. hey good afternoon and welcome to the san francisco planning

commission hearing for thursday january 23rd, 2025. when we reach the item you're interested in speaking to we ask that you line up on the screen side of the room or to your right. each speaker will be allowed up to three minutes and then you have 30s remaining. you will hear a chime indicating your time is almost up. when your lot of time is reached i will announce that your time is up and take the next person cued to speak. there is a very convenient timer on the podium where you can see how much time you have left and watch your time tick down. please speak clearly and slowly and if you care to state your name for the record i ask that we silence any mobile devices that may sound off during these proceedings. finally i will remind members of the public that the commission does not tolerate any disruption or outbursts of any kind. at this time i'd like to take role commission president so president vice president hit here we hear here present commissioner williams is out sick today.

first on your agenda commissioners is consideration of items proposed for continuance items one a and b for case number 20 801 hyphen zero five and c r v at 2588 mission street discretionary review and adoption of findings february 6th, 2014 by item to dca version of views 1355 related to design standards is proposed for continuance to february 13th calendar item 1791 by the way to reset station and secretarial and

could you speak a little louder please? summer it's kind of like all muffled so if something will they're voting on that so it's just it's just that sounds better. >> okay. media services heard and turned up the volume. there you go. usually people don't have a problem hearing me speak. >> commissioner president moore moved to continue as per post. >> second thank you commissioners. on that motion then to continue all items as proposed. commissioner campbell. commissioner gary i.

commissioner braun. i. commissioner imperiale. i. commissioner moore. i am commission president so i. so move commissioners that motion passes unanimously 6 to 0 and will place us under your consent calendar all matters listed here under constitute a consent calendar are considered to be routine by the planning commission and may be acted upon by a single roll call vote. there will be no separate discussion of these items unless a member of the commission, the public or staff so requests in which event the matter shall be removed from the consent calendar and considered as a separate item at this or any future hearing. item four case number 2024 hyphen 0072928 2900 alimony boulevard conditional use authorization in item five for case number 2024 hyphen 009436 way at 1210 ninth avenue conditional use authorization. again members of the public this is your opportunity to address the commission and request that either of these two consent calendar items be pulled off and heard today or a later date.

last call for public comment. seeing none. public comment is closed and your consent calendar is now before you commissioners. commissioner imperial move to approve items four and five second. >> thank you commissioners on that motion then to approve both items on consent. commissioner campbell i mission to be very high commissioner braun high commissioner imperial high commissioner moore and commissioner for president so i so move commissioners that motion passes unanimously 6 to 0. commission matters item six. >> land acknowledgment. i'll be reading the land acknowledgment. the commission acknowledges that we are on the unceded ancestral homeland of the roma alone who are the original inhabitants of the san francisco peninsula. as the indigenous stewards of this land and in accordance with their traditions the raw material owners have never ceded lost nor forgotten their responsibilities as the caretakers of this place as

well as for all peoples who reside in their traditional territory. as guests we recognize that we benefit from living and working on their traditional homeland. we wish to pay our respects by acknowledging the ancestors, elders and relatives of the raw material only community and by affirming their sovereign rights as first peoples. >> thank you. item seven consideration of adoption draft minutes for january 9th 2025 members of the public this is your opportunity to address the commission on their minutes again you'll need to come forward. seeing none public comment is closed and your minutes are now before you commissioners. commissioner brown moved to adopt the minutes. >> second thank you commissioners on that motion to adopt your minutes commissioner campbell. commissioner mcgarry high commissioner braun i commissioner imperial i. commissioner moore and commission president so i so

move commissioners that motion passes unanimously 6 to 0 item eight commission comments and questions. >> imperial i just would like to say thanks to missouri and also ms. tannenfying about the miscommunication or misunderstanding when it comes to the railyard working group and i really appreciate, you know, reaching out and at the same time you know, looking out for the other community members as well to be as part of the working group as it's as it's going to start. so i want to thank you for for that. so yeah, if there are no other comments and questions from commissioners we can move on to item nine for 4100 third

street. commissioners last week you began sort of questioning staff as to what how and when and so i reminded you it wasn't an agenda item and so you requested that it be placed on the agenda today so you can have a full discussion on that matter and take public comment. >> sure. we can take public comment. members of the public if you'd like to submit testimony on this matter. >> good afternoon. michael regan i was here before you two weeks ago. i'm from friends of the children. you know mr. or i think we have i think 13 members of our staff here that are prepared to answer any questions or concerns that the commissioners might have. we're also prepared to answer any but i don't know that we

have anything to add to what's already in the record so we'll defer any time we have until you have questions for us unless you have them out. okay. thank you. >> um, actually, commissioner, vice president moore has a question. yeah, i want to do mine. i would like to address the question to mr. and please let me. >> mr. logan, obviously there's a lot of misunderstanding and disconnect. the only thing i would like to ask you as a follow up to our own soul searching here did you have by any chance have an opportunity to reconnect with, uh, supervisor walton? >> i have reached out by phone and email and texted five times to the supervisor's office and they have not been able to find a time for us to get together to talk. so i said i would make myself

available any time. and the message was that he wasn't available at least until next week as long as there's an attempt to reconnect ultimately you're going to be neighbors, you're going to be in this district. i think it would be of great comfort to us to see that particular communication been closed. >> thank you so much. i will add that i've apologized any number of times for the confusion so is between you and him. >> but after larry bradner baton urban planning after the hearing we went down immediately to attempt to address the concerns. but at the time the supervisor understandably was not available. >> so we took your request very, very seriously. thank you. >> if i may, i want to perhaps direct the discussion towards ourselves. i personally felt that there was an oversight on us asking for where is the racial and social equity portion of this. but what i also would like to

ask our counties are very full within a steep learning curve of always thinking at this particular issue being central to our work. so we actually knew about it as well. and i would like to just generally say that perhaps we need to find a new way between staff to supervisor their respective supervisor local offices and ourselves to have slightly more scrutiny of how we go about that particular question. so if there is a project in the vulnerable area immediately the staff plan would go and create a connection with a supervisor . so that's known from the very beginning. it was the other issues i think the supervisor office is the best one to get input and we could do that. i would greatly feel more comfortable to avoid anything like what happened last week. thank you. that's it. that's all i have to say.

>> thank you. very good. we should continue public comment. >> sorry. hello commissioners. thank you for allowing this opportunity to have public comment and for the community to actually have a voice. i do have a one quick request before i start my spiel in the interests of equity and diversity as well as myself being a san francisco native to the city and raising my children in the hunters point district baby district i'm asking to not have a time limit and that i be able to proceed and give my full statement right now since i was not aware that this item came before your commission a couple of weeks ago nor that there was a request to change land use for this property generally. >> each member of the public gets three minutes and i would just highly recommend you to speak quickly then. >> okay. so just to speak quickly my name is babette brackett. i'm a san francisco native. i grew up in the fillmore.

i raised my children in bayview hunters point and in the early 2000s i was the ombudsman for the third street corridor during the time that black businesses bipoc businesses and other businesses were damaged due to the t train coming through the community also we lost a lot of our foot traffic over the last 20 years as you know including during covid and we have been organizing within the community and small businesses to address that. >> as you guys know, we have new businesses on the corner like gumbo social as well as soul skillet who actually got pushed out of the location that we're talking about right now at 4100. so just to give you a quick background, i run an organization called big black brunch that was also residing in the location and i just wanted to point to a couple discrepancies in their application. they claimed that no one lived in that property since 2013. that's absolutely false. during the time that i was a resident there last year there were people that were living

upstairs during that whole time and they you know, got mail to that address as well. so that is a false statement made by this organization that the upstairs unit had been occupied and occupied since 2013 and that it was abandoned housing. as you guys also know, our city is in a crisis for affordable housing and those units above represented affordable housing for the people who lived up there and we cannot afford to lose any more housing on our corridor, much less retail space. another thing that's been happening on our corridor is that retail space is being taken up by a lot of nonprofit agencies and we no longer have retail space for businesses. there is already an opportunity for this business to be located at the old third third point third street youth place where they previously just received access to their new building. so there is space on the corridor for them to reside. they do not need to change the land use for property which we need in the

community to be a restaurant so that people can be able to dine in and enjoy stuff with their families. and again we invested a lot of resources in the last year to build community and have people attracted to this space to support small micro cottage businesses. we were brimming at our tims and we need that. >> it is your time to. >> hello commission i am tiffany carter and i am a part of the asset planning equity council and i'm also a native of bayview. on this point i actually started my business my restaurant at 4100. back in may 2017. i'm asking that the planning commission reject the application for 4100 on the grounds that supervisor watson did not approve of that and i feel like it needs more community engagement for approval. i'm asking for more community. i'm asking that the planning

commission actually make their street a special use district to preserve our corridor for small business. bayview is not a district for social services and our main corridor should be protected and should be a place for business that minimizes our foot traffic. that is one of our most beautiful buildings on the corridor and it should be open for business. i don't want to see any more closed door businesses on our main corridor. we should be protecting the african-american cultural district and be open for business that minimizes social services, minimizes foot traffic for our businesses and it hurts us which is the reason why i'm not in my own community and i have to bring my business to other places where there is foot traffic. so i'm asking that that what i'm saying is hurt and that we reject the application for 4100 and i think we have plenty of space in bayview for things like this. we are an industrial district and i think they should find space somewhere else. >> thank you.

>> good morning commissioner. my name is treasure. i'm actually born and raised bayview so i actually am a part of friends of the children. i am a mentor here. i actually grew up 1526 hudson avenue so i'm very aware of my community and what's going on. >> i'm here to ask that you guys just grant us this building. i'm not sure if you guys not know what our program is for which we serve underprivileged youth and families african-american very diverse. we're mentors. we're here to support our youth 12 plus years and so on. we work with children who are unhoused who have been unhoused for five plus years and so so we understand and the importance of not having housed citizens in our community. we work exactly work them in our community. so i'm here to ask that you guys grant us the building and

i understand that there's been businesses before prior to this building sad to say that they were not successful and it that in our community we cannot be successful in certain areas in buildings but being that where we are here for will bring to the community and help the community not damage nor hurt. we're here literally to connect and help so maybe we can find ways to connect and get along and figure it out. but i'm here as alumni of my community and thank you. >> last call for public comment. >> seeing none. public comment is closed. commissioners if i just may anyone you know we have a number of people here. we don't want to take it up with public comment but people who are in support of this project could you please stand up for just a second to indicate to the planning commission?

