you were to take an extreme angle looking towards 3160 windows. even in this example, you can see that the project massing is not changed. it will not impact the view to the sky. the next three slides shows the study value. to orient you, these are taken three times by midday over the worse of year where the sun will be equal. the gray fill indicate existing shadows and the orange fill includes new fill where shad hoes.

the blue fill creates new shadow created by the project. the view mentioned in the report, cherry picked a minor change for a small portion of the day and year. taken with within proper context you can see that there are small amounts of blue fill and there will be no impact to 46. this impact is extreme low end of the scale. it's our view that they do not impact to light and/or, the house is separated from the proposed by two back yards expanding 22 feet diagonally and more than 32 feet vertically. this provides an abundance of light and air. lines up with the empty portion and because of this it will have, it has and will continue to have excellent visual access to the rear yard open space.

we now like to express the remarks by 4150, straight out across the roof top of number 50. you can see the windows are completely obscured by the row of magnolia yard, there is no visual connection between the two properties. there is no relationship with privacy is concerned. in the aerial view to the left, you can see that it's separated by their own back yard and proposed project because it does not extend further noth and it does not change their access. this slide here, highlights the lack of visual connection in a section, cross section, you can see that the extreme height difference look at anything other than the trees and back yard. it shows how somebody on the

idea of the house can see. even if the trees were to be removed. the, the new window configuration on the western facing side in the proposal provides more privacy for 50 than they currently enjoy. the existing conditions on the left and proposed on the right. reduces the amount of class by about 30 percent for the two stories adjacent. particularly on the level that it's closest in height. this next slide shows the sil yot of the trees. the next three slides and we can go quickly through these show a comprehensive and prepared to show the on 50 and extremely small of fill where the sun lay has no impact for

the resident. for the majority of the day, there will be no impact in terms of the shadow. the house at 50 per sidio more than 32 vertically and this creates a relationship where the project has no impact. and even though it's a much normal software that is protected by protection. very much in line with the aligns, we have support for many of the adjacent neighbors, the two properties that abut the project also approve the project. the owners of the per seedio also approve the project on the same block.

so in collaboration, we made significant reductions in the mass of design to exceed the residential guidelines, there is no impact to light in air and massing is appropriate. we hope that you will agree and we'll find to decline to take this discretionary review. >> great, members of the public this is your opportunity to address the commissioner. if you're in chambers, come forward. >> speaker: good evening i'm charmene eveb a prosecutor for 33 years and i'm here because what was going on ran against my sense of justice. when i was, i've been to two of the seven homes that are involved with this project, that surround it. and, just, out of curiosity,

when i see the picture, i've been to 50 per sidio and i've never seen the trees that full. what brought me is a document that was repicked uper and it was the 2020 gi o technical report. and we ran it, lana ran it through gbt and the only paragraph that was missing was the paragraph that you read way too quickly for you because she was nervous. and that paragraph talked about the ska --excavation, and that would be the dig down for a play room. i would just say, that it bo cause me pause if i was in your position just on that point alone that a document being repicked uper would not have that.

and there were others that were highlighted for your review here. there is a jury instruction that is gifp given in my life of work and it if it's a material fact is misrepresented, it gives you the right to ignore everything that you said. or if you think it's only pertaining to a certain part of what they said, you can ignore that part and believe the rest. so we leave it in their hands, but there needs to be some kind of rereview given the material and misrepresentations that have been brought to your attention. thank you. >> okay, last call for public comment. seeing no additional request to speak. dr requesters you have a two-minute rebuttal, if you care to use it.

>> sorry, my only concern, i actually work too in interior design, you can look at his pictures and beautiful diagrams, it's interesting to to take a photo that is different from this photo. i stand in my kitchen and i see this victorian, that whole cut out is becoming home. so you can say that you have done light studies but there is a misrepresentation between the document that's have gone up and some of the stuff that lana and i have uncovered. i urge you to look at this

different information as it comes from both sides of the argument. thank you. >> thank you, and i would like to make a few comments based on some of the diagrams presented. as explained when i spoke too quickly, there are diagrams that do not represent the property. for example, the window that they drew to describe the line of sight into my property are not illustrative of my windows. another example is, this huge beautiful full canopy of magnolia trees which my neighbor can see, the leaves it's like a whole leave cover

of my back yard, they're very sparce they barely get any light. i can see so directly into their report r you can see tons of workers looking into my daughter's bedroom walking along the property line. these are two examples that i wanted to share with you where i do find again that a lot of information, that is being presented here is actually, very misleading. i really hope you take that into consideration. thank you. >> project sponsor, you have a two-minute rebuttal. >> two minutes or one minute? >> two minutes. >> okay, i don't think i need that. can you go back to the trees. i want to mention two things, one is about the historic wall.