thank you. appreciate it very much. we are happy to respond to any questions. >> the only other thing i would add is there was a there was a charge about misrepresentation ,sir. i mean right now i mean you've had an opportunity for public comment. the commissioners may call you up for additional questions. thank you. >> okay. final last call for public comment. if you have not already spoken . hi, my name is david flynn. i didn't grow up in bayview hunters point but my mom used to take me there all the time so i kind of did. but i just wanted to point out that 4100 o third street it says absolutely nothing about it and it's intentionally vague. so it's a little sad to me. >> okay. final last call for public comment if you intend to speak ,please line up on the screen side of the room. >> i just have a question about the property at 4100 third is

is the phase of that property not historic? it is right. >> so i think we really need to make sure that we're taking that into account. i used to work on third street. i helped to make landmark building number eight a national landmark. >> i know this building. so i hope that we're going to do everything to research everything about 4100 third street. this is the first thing i've heard about this. i'm not here for this today but i'm going to do my homework and i hope that you guys will too and i'll be working you know, i'll follow up with the historic committee as well. thank you. >> my name is okay with that public comment is closed and this item is now before you commissioners. commissioner imperio i have a question for our staff because the packet you know the the packet that we had i as far as i remember it was under housing

in it a group housing and over it it was also described that there were illegal conversions of these group housing and and that that building was mentioned as a vacant. >> however there are some public comments that i find intriguing at this point which brings new information about the building itself that wasn't in front of me during that during our hearing. >> and so my question is why do we not have those information in front of us during those hearing? >> sure. i'll provide the information at least they can. and gaby pinto's the project planners also here who can provide maybe some more information. i'm to refresh your memory there was one of the documents that was emailed to you

commissioners the evening before the hearing was a letter from the previous tenant of the building that was called we the we the church i believe was the name and what they mentioned was as part of their operations as an institutional use a church use they would often have bedrooms available for men who were in some of their programs to sleep so that they were not on leases, they were not staying there for an extended duration of time but they did allow people to sleep there even though that was not the underlying use that the we the church was operating as. and so they clarified through that letter that yes, some people did stay there but but how we saw it from a land use perspective was that the land use prior to we the church was group housing that use was on illegally converted to an institutional use to the church use so basically undoing that group housing use and then that's what you are legalizing by this new tenant was saying hey we want to clean up the

record of that illegal conversion that happened about ten years ago from the group housing to the we the church but we there was full acknowledge ment in both the packet and the communication to the commission that there were people who stayed there from time to time but they weren't considered tenants of the building. i did i do remember that letter from we the church but i think there were some informations here. there was that there from the public in terms of small businesses being there and what's apparent to me at this point now is that there was definitely a lack or lack of committee engagement that i'm not sure how how did we as usually when we do the when we do this there's a net pre-application meetings and then there's also community engagement. so i guess this is my question to the friends friends of children is how much of committee engagement did you do

for this for your project? >> thank you. spent all my career working again. we did not have any open meetings or anything. the executive director or friends of the children until about september was a close friend of supervisor walton's and i don't know this but i they they socialized a lot and i was under the impression that he was in communication with supervisor walton about our plans to buy the building. but we did not have any specific community meetings about this project. thank you. >> thank you for that. i mean this is the first part of me that i'd like to open this hearing but at the same time there's also that how do

we move forward at the end of the day i think and one of the public speakers. right. we need to look into the third street corridor and i think that and i think that's something that will be talked about as part of the budget as well. >> but the third straight quarter needs to be reassessed on what kind of uses needs to be there and what what have been you know, what kind of what kind of views that needs to be there and what has been there for a long period of time. and that will take of course for me to engage mid but as looking into this 40/103 street that that is also kind of part of that and there's been i for me i kind of want to move forward two friends of the children also do intend like the diligence of community engagement along the neighborhood but i also want to hear what other commissioners feel or think as well as there

are some you know our new information that's coming in front of us and whether we should, you know, relook at this, whether to rescind or to for us to create an action for more having a community liaison i guess for the friends of the children with the community members so that there is really an involvement and engagement within the community. it doesn't feel like the social service is not welcome. the community but yeah i'm just struck trying to brainstorm of what we can do. this is more as of now this is committee mission matters and we're not calling for an action right now but yeah that's something that commissioner imperial if i may provide a suggestion that two things one one of the conditions of approval was a community liaison requirement. so that's absolute already a requirement for the project and so i would encourage anyone who's in the community who has concerns or wants to have an ongoing conversation that is or require payment and we will have that contact information

on file at the planning department. the second thing i just wanted to remind the commission of is the action that was before you two weeks ago was actually a housing removal see you. so removing the housing the group housing was the only action before you because social services are actually principal permitted on both the ground floor and second floor. but i think to your point of having a broader conversation maybe moving forward in the future, i think it's a worthwhile conversation to if the bayview community does want to really focus on having, you know, third street be more active retail type of uses to really foster that in the community. you know looking at whether uses like social services should require conditional uses in and of themselves might be a worthwhile amendment to the to the zoning ordinance but i do think it's important to note that they're actually principally permitted so if there wasn't a group housing use there that needed to be removed to the commission this would have been an over the counter permit. >> thank you. thank you for that again for that explanation for everyone to hear as well.

yes, you're right and you know it is principally permitted the social service and yeah and that's where we're i'm kind of like you know in terms of my vote and how i voted last week and how the commission voted it is something that is within within that you know within the planning code and within that within that area as well. >> so okay. thank you. just on your broader question too, i think we'll talk about this more on the budget discussion but it is a position we have in the budget for for a liaison to the bayview community and you know third street has been talked about as as a potential, you know, request to look at the zoning there and potentially do it. it has to do i think mr. carter talked about it. so it's really weigh in when we talk about the budget that you'd like to see that prioritize us as part of our work plan. thank you for all the really thoughtful comments and i, i

think that this is a good time to get some more conversation among ourselves and i do echo as i said i do echo some of my fellow commissioners particularly my vice president commissioners moore's comment about how we can move forward to continue to do better to facilitate community engagement and with collaboration with supervisor walton's office anything we can think through it and to improve be more robust we relentlessly outreaching to his office will be a really good way to try to make sure that we're connected between his office and then his constituents like this friendly lady who is ready to probably ship. i heard that i might want to ask her for a few more questions so hold on there for a little minute and i do like

to share a little bit of my thought about how to move forward with this is that i like to see this as more like the overall long range land use planning and how can we foster and innovate and and and and how to enable local voices to continue to improve what third street means for bipoc community who have been systematically be underrepresented and please i think ms.. welty at our last hearing already mentioned that we are missing the quorum in the local cac committee advisory so if any of you who currently reside in bayview and qualify to take that seat and please come to reach out to our department and supervisors walton's office and would like to have that committee fully staff and fill

so then there will be our eyes and ears one off another eyes and ears for us to reach out to the community. >> so with that regard and i actually want it to so i've been in that space many times to eat many of really, really beautiful delicious barbecues and roast taco duck, taco that was just phenomenal. awesome. and i know that it was a vibrant kind of start up kind of culinary birthplace for a lot of amazing chefs. so i actually get on my t line or sometimes my bus number 15 get over there and only to eat there. so i'm happy to hear that there was a there's a business owner that would like to talk more about can i do you do you mind if you can kind of tell us a little bit more about what business have been felt like when you were operating there and whatever else that you wanted to share?

>> so i was there at the beginning of using that space as a concept kitchen so myself and earl from eden actually came up with the concept of making bbq market too. originally there was a b m k market one which is now operated by frank grizzly so it has been by the merchants association idot as well as the bma and concerted effort during the pandemic to start turning in restaurant space back you know that was converted into other uses back into restaurant space. what happened was when we moved over into the old sun gathers because prior to us being there was also a restaurant before that sun gathers actually grew above themselves and the pastry woman who was in there she opened up bake some bakery which is now in oakland. it's a very popular asian crescent style bakery and she also teaches at the the oh my gosh the bread project in berkeley. so they also help facilitate for underrepresented and also just as impacted people to get

into the baking industry so about 2022 i believe i started having conversations with earl that there was a shortage of commercial kitchen space in the bayview specifically and that black, latino and asian businesses had actually lost their commercial kitchen space because they were not getting catering at all throughout the city because of the pandemic closing and that as a result they lost their catering space and that eclectic kitchen which is up in the bayview which we built through oci funding was also at it scenes could not taking new players and also the city funded program of into action which was another small building called ujamaa kitchen was also bring me added scenes so we had the black market one which was wildly successful there was a miso company that is actually now making over 2 to $3 million a year. a lot of these companies that

are coming through these kind of kind of smaller entrepreneur or get your feet started being able to pay a low amount of rent they're actually adding to the city's income now they're actually getting a lot of contracts. they're actually expanding their businesses and going into regular retail spaces of their own now but they do need that time to incubate which is typically anywhere from 2 to 5 years to kind of build up the customer base, build their brand etc., etc. so at that time as i said all the spaces in bayview was oversaturated. there weren't any other spaces available to people in the community that were cottage kitchen industries that needed to scale up so that they could make their foods for the farmer's market. so i suggested that we take over the sunday gathering space because they already had a, you know, kitchen space and turned that into a micro bakery where we would be able to enlist at least anywhere between 8 to 20 small bakery businesses and the year that it was open it was also added brims like there were times when it was just like there was speed racks

everywhere you could barely walk through because it was such a need and community and they started hosting events actually in the in the space so that we can also people get more of the products to market within the babies. so as lydia mentioned we hosted a bunch of community events where i myself also made a bunch of bread and crescents and stuff like that. there was also a tiny tea company she does croissants and asian inspired croissants and tea. there was seoul skillet was in there i can't remember all the names right now sorry but there was over i believe 13 operating at one time. we also gave courses on coffee baking in that place. there were also activities that we did. i baked cookies sometimes for some of the local schools as well as a way to give back to the community for us being able to have low cost space and then the money that we spent into fixing up that space in the

last year was exorbitant and that money came from dream keepers fund and so it's really sad to see that all of that we were not even told that the building was going to be sold this quickly and secondly we were not told that. and so when the building was finally sold most of us really were just told we're going to be moving to another space. nothing no discussion was being said about what the who the purchasers were. they said it was a silent private deal by private developers and that was it. that was the only information that we were given and there was no discussion about it converting its use space. we thought that maybe, you know, the new owners just wanted to put a you know, bigger restaurant or something in the space or wanted to convert the upstairs unit. but specifically when i was there it was not used as a kind of sleep here, sleep there. there were actually two gentlemen who lived there and received mail there because i have their phone numbers and they used to ask me to move my

car because a lot of us entrepreneurs used to park on that block and sometimes we would block the driveway but as long as we moved out the driveway by 530 when they came home from work and were able to park in the parking lot then they were able to so they0y actually submitted a material of a non factual material information in their application and that is grounds for rescinding this permit. the other part that's within the permit that they submitted to you guys was as you guys are checking right now they said that supervisor shimon walton supported the project. he had no clue about this project or that they required the land use changes. this is egregious. we should not be having to come to community finding out at the last minute that housing is being ripped out of our community. you know, i think it's been said over and over and the news and across the state and governor newsom has said that our priority in the city is housing. so to remove housing and make it a different use is also

egregious right now when people are struggling in bayview to find affordable housing as well right now. and alex, for any other questions i'm sorry i don't want to keep talking. i know i don't want to take up everyone's time but if anyone else has questions i'm happy to try and find the gentleman's number so that he can confirm that he was actually a resident and upstairs thank you very much and thank you for all your sharing your experience. >> appreciate it. just want to make sure that in these conversations that we keep in mind that bayview is the african american cultural district. so it's not just a bipoc community. >> it is one of the last historically black excuse me man but i don't believe the commissioners have asked you of any clarifying questions. so unless they have clarifying questions for you you've already spoken under public comment. >> all right. well other people have spoke to thank you. i just want to put that on the radar that bayview is american jewish.

thank you, ma'am. thank you, ma'am. commissioner brown, you have a coming? >> yes. yeah, just first of all, i just want to say for anyone in the who's listening in and is a little confused about what we're actually talking about here, you know there's some people who are very looped in understand some of we're not the the issue here is that two weeks ago we heard and approved an item that was at 4100 third street for a conversion of group housing units to a social services use. there was a concern raised by supervisor walton that the project sponsor friends of the children made repeated references that could have been misconstrued as being about this project but in fact those references were support prior support for a grant received by this organization. and so collectively we as a commission las week decided to agenda this conversation to discuss a way forward and as i understand it also a lot of

kind of changes to our internal processes and how we proceed. for me, you know, um i really appreciate everyone coming out and sharing the additional context and information here. uh, my understanding of what happened when we heard this item two weeks ago hasn't actually changed the uh you know this is additional context which is helpful but you know we had information that there were people living off and on that was actually the prior use as well. i mean we had the item before us to convert the group housing units and this is another area where actually i think maybe the project sponsor sorry you may have done yourself a little bit of a disservice by making so many references to the fact that a prior user was basically using this as social services as well. um yeah because in some ways it doesn't have a lot of bearing on the project that was before us two weeks ago but you know the factual information that i and my understanding was is has

still kind of stayed the same since that time. um so i just want to make a broader point here first of all about i know that i might just be kind of shouting into the wind here but you know this is this speaks to the importance of engagement by project sponsors with communities and and not just doing as a pro forma exercise but actually you know, reaching out. and from our department's perspective i understand there's some challenges right now because our community advisory committee is not fully staffed for the neighborhood again, a plug for anyone who wants to join the cac for the bayview. um, but you know this this all could have been avoided. >> we could have had, you know, greater awareness two weeks ago. >> the other point i want to make is the importance of precision and statements made by project sponsors and we've covered this ground with friends of the children but you know, again repeatedly emphasizing an unrelated grant application past support for some other action. >> i understand it's about trying to show support for the the the sponsor more generally

but it's a little confusing at times and even today sorry but the commentary about the communication that may or may not have happened with the executive director or supervisor walton that's also still very vague and i would prefer that we just kind of stick comes to assertions about supervisors involvement. um, i do you know as a department i appreciate last week's responses from missouri about the efforts to to really clarify and and only bring forward letters that are of support that are about the project itself. i know that was the case with staff in this instance we only received letters that were about the project itself. the other letters were part of a file that did not get circulated to the commission as was stated last week. um but still you know i'm glad we're in this conversation. i'm looking forward to improving our processes and like i said last week, um i'm

going to try and do a better job of trying to call it out when it looks like something is a little confusing possibly and i'm seeing that happening. um, that's that's the part where i'll hold myself accountable as well. >> thank you. thank you very much commissioner. >> vice president moore i actually was going to call on this gentleman because i did not hear his statement the first time around very clearly you made a very short sentence if you wouldn't mind. would you please state your comment in the context of what we're talking about? >> i would appreciate that. thank you. apartments extract wealth houses create wealth just cut the red tape and build houses. >> thank you for repeating that. is that would you like to make another comment other than repeating your initial statement? >> sorry i couldn't hear you. i said did you was there anything else you felt you need to contribute to this discussion? >> no ma'am. thank you so much. uh, i actually appreciate uh,

commissioner brown summary it very much kind of ties together was my initial statement that we need to sharpen our own tools but particular really catches me off guard not just on this project or on other project is that we discover something past the fact is illegal use of proposing and it is kind of like a reaction after the fact when for example we see a lot of illegal things and they get discovered after the fact and in some cases they're easier to images and in other cases particularly when it comes to vulnerable communities, i believe we need to be more vigilant and more fact checking before we get into the complications of what rules and regulations ask us to do. we have so many unapproved or without permit issues in the

city that making this in this particular community such a big deal is very difficult because i if i tried to if i would understand everything i am allowed to do or not to do i probably would not know what it is. it is my light switch and the white spot because the code change is my door handle enough away from the frame everything has a regulation and when it comes to a situation like that we are catching a vulnerable community of guard with major consequences for the community and that is what i personally feel responsible of avoiding. so again, picking up on what you said or continuing what you said, we need to pay more attention and it's up to us. so that is probably all i can add. i'm sorry even more so than before that we did not know about the rich history which was surrounding this building particularly in critical times like covid.

but this was kind of like a bright light in the community and all of a sudden we don't have any enough information to discover our responsibilities. earlier the historic preservation issue i did not see that clearly in the staff report or perhaps i did not pay any attention to it. but even those issues i think are important particularly when we're dealing with a cultural district and also my comments right very good commissioners, if there's no other comments related to this matter we can move on to department matters. >> item ten director's announcements item 11 review of past events at the board of supervisors, board of appeals and the historic preservation commission.

there is no report from the board of appeals and the historic preservation commission did not meet yesterday but mr. stark did want me to relay to you that the board was on a one week recess and that permanent members of the land use committee were selected and they are supervisor melgar supervise as are mahmood and supervisor chen and with that commissioners we can move on to general public comment at this time members of the public may address the commission on items of interest to the public that are within the subject matter jurisdiction of the commission except agenda items with respect to agenda items. your opportunity to address the commission will be afforded when the item is reached in the meeting when the number of speakers exceed the 15 minute limit general public comment may be moved to the end of the agenda a push to get that thing

on. i'm very sorry. oh gee i just as of gov can we go to the computer and there it is. i don't have i can't make it bigger but that's okay. that's good. okay. thank you so muchd to show you e pairs of flats as and i just want you to kind of look as they are before and after the one on the left is that before that can see two doors and the one on the right is the after and this is up on clifford street, clifford terrace excuse me. here's another one. this is at 5052 oak with the one on the left you can do the two flats now the one on the right is redone and the second

unit was kind of put behind the garage easily merged together and here is something that three commissioners would know because you were here. >> this is 3790, 92, 21st street, the one on the left there's two doors. there's one door then this other door behind the the plantings the one on the right you needed to have a a passageway hearing to legalize it in early 2023 because they had basically merged the units and also done the turner demolition even though it wasn't a demolition and there were no demolish house when it was first approved. >> okay. now i have to go to my other pictures how i do that so i can start my time for one second please because i'm so computer what do i do? is that how i do that now? now it's over here. this thing here. oh, i see. i'm sorry.

oh well i can't notice this thing here. you can use the mouse to know this and use the mouse. oh, okay. i want this thing here. how do i make that? come on. don't click. >> okay, so that's clifford terrace when it was under construction and that had one demo couch at thank you mr. unknown that had one demo at 50 and they didn't the horizontal they didn't do the vertical and okay next is well go i'm sry i'm very technologically bad i know what i'm talking about but i don't know how to do it. >> how do i make this go? i want to just the next picture on there this i'm no i want there's a next picture on that same one. i'm sorry. thank you. i can't i can't do it. all right. all right. yeah, it makes me nervous. don't worry. thank you.

and i have to do that. i have to do that somehow he doesn't do it. is that no, no should be instructions here. >> maybe that would help me. maybe i need to read it every time and i to okay. >> next one there. that's it. okay so that that's good. that's oakwood and that's under construction and that kept up to sidewalls and they said they were taking off only part of the roof but you can see the whole roofs off is is vertical expansions. these are all vertical expansions and there's 21st street as it was under construction and as i said didn't have demo originally but it had it they did them when they had to get the unit legalized and just to quickly say what the price increases were from before two after clifford increased by 300 $363 million increase oakwood had two sales one was an increase

of 500 scuse me $5,325,000 and the other next time it sold it sold for 7.3 million so it had a total increase of of 8.77 million no no $6 million and then 21st street had an increase of $5.2 million from the 1.3 million sale to the $6.5 million sale and they were always asking much more so what am i trying to say here? flat policies to be codified the demo counts need to be adjusted. this is historic but it's still ongoing because these prices have still have an impact on the market and i'm terribly sorry and i thank you for your indulgence very much and this young man thank you.

hello. can i use the projector? >> so i'm a diagnosed schizophrenic. i've been under 5153 times. i have my right to firearms revoked but that's not the reason why i'm here right now. >> it's actually because i wanted to show you all a theory that i came up with and you might have heard it, you know, from the nason news or whatever but time is imaginary and a fusion is possible. it's invented here in san francisco. you guys can take the label. >> um, all i want is a recommendation to go to nassau . >> here's some more information

. here you go. right. so yeah, that's it pretty much you guys can look at my notes if you want. >> the universe is bipolar. >> time is imaginary is euler's equation. >> this is why times imaginary do you ever look at light at night it looks like that for a reason. >> this is what it looks like graphed both what i'm trying to say though is that fusion was invented here in san francisco

so congratulations guys. >> you compare yourselves on the back but you all don't believe me because i don't have a ph.d. but i don't need one. it's it's easy. einstein didn't have a ph.d. einstein was wrong. >> he was wrong about time. >> am i insane? yes. >> in my insanely smart yes. here, just use a bipolar graph . >> here's the bipolar graph. just use that. all right. it's non cartesian. cartesian is the problem. you can describe everything as a string doesn't mean a string theory, lou. >> quantum gravity is overcomplicated■v but it's still

kind of explains the reality though the problem with the geodesic equation is that it uses way too many sensors and if you don't know what a sensor is it's basically this right here. the commission would like to put that up on the board. >> unfortunately, sir, your time is up. just one last thing. just just just one last thing. it's a tensor, sir. thank you. you see how discussing this is ? einstein invented that. thank you, sir. okay. >> last call for general public comment seeing none general public comment is closed i will remind members of the public to please silence your mobile devices that may sound off during these proceedings or if you don't know how to silence them just turn them off. thank you commissioners that will place us under your regular calendar for item 12 case number 2025 hyphen 000230

crv for fiscal year 2025 through 2027 proposed department budget and work program this is an informational presentation the budget will come back to you in 2 or 3 weeks for your adoption afternoon commissioners debra landis i am here to present our proposed budget for the next two fiscal years. >> as always, tom desanto is our fearless leader and bianca is our our new budget team a

fierce and mighty team of one. >> so i just wanted to introduce her and let you all know that she's doing a great job and the what, three and a half weeks she's been with us so far. >> all right. so as always, we are going to go over the instruction ins from the mayor's office and what they've shared with all city departments and also shared publicly and then the sort of background of how we approach the budget and then we look at our volume to try and project our revenue and based on that we adjust expenditures to match what we think the revenue will look like. >> the work program is really about the projects that staff do in their work and the financial side you know the staff is basically you know the

same costs whichever projects they do but we know that you're all more interested in what it is that they're paying attention to. so as i'm sure erybody's read in the papers and seen on tv, the city says that it's going to be a rough couple of years. so we're looking at about a $250 million deficit in the upcoming year. our expenditures as a city are expected to be larger than our revenue growth. so we have been all looking at how we can help deal with this and each individual department as well as citywide. so you know the economic cycles we've had various ups and downs

after 2008 where things were pretty challenging and we had a really, really expansive growth period and we've seen sort of softening since then starting around 2018 and definitely you know, the pandemic had an effect as well. so again as part of the overall the overall city requests our department was specifically asked to reduce our general fund by $1.4 million and so we are looking at doing that by reducing salaries mostly we're reducing our fee revenue, we're going to absorb the cpi increase for fees and we're going to take down the general fund support by the amount that the mayor's office has requested. and of course as with every year, you know, maintain our

core city services. >> so that is the plan we have as you can see been lower with our volume in the last 4 or 5 years. >> and like i said, that's what we look at to determine what we think the next year or two might look like. we do have a rolling two year budget cycle so the first year is fixed, the second year out year we adjust every time we come back to you. so the big thing that you might notice here is that in addition to reducing our fees we are expecting a big increase in grants which is very exciting. >> so we are looking at a few large grants that we had not

seen as options before or opportunities before. >> so the the there's a hud housing grant that looks very exciting because that is $7 million over five years. we have confirmation on that that one is coming in. so good news we are looking at an epa grant for 3 million and california ocean protection council for 1.5 the coastal commission for just la seven 5750 k and then another epa for bay water quality improve meant for 2 million. so like i said that's the big number that's going to stick out to everybody because we are very, very hopeful that all of these grants are happening and happening at the maximum

possible amount that we can get them for the general fund supporre taking it down from the base budget which is our starting point. every fiscal year or current year budget where we are today has a higher general fund number sorry has the lower general fund number of the 7.6 that you see here the base budget includes things like the salaries and benefits that have been negotiated with all of the unions and so we start out at a higher number so we're going back down to 7.5 and i know it doesn't look like a change but it that's our starting point so we are getting back to that on the expenditure side we're reducing the salaries and benefits by looking at vacant positions so that that we can cut so we are still trying to

determine which positions we would take out of the budget. we will have that information soon and we will be back in a couple of weeks as well so we can talk about that more in detail if you'd like. >> but at this point in time like the last few years we are thinking that we can make our reductions using vacancies and and that's the way we're going to get there. >> you might see that the projects number goes up. that is because that's where we budget our grants. we don't know until we get the award letter whatxactly they're going to fund. so we put it into that category which is more flexible and then equipment is something that we don't do most years there's a piece of it equipment that has been out of maintenance warranty, whatever you want to call it since 2018.

so with them we're putting that in for for next year because it's really one of those you know like when your cell phone gets to be a little bit older that sometimes just doesn't work as well and we expect our work orders the entire departmental services to be approximately the same. >> so really you know the the big change that we're looking at is the grants. the smaller change is the reduction in general fund support and the reduction in salaries and benefits to make that general fund reduction possible. so the work program you know, current planning is obviously the largest section of our department mswati can

tell you about all of the work that they do every day of course environmental planning and secure citywide which is more of the long range community equity administration . we try to make sure everybody gets paid and keep computers running and then executive office. >> so for the last few years we have been using a budget equity tool to assess our proposed budgets and so you know about 22% is is our estimate right now of what is focused on equity and we have a lot of categories about what that means. so we have the issue areas, the geographies and the populations and as you can see, you know it it is it is quite a bit.