there is a wall that is approximately 100 years old, that separates the elevation of the home. and presumably, it was created when the streets was created or the homes were plotted out. so it's 100 years old longer. we're relying on 100-year-old wall to do this work. we're proposing to take away the burden and replace with concrete. so that when this project goes

forward, it's good for another 100 years. if we can smap our fingers, i think that everybody would feel better that that is replaced with a wall that has rebar in it. this is a photo on the trees. we did not take it at a time that we thought was better. we did not alter it. that makes me feel badly that somebody would say that. but also, it was, there was ann arborist that the neighbors collaborated on retaining, retained by brandon and justine to make sure that the roots of the trees wouldn't be ones that they would think that they would extend under the wall. >> thank you, sir that is your wall. with that commissioners, the matter is now before you.

>> thank you, thank you staff for the presentation and to those that are here to also discuss this matter. i did not see any extraordinary or circumstances to not take the project. commissioner diamond? >> can the architect finish the explanation on the trees. with know the depth of the under signing retaining wall or two properties adjacent and it's approximately 7 feet below where the, the trunk goes into the earth. so in the arborist opinion any root that would go that far would not try to come out and get anything and then they have 20 feet of earth on top of them. so in that arborist, he was

explaining that those would be down that far down in the soil, that's what i should pointed out. >> is that a long way, you don't anticipate any damage to the mag kneel i can't. --magnolia? >> that was the arborist, opinion. >> ms. i am pourial. >> i also don't see any concerns, in terms of the information about what we would call misleading information. those are the document that's we also gather also reviewed by the staff as well. so i move to not take and approve. >> second. >> there is nothing further this is a motion to not take the arne and approve the project as prosed. >> aye. >> aye. >> aye. >> aye. >> aye. >> koppel. >> aye. >> moore. >> aye.

n.commissioner president tanner. >> aye. >> that motions passes 7-0 and concludes your hearing today. i remind that we have a 10 am next hearing. i don't anticipate a late hearing. >> commissioners plan accordingly and keep your ear on email. >> i suggest you carry your id or driver's license. >> yes, certainly. thank you for a thorough hearing, commissioners, we are adjourned.

>> it is one of the first steps families and step to secure their future and provide a sense of stability for them and their loved ones. your home, it is something that could be passed down to your children and grandchildren. a asset that offers a pathway to build wealth from one generation to the next. and you need to complete estate plan to protect the asisets. your home, small business, air looms

and more. you and so many communities, black, indigenous, latino and asian worked so hard to make yours but estate plans could be costly and conversations complex proud to partner to bring free and low cost estate plans to san franciscans. by providing estate plans we are able to keep the assets whole for our families, prevent displacement, address disparities and home ownership and strengthen the cultural integrity of the city. working with local non profit organizations and neighborhood groups bringing the serveess to you and community, to workshops focused on estate planning and why it's important. >> i'm 86 years old and you do need a trustee. you need a will and put who ever you want in charge of it. >> that's why i wanted to be here today. that is why one of the first steps i took

when become assessor recorder is make sure we have a partnership to get foundational funding to provide these resources to community. but even more important is our connection to you and your homes and making sure we know how to help you and how to protect them. >> if you don't have a living trust you have to go through probate and that cost money and depending on the cost of the home is associated the cost you have to pay. that could be $40 thousand for a home at that level. i don't know about you, but i don't $40 thousand to give up. >> (indiscernible) important workshop to the community so we can stop the loss of generational wealth and equity and maintain a (indiscernible) >> why are estate plans important? we were just talking before we started the program, 70 percent of black americans do not scr a will in place. >> as mentioning being in community we had a

conversation with a woman who paid $2700, $2700 just for revocable trust. what we are talking about today are free or low cost estate plans that are value between 3,000 to $3500. free or low cost meaning free, or $400 if you make above $104 thousand a year, and capped larger then that amount. because we want to focus on black and brown households, because that's whether the need is, not only in san francisco, not only the bay area but the region as well. and, >> i was excitesed to see the turn out from the western addition and bayview and want to make sure we cover all the different steps from buying a home to making sure homes stay within the family. >> work with staff attorneys to receive these free and low cost complete estate plans that include a living trust, will, financial power of attorney, and health directive.