>> so just to be as i guess as brief as i can be because i know we have a lot to talk about the calendar is today we're here with you. we're going to go to historic preservation on february 5th. we're going to come back to you on february 13th and then we submit the budget to the mayor's office on the 21st and then the mayor's office works on it for a few months, submits it to the board of supervisors and then we finalize at the end of june and the board passes it in july. so as a reminder things will still be in flux as we go through this cycle and it's the same as every year. >> you know we propose what we want to discuss. you can email me or you know ask any questions in the next couple of weeks before we come

back to you with a resolution and so after the planning commission submits to the mayor's office then they might make some changes and then the board might also make some changes. once that happens. so i think that's it for me and less people have questions right now. thank you, commissioner. >> vice president moore. ms. landers thank you for the presentation. this is a difficult subject matter particularly given where we are. i have two questions and they're very easy. the grant expectations are very large numbers and i'm delighted that you are venturing into epa and hud grants. however, hud and epa are federal agencies and there have been significant shift in the leadership of those agencies together was clearly stated

policies for changing how they operate. do you fear i don't like to use the word do you expect that the new leadership in washington could have an effect on how these grants are being available to you in this particular year? it's definitely a possibility. >> i have no information that things will change or if they might that they would change immediately. so i think that everybody's trying to see what's going to unfold for right now. we we have been told that we're getting some money so we're going to believe that i think is my my opinion. >> but i assume as just add to that commissioner more so i think we're moving quickly to to enter into agreements with granting agencies so like the

$7 million that we were awarded from hud, you know we're we're trying to push the federal as quickly as possible to get into a grant agreement, do whatever we need to do on the city side to accept that grant including including putting it in our budget. >> so we're in a place where there's less risk, less kind of uncertainty about the future of that grant and i hope that you'll have all the tools to help it and i just hope that there's also a contingency plan that addresses it just in case that you don't get these things . we all need to have contingency planning no matter what we do in life and i just want to make sure that we are go into this was eyes wide open. that's all i wanted to say at the moment. >> thank you so much. if there are no other immediate questions for staff we should open up public comment. members of the public this is your opportunity to address the commission on this budget item . >> again you need to come forward.

i'd like to ask who is providing the grants and also pay your bureaucracy more and train them better. good afternoon commissioners director hill this i am mary travis allen my yard nurtured take my mother's side seneca to my father's side i am co-chair of the leadership council with the american indian cultural district and sid and the community equity councils with planning and serve mta in addition to other community councils. born and raised in san francisco mother, grandmother and great grandmother and

retired after 32 years of service with the s.f. mta as a senior operations manager i am a survivor of the disparities created by institutional processes in this city and count country that were designed and intended to oppress community. these of color these disparities have broadened and the impact felt in many communities that have an intersectional existence. i am here, my community is here . we are human beings the same as each of you and all gathered here. we are not just one we are many that our connection has been forged by survival no matter our cultural or community identity we need to not feared the threats of our future.

we need to support and strengthen each other by supporting each other. the american indian community exists throughout each and every community in this city, state and country. we are not just limited to a cultural district. in addition to the village project, the greening climate resiliency initiative on julian street and efforts to secure tribal designation for housing projects, we have our stewardship program and our mou for land use. we are doing a lot of the work to be visible and be included in all discussions and decision making that affects our community in the year and in all communities we stand in solidarity with our communities

and support the budget request for the community equity division to continue and strengthen programs to uplift equity communities and ensure our voices shape planning decisions and public investments in our neighborhoods. this country is in turmoil and we see the attempts to dismantle all work that has been done since the 1960s that is evidenced by all executive orders that are being signed and the closure of the federal d ice offices. >> thank you, ma'am. that is your time. thank you. hello. planning commission once again i am tiffany carter and i represent i'm here representing the san francisco planning equity equity committee and i am asking for continued support

to for the approval of the community equity division this summer a part of my work with s.f. reparations and i we was able to host ten hbcu students here through the planning department in which they were able to study in both fillmore and bayview and i want to continue that work. >> i think we are having this the equity committee is super important as we deal with matters like 4100. i am asking for funding for staff positions to support the holistic work that we're doing in that bayview have better communication i think is a a learning curve and that our our community doesn't really understand the work of the planning department and so we need liaison's to be able to to communicate between the community and the department of what's actually going on. >> let's see what else i have. i'm also a part of la cocina that experience a lot of changes in the tenderloin and

we need representation in bayview. fillmore in the tenderloin in some of our unrepresented areas . so i hope that we continue this work as we are facing dda in my opinion and never really benefited my community and we still have a lot of work to do so thank you guys. >> hi, good afternoon. my name is katie lamont. i'm chief operating officer at tenderloin neighborhoods development corporation and i'm here to speak in support like the other speakers of the work of the equity planning division and urge you to protect that funding in this coming year's budget. >> i'm going to say briefly three things one is we have been actively engaged with the tenderloin committee action plan and it has been of tremendous benefit to 26 tenants, staff and businesses

that live that work in our housing. it's been an incredible collaboration among many tenderloin community members and institutions and we've been really grateful for the planning department support with funding the effort and with facilitating the meetings especially among the institutional leaders. >> already we've seen and i know you heard this in a previous hearing there are already cleaner and safer streets and there's a lot more work to do there. there are coordinated ambassador placements and police presence to help kids have safe travels from their schools to their homes and to major muni and bart stops and an incredible number of community events and public beautification projects that are making tenderloin streets more like streets and other neighborhoods and that we all deserve. secondly i want to really and there's a lot more work to do there but we are on the path and i also want to really appreciate the planning department support of sro policy work. i think we've all known for a long time even before the pandemic that the conditions in those buildings in service of

the people that live there really needed to be much better. and now that's all been made really crystal clear and there has been a lot of political will understanding that we need to do work in that space and we're grateful for the planning department for funding policy work that tdc is fortunate to be convening among for profits nonprofits and a multitude of city agencies that interface and intersect with the work of maintaining this housing and supporting the lives of the people that live inside. and so we're really grateful again for that support. and then third, i want to say echoing one of the previous speakers that it would be great to extend this deep investment and sustained investment to other neighborhoods throughout the city like cultural districts like the bayview like we heard in the comments earlier, there's clearly a need for this and the pacific islander community. so thank you again. we're so grateful for the planning department's support of this particular initiative and really urge you to prioritize this in your planning for the future. >> thank you.

>> good afternoon. >> planning commission and i want to acknowledge my sister mary there. thank you sis. my name is peter brett and i am here representing the village s.f. project which the friendship house association of american indians is leading. and i'm also here to voice strong support for the proposed equity budget for the fiscal year of 2025 2027 venture metropolitan association of american indians is recognized throughout indian country for our innovative indigenous model of sewage treatment and healing. we're an impatient 80 bed facility over on julien avenue in the mission district. last year we hit 60 years old higher rates of substance use and native communities are a direct result of centuries of federal policies designed to displace native peoples from

their ancestral lands, break families apart and erase culture at friendship house. >> our programs are focused on reversing this harm, reconnecting our people with culture and and community to foster healing and resilience. >> equity is not just a concept it's a commitment to creating a city where every community can thrive. and the planning liaison liaison program exemplified this commitment. building critical bridges between the city and historically underserved communities like our own for the american indian community, this program has been transformative. >> it's been a game changer. it has demystified processes, open doors to essential resources and empowered us to have a voice in shaping the city's future. for example, the planning liaison has supported us in grant writing and resource

allocation for for transformative initiatives like the village wellness center. >> and i wanted to just spend a few minutes talking about the wellness center, you know, with groundbreaking anticipated for later this year. the wellness center will offer six stories of cultural and social services. we were here before you earlier last year and you overwhelmingly supported the permit for that for that project. but the wellness center represents our vision for a cultural hub that will bring together behavioral health services wellness program and ceremonial space under one roof. i know what time is almost up but but really is in program has been instrumental in moving this project forward. and so i'm here to just passionately support and encourage you to pass this budget to continue this. as somebody who was born and raised in san francisco, spent

18 months living off and on the island during 1969, we must invest in programs that uphold our values of inclusion and resilience. >> despite the national trend right now. so i urge you to approve the budget which sustains vital work in the community equity. >> thank you, sir. okay. that is your target. >>. i need some more time. thank you. >> before we go to our next speaker i would ask the people blocking the doorway you're causing a fire hazard if you could find a seat or if you're going to intend to speak, you can line up on the other side of the room. please. >> go ahead, sir. good afternoon, members of the commission. my name is matthew servants and i'm here as well today to express friendship house's enthusiastic support for the proposed equity budget. as peter mentioned, e planning liaison program has been a lifeline for american indians living in s.f.. it connects us to vital resources and ensures our voices are heard in the city planning process. today i want to focus on what

this program means to the people behind these efforts. the elders, the families. the youth who rely on these initiatives to preserve their cultural identity and build a stronger community. we now have a dedicated ally focused solely on supporting american indian communities grassroots initiatives to create a more equitable and prosperous future. one example of this support that's been mentioned is the greening climate resiliency initiative on julian avenue. this project is a model of how inclusive planning can integrate environmental and cultural and community priorities. it demonstrates that when equity is prioritized, planning can address infrastructure challenges while honoring the unique cultural needs of the community. another critical area we are addressing with the liaison support is the disproportionately low application and placement rates of american indians in affordable housing through

direct engagement with our community. we have developed a culturally competent resource base that addresses the specific challenges and barriers our community faces in navigating the complex affordable housing application process. this work exemplifies the liaison programs holistic approach to community development and urban planning by tackling multifaceted challenges from the housing from housing access to placemaking. the program is creating meaningful change but we can't stop here. expand ing the liaison program to the black community in bayview and the pacific islander community and visitation valley is essential. these communities face similar barriers and deserve equitable support to navigate city processes, access resources and influence policies that reflect their unique needs. investing in equity is an investment in the soul of our city. >> thriving cultural corridors

like those supported by this budget are essential to economic recovery, public health and community safety. >> i urge you to approve this budget and provide the resources needed to ensure that every community in san francisco has the tools to thrive. thank you for your time and your commitment to equity. >> hello everyone. >> i'm going to keep it brief. thank you for your time. my name is annette and i'm here on behalf of mission housing, a community development corporation whose roots are strongly, firmly planted in economic and racial justice in the mission district and the greater san francisco. >> and i'm here to strongly urge you and encourage you to approve the proposed equity budget when the time comes. it is essential program driven to uplift historically excuse me historically underserved

communities in the mission bayview neighborhoods and pacific islander communities. approving this budget affirms your commitment to actionable vision of initiatives like the mission action plan of 2030. >> thriving commercial corridors are the pillars of san francisco communities and i think that not be said too many times. as a developer and representative of mission housing i understand the impact that these decisions have on residents lives and their access to the greater economy in those districts. >> today we ask that you review re review excuse me and approve this budget to build stronger, more inclusive communities and address systemic inequities across our francisco. my thanks. appreciate you. >> good afternoon

commissioners. my name is struck but i am also here with mission housing also here to urge you to approve the equity budget. >> you know, at a time when the federal is instilling fear and insecurity towards historically marginalized communities, it's most important for this particular local to provide a counter based on our already shared and stated values. >> and supporting and investing in equity solutions is a method of countering through community level policy. >> approving this budget will help us build stronger and more inclusive c tackle systemic inequities that persist citywide. i can speak for myself and my over ten years of experience in working with and sometimes against the planning department that initiatives like those worked on by the community equity division do a tremendous

job in improving the material and felt conditions of everyday people. so please vote to approve when it comes to that point and thank you. >> when i started this commissioners my name is sanaa rojas. i am the executive director of gathering people out there latino cultural district happy new year. >> i am here in support of the budget for the equity division. when you invest in equity and when you invest in communities of the ethnic diversity you are investing in this city. you are investing in the success and the recovery of economic monumental economic issues that we have at this moment. as we all know, we are not only facing a huge economic deficit in our community, we are also facing hate against communities of color. at this moment we are seeing thousands i don't even know how many what are they called

executive orders that are coming down really stripping rights away. we as a city that believes in an equity and that protects those who need us most need to make sure that we invest every single cent in in decisions and in budgets that make sense for communities of color not only to protect them from abuse but also to empower economic recovery that is based in culture and it is based on embracing those who come here and who have been here before many of us. so i encourage you all to please support that budget and that you continue to support economic recovery and decisions that are based on on community and culture. >> thank you. yes, good afternoon. i thank you for allowing me to come up and speak. my name is debbie santiago.

i am the with the washu tribe of nevada california born and raised here in san francisco for the past 63 years i've seen many changes and i'm here to support to equity plan and i urge you to approve it and move it along because our elders within our community needs a place to live. some of us are on the verge of homelessness. homelessness for our people are about 20 times more here in san francisco than now and in 17 times more in the country. so i support everybody of what the words of what they're saying but here as an elder myself, i need to see those changes for our elders in order to have a place to live, to place to lay their heads and to bring our culture and tradition our elders hold the wisdom that we have and before me as well. so i thank you and please i ask you to approve this plan for all communities.

>> thank you. good afternoon commissioners. my name is lucy obregon and i am the director of the san francisco latino parity and equity coalition representing 23 organizations serving the spanish, bilingual and marlen lingual residents in san francisco and bay area. i also have the privilege of serving in the planning department's equity council and i am also in the immigrant rights commission. >> i am here to express my strong support for the proposed equity budget for the san francisco planning's community equity work. now more than ever we must stand firmly in our commitment to equity by continuing and strengthening investments in programs that uplift our communities, communities of color and ensure that our voices shape planning decisions and public investments in our neighborhoods. >> this moment calls for action with a new federal administrator in making it clear that inclusivity, equity

and fairness are under threat especially for communities of color migrants and communities. san francisco must continue to lead by example. so i urge this commission to uphold the critical equity work we've been we've done for over decades and invest boldly in communities that make our city stronger. we need your commitment to the behind the history that made san francisco a model for inclusivity and equity. and this is our moment to send a clear message that equity is not just a value but it's a priority equity communities are not just recipients of support. we are contribute others to this city and nations economic, cultural and social fabric. investing in us is an investment in the future of san francisco a future rooted in justice, resilience and opportunity for all. thank you for your leadership in prioritizing equity in your decisions. i urge you to support this request for the budget.

>> thank you. good afternoon. planning commissioners my name is krista alarcon luna and i'm here on behalf of mission economic development agency. today i'm here to urge you to support the budget request for the community equity division which is vital to strengthening programs to uplift equity communities and ensure that our voices shape planning decisions and public investments in our neighborhoods. the proposed equity budget will continue existing commitments while also embarking on new collaborations with community leaders and organizations in the pacific islander cultural district and the black community in the bayview district. additionally, it will foster quarterly driven economic prosperity in key commercial corridors such as larkin mission third excelsior and leland avenue. on december 5th i was proud to witness the planning commission unanimously endorsed the mission action plan 2030 reaffirming your commitment to the partnership with our community. this plan guided by community

voices and leadership ensures that our priorities shape investments and policies through a structural equity lens and a collaboration between planning staff, city agencies and community led working groups. as a community organizer that currently works with youth, i can attest to how excited they are, how excited our young people are about the possibility of envisioning an inclusive city and a model of equity. they believe in san francisco. by approving this budget you will help ensure that these critical programs and partnerships continue to address the challenges facing our neighborhoods while building a more inclusive and equitable future. i stand in solidarity with equity communities across the city and strongly urge the planning commission to prioritize and approve the equity budget proposal as this is an opportunity to make a meaningful long term impact on the lives of the people that we serve. >> thank you. >> good afternoon

commissioners. my name is eric ottaway of the advocacy manager. the glide center for social justice. we support the budget request for the community equity division to continue and strengthen programs that uplift equity communities and ensure our voices shape planning decisions and public investments in our neighborhoods. the tenderloin community action plan is guided by community voice and leadership planning staff attend over 70 community led meetings monthly facilitating working groups like the public space working group and the executive directors group to ensure community priorities shape investments and policy decisions. the tenderloin community action plan has partnered with the community on public space improvements, youth programs, small business support and housing. recent achievements include funding for golden gate greenway, phase two small business grants and the launch of an sro rehabilitation policy assessment. >> in closing, we stand in solidarity with equity communities across the state and strongly urge the planning commission to prioritize and approve the equity budget proposal. this is an opportunity to make

a meaningful long term impact on the lives of the people we serve. and with your support we can continue to build an exclusive, resilient and equitable city ready to face future challenges. and at glide we aim to lift all people no matter what your background, religion or gender or race. and this is what we hope this will do in all the neighborhoods. >> thank you. >> hello my my name is lily li and i work as a senior resident services coordinator for tenderloin family housing which is managed by trying town community development center. and i just wanted to express support for the budget proposal for the planning committee. our residents in our building have greatly benefited from from the projects led by the planning committee especially the tenderloin community action

plan. >> a lot of our everyday expectations is like a privilege in the tenderloin because of the tenderloin community action plan. our kids can go to school safely. as you all know there's a drug problem in the tenderloin for the kids to be able to walk safely to school. that is a privilege and for seniors to have a safe space to go to like the parks. that is a privilege in the tenderloin. and so we want to support the tenderloin community action plan and its budget so that these projects that greatly benefit our residents can be continued and expanded upon. and we would just like to also stand in solidarity with all the other communities in san francisco. we deserve equity and we deserve respect and i hope that the budget can be approved so >> thank you. ve more equit

>> okay. so hi everybody. my name is rick here. i'm a youth coordinator over two one term and i work with lilly and i stand in solidarity with the planning department and i urge you all to support and approve the equity budget. working with the youth my main focus is safety as well as development of the youth within our community which extends to the families programs and the work that we do. the safe passage program as well as the urban alchemy programs have been essential cornerstones within the neighborhood ensuring youth are able to walk safely through the streets to and from school appointments as well as any other things they have to do. the tutoring program funded by this project by this budget as well has transformed our youth from having a hard time in math english, esl as well now to earning a's in their assignments as well as testing out their state level grades. >> programs funded by the

equity budget are necessary for the future of our youth and i hope that you all take that into consideration when making your decisions. >> thank you. good afternoon commissioners and director. thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today. i'm here in support of the community equity portion of the budget and to ask for your approval of the budget. i do work with the tenderloin community action plan in the tenderloin neighborhood. i'm i am the community organizing manager for t and dc which is the tenderloin neighbor development corporation. we're the largest affordable housing provider in san francisco and we're also the largest landowner in the tenderloin and our community organizing department works directly with the community and is part of and has been helping to coordinate the tenderloin community action plan work in the neighborhood and we are we are at a kind of a pivotal moment in this work. we really put a big investment

into really building this out, getting community support behind it. we've kind of been an unprecedented place in the tenderloin where we have a unified voice work. we're all on the same page for the first time in that while i've been working in this neighborhood for 20 years. so i really feel like we are at a unique moment. a lot has gone into getting us here our residents have been really engaged and fully invested in this. this is a community driven process that's going to reap real benefits. but if we pull out now after they we we built this trust and then we just suddenly say ah no sorry, can't do it right in the middle. >> i mean i can't even imagine the fall out and the consequences and the long term damage that that could create for our neighborhood. we we need to continue this. we need to follow through. weeed to see it through if we do i mean we're already seeing benefit you heard some of it but we have an opportunity to really make lasting change and this is a community driven process coming from the folks who are the most marginalized in this city. please give them the support

they need to continue to do the work that they can do as partners with the city to really change and improve the quality of life both in their community and citywide. so thank you very much. >> thank you. hi, my name is so i am a resident services supervisor with chinatown community center and i have the honor to serve on the immigrants rights commission but i'm speaking on behalf of myself. i'm here to support the planning department team and and solidarity to expand the liai p underserved communities and then the neighborhood planning team has been very helpful to support and all the communities and to guide our own projects within tenderloin and city dc we're chinatown community center to support as well our tenderloin community action plan and for being equitable in the budget that they support the communities and families in need. then the community action plan

had that been created a lot of support of that in the tenderloin and as well as we are here in solidarity for them to continue. >> thank you so much. good afternoon. planning commissioners my name is alma castellanos and i am the director of a small business nonprofit in the city galicia. >> i stand in solidarity with the equity communities across the city and strongly urge the planning commission to prioritize and approve the equity budget proposal. in my opinion this should be a given, not an ask. this has helped so many communities throughout citywide and just the benefits of it as you can hear from everybody it has been so beneficial to everybody's community. >> i myself small numbers, small businesses in san francisco with becoming

city suppliers. so that has been a grateful collaboration with the planning department and we've been able to see a lot of small businesses move into vacant storefronts in the city as well just one business alone that is right across the street from city hall. they actually were a small business in the latino cultural district. we helped them get their city supplier number. they were able to apply for an rfp and now are managing the kiosk across the street. that just shows the greatness that the collaboration and the program and the equity that our communities have been receiving and the greatness it is bringing to our city. it's beautiful to see all our communities working together so i strongly urge that you guys approved this budget ask thank you.

>> my name is danny leonard. i'm from the wasco tribe in oregon. i've been san francisco since 1976 watching everything grow and change from the day that i arrived there was never any land acknowledgment of the native american people and the sovereignty of the tribes and the consideration that they should be recognized and it's a land acknowledgment that sort of gets me very strongly sad because there's got to be something beyond just the statement of land acknowledgment. i think we have to move on to how can we make the native people who were the first here to have some sort of public policy response technically in the language of the city of san francisco and to bring about that was a measurement every year to see how the people are being treated that are native

people i'm in i'm involved now with a dispute with my landlord about raising my rent by 300%. i'm struggling with that issue with the rent control board but in in my analysis i understand that the rent control board cannot investigate lies or hate crimes against me only that the law that i'm at recognizes that my sister when she passed and she had been in the apartment since 76 i was not on the lease so now they have the right to raise my rent. so now i'm looking at that as a civil rights issue exclusive of the city of san francisco. if they cannot, you know, investigate these violations. so there are things that this land acknowledgment could mean and could be helpful. so i'm putting all of this together to try to get some

recognition that al statement aside from the recognition of the value and sovereignty of individual in the indian people who are members i was brought to this area to teach at uc berkeley in 1976 and i taught there for a couple of years and i know that there was tremendous amount of knowledge and resources available to let us know what we can do and what we can't do in terms of land. as you know, the the land is now under consideration for an organization to take it over in berkeley. so you know, there's got to be some way in which that reality becomes a reality for public policy entities and commissions in san francisco. so i hope we'll innovatively come up with something that's positive, helpful and resourceful to the native american community. thank you. and hello commissioners mama

mary as a steward of this land can i get permission and your blessing to speak? thank you. my name is gainer and seattle hung up. i am from the south pacific islander association and press association created here with a group of 29 nations of the pacific also here in san francisco we are the stewards of our pacific islander cultural district. i'm here in support of the equity budget and you know we when we created this we've contributed so much in this city and in this nation when we created a lot of data, all this kind of stuff we were very small but had the highest of disparities not just here but across the land. and i would have to say this is

the first city that ever acknowledge, judged and stood there and invested into our pacific islanders which went all across the land. >> i'm encouraging you and urging you to please pass this equity budget. but just to let you know we were 3359 when we started this work and this was in 2017. today we are 10,000 strong. not only that we've got policies in the school district first in the nation and first pacific islander culture district also in the globe. this is from this city and i'm proud to be a native of san francisco. this is also you guys as leaders in investment so i'm encouraging you guys continue investing because it goes a long way is not just here or the impacts changing those impacts and disparities but also across all the islands.