>> that's why it is so important to make these resources and this information accessible. so we can make sure we are serving you and your families and your generations and your dreams. >> we insure the financial stability of san francisco, not just for government, but for our communities. >> on behalf of the office of assessor recorder, i'm thankful for all the support and legal assistance they have given that makes the estate planning program a realty for you in san francisco and are thank all the community partners like san francisco housing development corporation, booker t washington center and neighborhood leaders and organizations that help families and individuals realize their dreams of building wealth in san francisco from one generation to the next. to learn more about this program e-mail inquiries at har >> you are watching

san francisco rising with chris manner. today's special guest is carla short. >> hi, i'm chris manner and you are watching san francisco rising the show about restarting rebuilding and reimagining the city. our guest is carla short the intric director of public works and here to talk about the storms we had and much more. welcome to the show. >> thank you for having me. >> great to have you. let's start by talking about the storms that started beginning of the year. there fsh a lot of clean up recovery and remediation. can you talk about what your team did? >> sure. the 17 inches of rain we got starting on new year's eve through the first 2 and a half weeks of january made it one of the wettest periods in recorded history for san francisco, so as you imagine we had a lot of work to do. we gave out more then 31 thousand sand bags, we were

operating all most non stop from new year's eve to san francisco residents and businesses out of our operation yard and frequently working thin rain so it was a beautiful dance to watch. we had a corio graphed where people drive in the stop and load with san dags and get on it way so thats was the most visible thij weez had to do. responded to all most a thousand calls for localized flooding for the corner of the street with catch basin. our team trying to address that. we clear and pick up anything to block and it hopefully get the flooding to go down. if we are able to respond we call in the san francisco pub utility system and are responsible for the sewer system under so they bring ing vack trucks that vacuum out debris inside the catch basin. we also dealt

with lots and lots of calls about trees and tree limbs down. i think we actually faired better then some other places in terms of loss of full trees. we did have whole tree failures and that is not that uncumin with super satch waited soil conditions. we had over 950 calls about trees or tree limbs down. a lot of calls were about loss of a limb and we could save the tree. we are still assessing the data to figure how many were full tree failures versus limb failure. >> also had land movement too. the great highway comes to mind. what is your approach to managing rock mud and land slides? >> that is a great question. we had 28 different slides over the course of that period. it is kind of a interesting process, so the first step is we have our geotechnical or structural engineers take a look to see is the hillside safe, do we need to stabilize

it in some way or just need to do some cleanup? once they made their assessment they will recommend the next steps. often times to protect public safety we will place k rails the giant concrete rails at the base omthe slide area to make sure that any debris doesn't get on the edroway and bring ing the heavy equipment to scoop up on the ground and move off the roadway and try to open the roadway. some cases, we will actually inject some rocks or other stabilizing forces either into the slide area or sometimes below the roadway. right now there is nothing that's unstable out there but be are keeping a close eye on the areas including the gray highway area. >> right, right. well, so talking about the storms in the city response, brings us to southeast community scepter when there is rain remediation projects going on.

can you talk about the inconstruction project kblrks that is a favorite project. a beautiful new community facility. we were involved in pretty much every aspect of developing that project for the public utility commission. they were a client. we design project management and construction management and the landscape design for that project. and one thing that we included was storm water management throughout the entire project site. so, that project encapturealize the rain water that lands on the roof and flows into the landscape where we have rain gardens so intent is slow the water down to and give areas to collect to percolate into the ground rather then the sewer system. when we have sewers that are overloaded, because our rain water mixes with the sewer treatment storm sewer system, we actually can end up

dist charging into the bay which we dont want to do. anything we can do to just prevent those combined sewers from overpm loaded is a good thing and in this case allows the water to collect onsite and percolate to the ground which is the best way to manage the storm water and it is beautiful and provides habitat. i encourage everybody to see it. it is special place. >> that's great. there was recently news about how city (indiscernible) powered by steam, which is super unusual i think. i understand public works ablgtually does the maintenance on the system. can you just talk about that a bit? >> sure. that is a unusual situation. that steam loop was actually built when the city was recovering from the 1906 earthquake. it only provides to steam about 4