thank you. good afternoon commissioners director hillis my name is ethan looper and i work in community organizing for the tenderloin community benefit district. we were before you before when we were talking about the tenderloin community action plan. so as you might expect, we're in full throated support of the budget before you and in particular the work around the tenderloin community action plan. >> now i'm going to literally take my tderloin hat off for purchase on the 700 block of larkin tilt at bryn commissioner's for the next year. >> many of my friends can only refer to me as champ because i won two of my fantasy football leagues which just proves that i'm good at predicting and picking. i predict that you will support

this budget because equity means as much to you as it does to us. so i'm actually here thanking you for what you are about to do and letting you know that we're in full support and right there behind you your budget as always is just a financial representation of your values. we already know you value these things. i don't need to convince you but to know that we the citizens of san francisco are in support and like the rallying cry in the tenderloin you cannot contain us. >> you're welcome and hello. thank you for allowing me to be here. commissioner hillis my name is rebecca gallegos. >> i am a proud member and a

community member of district five but have been long known as a champion for district ten. i'm here today to support the american indian inter-tribal center that we hope that will be actualized here in maybe this year, this century, this decade the work that's been being done in our city for the last 14 years in district ten as i mentioned earlier, some may know me as someone who worked tirelessly to create that national landmark at the bayview opera house ruth williams memorial theater landmark building number eight. >> but that was a dream that i knew was going to become actualized since i was a child because i grew up playing at a national monument. and so when you dare to dream goals that you have on your to do list, your bucket list, you kind of work through them systematically.

i always wanted to work for san francisco and i found myself in a position to take this job at the bayview opera house. >> many people that are behind me, all these great organizations some of them been mentioned. i have been on the board of the center for youth wellness which then morphed into safe and sound third street youth center and clinic obviously the bayview opera house and been serving tirelessly in every single district excuse me every single board position that i could for for my children, for the school district. so i'm here that this is no time to go backwards. the last 14 years many nonprofits, many for profits have really made some gain in all of these districts that have been mentioned from d five d ten and chinatown.

>> there's there's no words to say that when you have the opportunity to be on the other side like in the corporate america world and see things that have beenngur

community for over 30 plus years and really can't do much because you're in that world. but i made a conscious decision to make a change when my kids went to school. so i implore you to ensure that that line item for the community equity budget is not touched. >> if anything i think it should be enhanced and i think that there's opportunities to look elsewhere in our city budget where things are seriously inflated and that's my challenge to this group. >> thank you for your time.

>> hello again it's me. i just wanted to say i know the economy is in a invisible hand but i think that we are overpaying computer scientists. can i borrow the the thing the thing? so yeah, we paid computer scientists way too much. they do absolutely nothing but maintenance. >> you're not going to make another facebook. sorry. >> oh freeze latest creek. >> yeah. if you ever want to see like a computer scientists and what they do go down to moffitt towers in mountain view and ask hey what are you doing? are you fake busy or real busy? and if they can't answer you know what they are. >> are there any computer scientists here or the computer

scientists? >> okay. our last call for public comment on this item seeing on public common is closed in this matter is now before you commissioners again there's no action required of you today the budget will be coming back for you for adoption and a couple of weeks. >> so commissioner indulge me if i may since you all knew that commissioner williams had been out sick but he related a comment to me that i like to share for this item so i'm going to read aloud what he had sent to me. this is from on the record just from directly purely from commissioner williams. it's not from me. so he said regarding to item number 12 planning department community equity budget

allocation he wants to highlight letters received from c h e c h a salt association potter quiet a roll whammy roof williams opera house metta friendship house s.f. parody and equity coalition or including the need of the black residents in the bayview and the pacific islanders facing significant housing and health economic challenges and have requested planning staff to address and elevate their voices and unique needs. so that conclude has come in and i'm going to turn this to commissioner brown. thank you. i want to open with a question about the budget. so under the grand item you know there's in the out year the second year there's a steep drop off in the grants because we're not recognizing grants that we haven't received yet

obviously plus we've received some very large ones for this coming fiscal year. um i'm curious for the amount that is in there is that does that reflects the hud pro housing grant the other grants you mentioned that are have multi-year disbursement? >> yes. so as a reminder for those of you who have been here before or just as a heads up for those of you who are a new we don't know the opportunities that we will get in the out year. so that number is always lower and we adjust that once we know what's you know, a possibility. and on the playing field, yes. for the items that we know that are either multi-year or for ones that we got just almost every year we put those in because we we are certain enough that we're we're going to be able to have them come through. but yeah, that number changes once the out year becomes the budget year 12 months from now it will be at least in my

experience always has been a higher number because we know about the opportunities in front of us. okay. thank you for that. sure. um, so it's good to i mean it does show sort of the big gap, you know, and how much we need to continue to compete for new grants and so hopefully we can start to do that and i think that speaks to vice president moore's earlier comments about the risks with federal funding and whether or not we'll be able to obtain grants at the same level in the future or even continue to receive disbursements from the ones that we have been awarded. so thank you very much for that comment. vice president moore you know, i think you know i was struck me that it's helpful to see that there are some budget efficiencies in terms of the ministerial review processes that have happened especially in current planning division and that that's taking a little bit less staff time especially since current planning has more is kind of a cost recovery division. um you know i'm curious with

those cost recovery fees and priorities and past budget cycles but i mean there are those fully capturing the costs of operating with the fees that we have them set out or is there still kind of a gap and that's why we need to continue to look for those efficiencies and i'm not sure this is exactly what you're asking but given all the recent state law changes where we are really moving a much higher volume of work into ministerial permitting in addition to just some procedural changes that we've made, i think we mentioned about a year ago now we've really bifurcated out the planning process out of the building permit review process to separate it out. our fee schedule hasn't quite caught up with some of those process improvements and state law permitting we are planning on trying to catch things up a bit to the extent possible in sort of a surgical way. so i think the short answer is i do feel like we're a bit misaligned right now with what our sort of practical day to day is. but i do think and maybe debra can answer this but i do feel

that the overall amount of revenue we're bringing in in current planning is cost recovery overall current planning staff it's just on an apples to apples basis we might need to tweak some things around the edges to kind of reflect these new processes but i do believe it's fully covering current planning staffing and then cross subsidizing other functions as well and i think that's been part of the larger discussion around should our cost recovery cover more than just permits review staff? should it be crossed subsidizing long range planning and policy work? and so i think that sort of the larger question we always grapple with during the budget budget cycle and i think that's a that's an interesting question because you know at the same time we've occasionally had items before the planning commission in which we are reducing some fees or this discussion of whether or not the fees are reasonable for small projects for example . and so i understand this we need to have cost recovery but i'm not taking a position or opinion here but i see the sort of policy challenge that also exists when we set those fees

or if we revisit those. but um yeah so i appreciate seeing the efficiencies that are happening now with so the processes as we enter a very challenging budget period um you know i would say um you know in general the ways that we're addressing this budget deficit seem reasonable to me with some of the reshuffling, some of the work plans and for example there's we are unfortunately pushing out some of our general plan updates a little bit in citywide planning in order to in recognition of the limited resources we do need to do those updates. i mean it's a pretty our general plan is pretty stale in some places. um but at the same time that long range planning if i have to think about that versus you know some of our more immediate work, the equity work that we're doing you know i would much rather sort of hold off on really long range plans in order to continue to implement and keep momentum going on our

shorter term work and i do see that in the budget. so i'm i'm supportive of the budget as i see it right now and i appreciate all the work that went into it and everybody who came out to speak today. thank you commissioner imperial thank you commissioner braun and also want to thank the committee members that speak very highly about the the need to to preserve the community equity budget. so i'd like to thank everyone for doing that and highlighting that in the commission you know, when i see this budget and yes we are you know my first i think we've been having this kind of like you know a little bit in our in terms of like what the budget is going to look like, what our priorities going to look like and i think, you know, what's being presented to us is something that i feel like agreeable and reasonable.

>> so i when reading about the the priorities of the city wide and also the committee equity i think is my first time where it looks like the surrounding committee equity division is going to be working more together and and is and also there are a lot of milestones for each of these divisions especially on the city wide and the the committee equity um and so actually my my question is not necessarily more on the budget but on the staff allocation and how are we as we are looking to these milestones and you know there are some target of this that some of this will be happening in the fall of 2025? >> you know i'm still trying to be realistic as well in terms of our staffing and allocation and this you know, the committee equity division and i

think i see the reasoning of having the citywide and committee equity participate more in a lot of the milestones so that you know, all of these projects can actually be you know, can be started and you know, implemented. mhm. um so i guess in in terms of my and also thank you for the planning staff for putting on this staffing allocation hours and what does it look like. it makes me understand things. one thing again that i would like to highlight is the i think more into commit to equity division and the one that we're thinking of of putting a staff for the bayview to the community liaison on to bayview to look into the third street corridor and then also one committee liaison for the pacific islander community and the visitation valley. >> i'm you know those two communities have a lot of challenges that you know also

kind of makes me nervous just only one person but i understand for this now but i hope like as we see the you know, as we see the the budget in years to come that we would also allocate more time on that as well in terms of the baby committee and also to pacific islander, i'm glad to see that there are for staffing in the t cap you know that is great because that is something that is what the committee does need . >> but i think as we're you know we're looking into the equity in the equity lens of the long range planning and also in neighborhood plans i would like to see also in the future more staffing allocation on that um yeah there's a lot of things that you know the city wide is covering on in terms of downtown recovery and you know that's something again i'm glad it's working with the committee equity or division on that little update of the land

use i definitely agree with you on how that the update on the land use going to look like. also however, the i think it's part of the dc to side with it's the the white about the the up zoning the housing element update i think every time i look into the budget i'm trying to see how are we tracking all of this milestone or all of this projects and the only thing that i could think of is only during the budget time you know and i'm trying to think of ourselves like how do we you know whether during the budget time what kind of reports that we need to have as well that it's actually really moving in that direction? i guess i was looking at that in terms of the planning audit, the planning equity audit, i remember that was something in

the budget last year and at this to this point i you know i also see it again in the budget and i think part of the issue or not part of the issue but maybe the staffing but how yeah, how does the commission can have tracking or you know in terms of the milestones that we over the projects are going through, how can we track that? >> um well i think you know we again i think somebody said it here you know it's a reflection of our values kind of on where we want to put resources. these aren't necessarily set, you know, in stone what is being associated with various projects. things change during the year. you ask us to look at that, you know to to pivot and do additional work or additional work in one area and less less in another. >> so you know, this is certainly setting the framework of where we're going but things will change throughout the year based on your requests or our work with the community or regulatory changes that may

happen at the local or state level. so this is kind of our best guess of where things are going and we'll reallocate resources even you know it's obviously a tough budget year citywide and we don't have the liberty of adding positions within our within our budget but we do shift resources around within the department like the community equity division. there are staff on rotation at times from other divisions working our division. so you know we'll we'll pivot but i think the commenter that said it was right this is kind of you know setting your priorities and values in the budget as well as in and then it could shift as we move throughout the year now. >> thank you director hill. as you know, i definitely you know, i'm not i definitely agree with you that there needs to be flexibility but there's some points that i feel like we also need to have some predictability in terms of other you know, there has been in the um we've been talking

about but yeah i think this is more like for me brainstorming i'm not trying to you know have an answer right now in terms how do we track this progress? but i especially at the you know the difficult time that we have in here but you know, it's something that goes back in my head when i think about this budget that we have and definitely developed. it does reflect the values. um, i for me i guess at the end of the day how do we implement this? it's always with the staffing allocation and the budget and so yeah so overall i you know strongly support the budget that we have and i'm i'm really happy to see the the committee equity division expanding its work and hopefully continue to expand it. >> so in just a note on that because we heard a lot of comment too. >> i mean we see where things are working and where there is a partnership with the community like in the