buildings in civic center but that is how we keep buildings like city hall warm. the steam goes into the radiators and provides the heat. it is a old system and if you see steam billowing out of the man holes or other spaces, that is indication of a leak actually. we spend a lot of time trying to fix the leaks because it's a old system. it is managed by the real estate department and at one point they were looking trying to replace the whole thing but think that is a massive undertaking so now they focus on making as needed repair said. we did a big repair on growth street where we spent a month and a half working on the known leaks s in the area. it is a very tight spot and have to use blow torches to seal up the leak so a intense operation and seeing more leaks on polk street so we will be out there once it warms up to

fix the leaks. >> excellent. let's discuss what is the reunifiquation of public works. there fsh a proposal or plan to split off the division, called the street and sanitation. now that has been shelved and public works is going to just retain being a single entity. can you talk through the process? >> sure. yeah. the original proposal was a ballot measure voted on to split the department into 2. it basically create the department of sanitation and streets that was really going to incompass all our operation divisions so it was a street cleaning department but encompass everything we refer to as operations. when we worked preparing for that split with the city administrator office, we found there were actually 91 what we call touch points between the operations work and our engineering and architecture side, so

we really felt like it could be very difficult to split into two departments. we have so many areas of overlap. there was a new ballot measure last november to reunit the department. technically we split october one and did split in some ways. we did put on hold some of the behind the scenes things like rebranding all the vehicle jz giving everyone a new e-mail address in the sanitation and streets department, but on january 1 of 2023 we came back together so we are reunited i want sing the peaches and purb song and think it is a good thing for the 91 areas of overlap. we making #2c3w50d use of the research. preparing for the split. looking at all the touch points and trying to strengthen the department so we are more streamlined and efficient. one of the most important

component from the original ballot measure is commission oversight. we retained two commissions, the public works commission which oversee the over-all department and approve the budget and contracts. and sanitation and street commission and their mandate focus on policy and deliverable for street cleaning and basically the operation division. reporting to them regularly how we are doing, we think will help make sure we are as efficient and effective as we can be as a department. >> that sounds great. thank you so much for coming and talking to me today and appreciate the time you have given. >> thank you so much for having me. it was a pleasure. >> that is it for this episode. you are watching san francisco rising. >> hi, friends.

i'm pria here at the palace of fine arts in san francisco. here with skylar who is the new managing director of the san francisco examiner. skylar, would you start by telling us about the examiner? >> absolutely. the san francisco examiner is san francisco's oldest locally owned newspaper. it is the newspaper of william randolph hurst and mark twain, so incredible history in san francisco and we cover all it the evenlts events in san francisco and particularly focused now on everything happening to bring san francisco back. >> which is a big part of the story right now where san francisco has been and where it is going. you brought us here to the palace of fine arts because it is one of your favorite places. why are we here? tell us why it matters >> the palace of fine arts was built in 1915. it was part of the exhibition meant to show case san francisco after recovering from

the 1906 earthquake. since then it has become a symbol of ingenuity and rezil silience. on a personal level i used to come here as a little girl and the exploratorium amazing scientific museum was based here and as i have gone through life, i come back here and see there is lots of community members out, people like to picnic here and i have a two month old i get to bring him down here and go for walks and a beautiful place to reflect, so really a special part of san francisco and i wanted to share it. >> if people come here to check out the palace of fine arts, what else is there to do in the neighborhood? tell them about this incredible area. >> there is so much to do. my perfect saturday would be taking a walk to the golden gate bridge and you can touch hoppers hands at the bridge. come back through here, circle through the palace of fine arts and gaze up and wonder.

you can go into the presidio and walk around a beautiful national park and when you are done, if you are tired or hungry, you can walk to chestnut street. tons of restaurants and wonderful places to get a famous san francisco craft cocktail. >> that sounds perfect. a lot of our videos seem to end on cocktails. [laughter] >> welcome to san francisco. >> thanks skylar. >> welcome, everyone to the

creative and dell library future the union square the opening of millard lux. >> yeah. >> (clapping.) my aim my name is phil ginsburg and have over 200 parts parks in san francisco and this would think is beautiful amazing union square might be you are most historic our most celebrated in the world it is perfect that we have one of the most revokable celebrated and most historic in the