tenderloin you had a hearing and on map 2030 that didn't happen overnight, right? we built resources over time both for the community and within planning to accomplish that work and i think that's our hope in in in other neighborhoods and corridors third street was called out in bayview and certainly our hope to start building resources both within our our staff but also externally leveraging those resources with iwd food and mo cd because there's a cultural district there you know to get to the to the point where i like where you see we're at with with map so you know we're hoping to fill that position and in in use some of the resources we have that are non personnel resources to you know build that capacity both in the department and externally to get to where we are where you've seen some of the partnerships things seeing enormous success and thank you

commissioner vice president more for this actually the first time in many, many years that the public has as actively participated in the budget discussion normally there's a silent in the room when are we going to get this over with? and today was probably one of the most inspiring discussions i have ever witnessed partially because we are hearing from you in feedback to what the department does that things are working that's in the interactive relationship building part where we're seeing results. we're not just kind of theoretically thumbing through project and departments and staff assignments but we heard the loudest support ever for the equity division and its budget as actually as a stepping stone for moving into the future. and if i could do what

commissioner brown say why don't we do a little less long range and put a little bit more focus on equity? >> and i do believe that that particular emphasis can trace through every project in order to really truly make the equity program alive and as we had heard last week, we are moving from the silver into the practice. so i really, really appreciate the community's specific requests not only for particular programs for particular neighborhoods but we're really talking about the language essential viability of the step into the future and i couldn't be more wholeheartedly supporting that. i am in support of the of the budget and i'm in support of particularly the equity budget was put to potential asking for anchoring it into contingency income contingency funds because the cutting will occur

no matter what we say today and i would like to see that we are not cutting into that budget at any cost at all. the next thing is kind of a little bit in support of what commissioner imperial said. >> every department has given a well described sometimes lengthy description of what they do and they're kind of like sometimes repetition and and sometimes things which probably overlap it would be helpful for me i'm speaking for myself is sometimes particular projects i described a little bit more of what exactly they are do who they engage from different areas of expertise which might come out of long range. it might come out of a citywide to achieve the project. no project is ever static. it's an island. everybody kind of feeds in and out and i would like to see that in order to have a better

feeling how specialization and resources are being used. let me make one comment you are i'm looking back at my own practice and each project brings its own levels of expertise which kind of come in and go out of a project over time. that is the nature of large projects and i think we would get a better feeling of staff support and needed number of people if there would be a little bit more clarity to the to the description of the project rather than just the running narrative of what the department does what each department does then may just be a little like a little pie chart so that we can see what goes into a project including a time frame. and then i think we have a better way of of understanding the evolution of a project that is a suggestion or a critique and i know how difficult this

is. we have talked about that over the years and i'm in support and hope that when it comes to discussing the budget in the larger forum of supervisors and the mayor that the community themselves will participate. and so what budgets and the planning department really does in order to keep this alive and going and thank you for your participation which is extremely important as we move forward. >> thank you. thank you very much. so overall i think that this is thank you for creating such amazing slides and thank you and welcome to join our planning department in our budgeting division. so i also need to thank everyone who show up here today and voice your priorities and your concern on wishes right

now we all know we don't need to repeat how dire we are in our financial situation. this chart is really alarming to see our trend of spending outpaces revenue. this one it's it's pretty jaw jarring to look at. so i think that i am really applaud the our department staff that actually diligently seeking writing grants to help us have a little softer landing patch in this next year not this fiscal cycle but just knowing next fiscal year really appreciate that but this is really not the long term solution to but we a little bit help so i really appreciate that. i have one question about when you mentioned about the 1.5 million of grant money, what agency was that coming from?

>> let's say the one point five is the california ocean protection council senate bill one grant program track two. >> okay. thank you very much. >> and if you know what all of that means and way to go. >> well i can google it. i don't want to waste her time and everybody's time to hear it. but i think what it is is this telling us that this is actually helping our department to address a lot of climate resiliency initiatives that is much more on t with our interagency work that is much needed that i had continued to emphasize we need to work really closely together with other agency and also be lean and agile to make sure that we don't overly redundant our work but merely being mission critical so i'm going to move forward to a few comments that i have just more

on the highlight on my priorities on i think of looking at serving as a commissioner here on the planning department i would like to see there's two bucket one is external and the other one is internal. i start with external i like to see us prioritizing public relations and communications. >> that's key to restore trust and continue to build trust across what we are needed to do and we need to facilitate this feedback loop between not just the community but also other stakeholders that are involved which is maybe our fellow agencies and supervisors too. so this key one that i continue to see that our planning department i'm not really seeing of a an item that actually highlighted what that

really is amount to in terms of public relation and communications like it's was has been pretty obvious for me to see that when i serve in other agency prior to this so i like to prioritize that that's kind of to me it's a key focus to make sure that everyone understand and anticipate what we need. you might we might be able to and light to me later on that you have something in place in embedded in all the ftc or the f f fte sorry if these different things. so my other thing is i like to actually focus on externally is the citywide planning work program activity that is kind of consistently relating to make sure that our make sure

everyone knows that when we there's no surprises when we plan things people do understand and they got their information directly from the source which is our department not from a third party that might have a different opinion over any one of our initiatives. so internal li i really want to emphasize that we got to be really lean and agile i think and i mentioned that before when we heard about the community equity plan information hearing i mentioned that we should work with different we should we should kind of be more agile with our staff in when they're they're pretty talented. >> they could maybe perhaps multitask a little bit more to help each other better so then we can get the same result. >> i actually wanted to ask this is going to be interesting

question because i am looking at your chart here with the work program overview and it's really helpful for me to see these numbers. i really appreciate it and i see that current planning has 92.7 fte environmental planning has 31.1 and i wonder like how i want seems like wondering why citywide planning only has 23 and then why administration has 40.8. >> do you mind to elaborate a little bit? >> well i can definitely speak to administration so we have we have i.t right technology we have finance we have our data analysis group we have operations which is the day to day business management of the office and so those are our main groups we have our

graphics team as part of admin . >> who am i missing picture h.r who? sorry sorry guys. >> and and actually i sit right next to them. >> no it's okay. so you know we we have an admin a variety of different activities so that's okay. yeah that's what we do in terms put our f t would be interesting to see nationally i would assume there will be some of the numbers for environmental and and citywide shifts to anticipate this new you know those are just work flow that we have. reflections of the workforce >> so in i think you know commissioner campbell got at that we've had for the past few years and we're not really this too there's fee based work right which is kind of the looking at changing them. >> okay. project to review permit this is interesting because i would like to see what you services like current planning, mentioned that what we see right now is just the work environmental planning very much their work or you know program overview for the proposed fiscal and i mean most of their work is determined by are there applications coming and marber biannual fiscal budget. it will be helpful for us to you know sponsors submitting see what has been what we had. applications for projects and we can give you we can show you

so because we know that like as commissioner braun had mentioned before that we do kind of how that's changed over over the last decade or so have some major shift in our which i think is an interesting approval processes with some of look at how that's how that's these state bills coming in. changed, you know the work we do kind of on the broader a lot of them we list what he mentioned that before about citywide planning shouldn't change that much. i mean you know we've we built these cost cost recovery fees. the community equity division to respond to some of the needs >> so our staffing on where we in community planning needs that aren't necessarily zoning related. we're not going into rezone and build housing but to strengthen communities and strengthen cultural district. so that's been an uptick in that work. but we can show you over time how kind of after years of change certainly we're down positions over the last couple of years from our peak pre-pandemic but we were seeing declines even before the pandemic but that's primarily in the current planning environmental planning work in response to the just reduction in in projects happening. >> yeah this is seeing where

things have been trending and also this is a helpful historic data point but also we should anticipate what we will be will have to do because things evolve and our priorities evolve. when i mentioned about public relations and communications definitely equities community plan and priority geographies are very important but when i said that there was actually more just in overall like the entire san franciscan right like we we also need to make sure that everybody else and know that what we're doing yeah i just want to make sure that we have that in place so then we can help each other work a little more efficiently that people can rest assured that they would go out there and try to make their small businesses work and then they also know that we are they can come to us

for a single source of reliable information, not just come to us but we might just, you know, also reach out to them a little bit more. >> i would actually like to see perhaps a little bit more fte put in the citywide planning in comparison to environmental planning giving how our work had we have to really pivot on what we are about to what we're what the trend is going to do. so i that's just my thought and then i also see that the but but the budget equity pie chart is very helpful to understand and thank you for doing that. it's total amount of 48.32 fte putting into budget equity is very a stunning and this is actually more than the 40.8 fte we have holistically as the

entire department so i just want everyone to to to hear that right we actually put a lot more staff to do equity than the entire department of i ministration including you right here and also our h.r. and i.t. do you mind tell me that beyond that 18 community equity the 18 fte you put in number four in the work program work overview what else is the other 30 that made up 48.32 so a lot of people put in a portion of our time so it's not that it's not that dedicated. one individual is hired and works in the community equity division. it's the work that all of the rest of us do as a portion of our time. okay. that's and that does include,

you know, the outreach that you've been talking about and a lot of other just depending on which person you're talking to, a lot of other aivities. but it's it's definitely the combination of different people's time. >> okay. we can get you that exact breakdown in and again we we've we incorporated this a couple of years ago not to be precise necessarily but to show kind of how our work shifts over the years and i think we can describe those numbers for the last couple of years to show how how you know, how we're determining what is what is equity focused and how that's moved over time. i mean it's it's basically a tool for us to be able te our work? >> so take the housing element for instance. you know, i think most if not all of the time we've kind of dedicated to the housing element is focused on well resourced neighbors kind of based in the premise of the housing element which is built on equity. so i think we associate all those efforts with equity but we can give you that breakdown.

>> yeah, because of that because i think really what you want we want to focus on is how is this shifting over time? >> are we focusing more of our work on equity? yeah, it's not a criticism. i actually want to bring that up because i want everyone to know that everyone who is tuning in to hear or playing this video back it's knowing that our planning department isn't just allocating full time staff to address our racial equity component but we actually infuse across organization division to actually work holistically to focus on this. so i want to make sure that that is being fully understood and i want to amplify that and thank you for doing the work and that's kind of conclude my comment and i think it commend commissioner brown has come in . >> yes, i think this is sort of in the same spirit of what's been discussed as far as how more detail now the feds have

evolved over time and how they do so in the future. but and this also speaks to commissioner imperial's comments regard ing sort of how over the course of the year the actual work program changes. you know, i was trying to recall if i've really seen how our budget proposal evolves from what the planning commission recommends for adoption and then once that gets through the many month long process of the mayor's office having to propose a final budget, i guess i'll start with maybe an impossible question but i'm curious based on past experience, how significant are the changes between what we adopt and the what is ultimately not terribly significant? >> i mean they generally you know, our budget will work through the process and generally be similar to what it was if not identical to what it was that you proposed because it's based on you know, a large chunk of this is based on how our fee revenue you know what we anticipate the fee revenue

will be. i think that's where things may change more during the year is we we we may anticipate a fee amount in the budget of $50 million but if we're not going to hit $50 million and we recognize that after three months or six months into the year we have to make adjustments and that's generally you know that the finance team has been great about managing our budget in being able to to keep positions vacant or you know, not fill positions that have become vacant in order to meet those numbers. so that's more how our budget evolves over the year than the board or the mayor making significant changes to it. >> yeah, i mean the one or the couple of things that we know absolutely will change between the commission and the board adoption there's an overhead allocation that the comptroller's office just tells every department here's your allocation. so we don't know that number yet and then different work orders. so you know, does our rent go

up or down? >> does the department of technology change the enterprise agreements that they have that cover the whole city? what would those costs change by us? so things like that that that's where we see most of our shift between now and july. >> thank you for that. >> and just i'll say the i also in the spirit of commissioner pearls comments you know i always look forward to budget season just for the sake not for the sake of seeing the dire numbers lately but for the sake of seeing our entire work plan described in a very comprehensive way and seeing how it all interacts together and if there are changes that occur over the course of the year because of shifts in revenues or priorities or things that this commission asks i don't know what the right approach to this is. it doesn't create a whole lot of work for staff but i would just say in general i'm interested in sort of partway

through the year sort of how things are unfolding what we're de prioritize and reprioritizing and out of that needs to be a hearing or just sort of a brief update sent to the commissioners. but i'd be very interested and in how that adjusts. >> yeah. thank you. my guess is you wouldn't be surprised because there are things that come up here at the commission are you bring up are happy to do that you know amid midyear kind of that we just don't have sort of the comprehend the view of everything happening and how it's shifting until the next budget cycle it feels like. >> thank you commissioner campbell thanks. i just have to kind of i had two comments that now are piggybacking off of some of the conversation that's already happened. but i think understanding how how things are shifting over time in terms of what we're prioritizing with the work program. >> i love this chart. i think it and you can see all my scribbles on it but i think it would be more informative for me and maybe others to know where we were last fiscal year

in terms of how we prioritized the different work programs in the forms of funds so it would just shed some light on are we redistributing that next year in the year after or are we sticking with the same resources? and then to piggyback off what commissioner braun just said, i think it would be informative to kind of know how things evolve over the fiscal year. like i'm thinking specifically of do we what are our turnaround times on for planning review and is that being slowed because we actually don't have enough resources and because that's something we want to i think understand as the year evolves so that that's not be creating a bottleneck in development and one thing i'll just say on that that i think is reflected in our budget and is fairly static from year over year but although our volume is going down or things are more streamlined so maybe a development review planner is spending less time preparing for a conditional use case. the ministerial projects that

are kind of replacing those types of projects do have some net new requirements that a conditional use doesn't have. so for example there is a big front end prescreening process that's takes staff time. there's tribal consultations that don't exist received so there is staff work that's kind of new net new. the other big thing that i think is important is that you know, if you were to ask about processing times let's say in maybe 2018 it would not have been unusual for an applicant to wait 4 to 6 months to have a planner look at their project. we are now doing completeness reviews and 30 days plan check reviews in 30 days so we're doing the work faster which actually necessitates more staff so the staffing allocation even though the volumes might be off because of those process changes we need more staff to be able to do the same thing at the same time rather than drawing out in sort of a in a delayed fashion. so those are some nuances too that i think are important that are sometimes hard to articulate but i think sort of guaranteeing that predictability of processing

times is where the volume of our staff has kind of been supplanted during this downturn. >> and the optimist in me feels like that will we will see an uptick in the coming years. and so as those expectations remain the same for turnaround times we will have to probably shift our priorities right? >> yeah. okay. stuff. yeah exactly. >> that's it for me and thank you to the community for coming out. i agree it's really special that there's so much interest and it's a sign of the times in terms of what's happening. so thank you all for making the time. this is not an easy meeting to get to and thank you for the report out. >> appreciate it. >> thank you. commissioner. vice president moore, what one more question for ducktales and mswati and there's an unknown type of project which we have never really dealt with called sb 423 and they're coming fast and furious where the work that

you normally do to guide a project is basically put at the end like the cart before the horse as i call it. are you predicting that that will have a kind of an unpredictable impact of how what you do given that certain projects are better prepared than others as some of which are absolutely mind boggling unaware of what what what's a table setting really is? how do you kind of predict the budgeting that or staffing it? >> i think right now we're still in a little bit of a learning phase so we're predicting based on you know the last six months or so of of what that's told us. but you will see our affordable housing i think i call it the affordable housing line item there if i can pull this back up is basically our team that does a lot of advisory work for ministerial. so 423 is a ministerial program, one of one of several they have their own set of eligibility criteria and so the

folks who are on our housing team are really folks who are experts in all of these state laws and how they couple with local laws. so they are doing a ton of work before people actually file applications is to advise people tell people what the rules are. again, those prescreening eligibility requirements that all happens before people pay fees and so this is sort of to the earlier point where there is some misalignment in our fees right now because there is a lot of work that's happening that's sort of in an uncompensated way some of those projects will never materialize. they'll get through that advisory work and they'll find out i mean we have seen some of those preliminary applications here that as we're sitting up here in my head i'm saying i don't think this is even eligible. and so some of those projects are inherently going to fall off and not manifest into real development projects. so that's where predicting how many of those are just going to be that upfront time in our budget versus upfront time. plus the plan check review is a still a little bit of a question i don't think we have enough data to know know that righow and so a little bit of this is a is sort of a guess of which bucket do staff time

go into? does it go into regular sort of discretionary development review process saying or am i dedicating it under our housing team which really focuses on that subset in reality these are the same people in our office. they can be used for two different things and so i think that's where again you're looking at fte is which feel like unique people but in reality one person is likely distributed amongst a lot of these different activities. >> so it's right now i would say the short answer that's a long answer. the short answer is it's an art not a science. we're our best based on sort of current data to date but you know next year will have a year and a half of data of a more robust set of ministerial permitting. >> just picking up on what i think commissioner brown said earlier, i would be interested how you evaluate this project as you become more familiar with them to their could extra bumps and what we need to do or are there basically business as usual? i would be very interested to hear from you on that.

>> all right, commissioners, if those are your comments we can move on commissioners to the next item on your agenda today. number 13 for case number 2023 hyphen 002998 s.w. aging and disability affordable housing implementation plan. >> this is an informational presentation i'm sorry i'm going to speak. >> sorry you're out of order. i'm sorry. going to have to take a seat. we've got another. i used to write him for me. parker data is overpriced for everyone just left.

>> oh, okay. as if we're going to have to take a recess . okay. good afternoon and welcome back to the san francisco planning commission hearing for thursday, january 23rd, 2025. i will remind members of the public to please silence your mobile devices that may sound off during these proceedings. commissioners we left off under your regular calendar on item 13 case number 2023 hyphen 002998 s.w. p for the aging and disability affordable housing implementation plan informational presentation. >> good afternoon commissioners lisa chen with department staff

. i have the pleasure of introducing this work but we're going to be hearing from marlena lauren ferrara in a moment who's going to be describing just this amazing interagency collaboration that we were able to undertake with our steering committee of of various agencies working in the aging and senior housing and services world. so but before we do that, i just want to acknowledge we have some staff from those agencies from that steering committee here we have eli gelatin i hope i'm saying that right and helen szymanski from the mayor's office of disability, sheila nicopolis from the mayor's office of housing and development. jocelyn ever rode from department of homelessness and supportive housing. she's joining online as is izzy claytor from the department of disability and aging services. >> so this implementation plan that you're about to hear about was one of the key implementation items coming out of the housing element and it was also supported by ad back funding from former supervisor

gordon ma and you know from somebody who's been in for a while you know it's i think it's rare to see such collaboration happening across agencies. it's so easy to get into our silos when we are all working on very specific and technical work and so we're really grateful that we had the resources to undertake this. and before i kick it off to some of the agencies to speak i also just want to acknowledge and reintroduce melina leon ferrara who is the leader and project manager for this work. for those of you who are following the housing element adoption very closely, you'll remember that she was kind of the heart behind the plan you know, really working very hard on the outreach for the plan but also a lot of the technical and policy development work. you may not also know that she prior to becoming a planner and going to berkeley and getting her degree in planning and housing, she had a prior degree and manufacturing engineering and a prior prior career in engineering but also

moonlighted as a community organizer. so i think it's a very powerful combination and really speaks to what she brings to this work which is really, you know, the kind of brains and really trying to unpack our systems and figure out how they work and how they can work better. but then also really that commitment to community and uplifting the needs of the most vulnerable. >> so with that i think our hand it off to eli yes. thank you. >> all right. good afternoon, commissioner. >> it's a pleasure to be here in front of you. my name is eli gilardi. i am the new director of the mayor's office on disability. this is week three for me. >> i've spent 21 years in the north bay on the private sector side for the marin center for independent living and i can tell you in the north bay affordable accessible housing

for older adults and people with disabilities is equally as needed as it is in san francisco. so an honor and a privilege to serve in this role. the mayor's office on disability is in strong support of this plan because our aging and disabled communities need more affordable housing options at every level. many in our communities at low and extremely or extremely low income and most housing remains chronically out of reach. this report represents very high quality, thorough work. a lot of attention was paid to listening to communities and stakeholders. this report really does represent a major change in housing and how housing is provided to older adults and people with disabilities in the city. we also urge funding for a position to coordinate the multi-agency action items listed in this report.

>> i also just want to add as we have seen housing and the connection to the social determinants of health how we keep older adults people with disabilities living long and independently and safe in their own homes. affordable accessible housing is such a key piece. again, it's an honor to be here in front of you and support this work. thank you so much. >> good afternoon. let me just spend my time here that i don't go over time and my name is melanie allen. >> i'm a senior planner in the citywide division in planning. i want to begin by recognizing that the aging and disability affordable housing implementation plan was made possible by the unrelenting work and advocacy of older

adults people with disabilities, community based organizations and professionals in the field that for decades have been advocating and working towards expanding housing access for both populations. >> san francisco has a long history rooted in social justice and inclusion including being one of the birthplaces of the disability rights movement . >> our city has often been at the forefront of innovation when it comes to tenant rights, housing programs and solutions for a rising challenges as our city faces skyrocketing housing costs a growing older adult population and increased needs among adults with disabilities. we must act with intentionality . my hope is that this plan gets funded and implemented and helps alleviate these challenges. >> today i will provide some background about the implementation plan. i will cover its objectives and efforts underway. >> i will also highlight priority actions and funding needs and finally i will close

with next steps. so let's jump into the background. in december 2020 supervisor gordon ma championed the creation of two new two key reports focused on older adults and adults with disabilities the aging and disability affordable housing needs assessment and the aging and disability affordable housing overview report. >> supervisor m played a pivotal pivotal role in funding the development of this implementation plan with support from the board of supervisors. these initiatives have strengthened collaboration among key agencies including the department of disability and aging services or does the mayor's office of housing and community development and the department of homelessness and supportive housing at sage the mayor's office on disability embody and the planning department. together these agencies formed the steering committee which is a true example of interagency collaboration and the city's

commitment to breaking down silos and working together to better serve its constituents. in october 2022 das published the first needs assessment. this comprehensive report was informed by robust public engagement including the interviews, focus groups with clients and service providers, community forum, a citywide survey and a survey of adults with disabilities living in city funded affordable housing. >> easy clatter the star ads that led the production of this report also conducted extensive data analysis. the resulting needs assessment provided an overview of the housing needs of seniors and people with disabilities and of existing and future affordable housing options for these populations. >> the needs assessment then outlined 49 recommendations to address gaps in need and improve housing outcomes.

>> here's some of what we learned. 1 in 4 san franciscans is a senior or an adult with a disability. >> seniors are the fastest growing population projected to increase from 18% in 2019 to 25% by 2030 with many experiencing one or more disabilities among senior households. >> that's households with at least one senior 42% are renters and among disability households that's households with at least one adult, one person with a disability 72% are renters. >> of these 70% are lower income. over 70% of rent burden senior and disability households live alone with median incomes between $13,000 and $17,000 a year. >> these single renter households are considered acutely low income making them highly vulnerable to displacement and homelessness.

>> thus city funded affordable housing is essential for both populations. currently 45% of households served by city funded affordable housing include older adults and 26% of city funded units have at least one person with a disability. >> however, with affordable housing typically developed at an average of 60% ami many single seniors and disability households are ineligible for these units who have income that often fall incomes that often fall at around 15%. >> they may. to address this gap the city relies on rental and operating subsidies but these resources are insufficient to meet the growing demand as these vulnerable populations continue to grow. >> it is crucial for the city to significantly expand efforts and resources to meet their specific needs. >> the implementation plan turns the 49 recommendations

from the needs of assessment into actionable steps. they are not the same as recommendations as they've been adjusted, changed or flat out you know, converted into something new. >> it focuses on identifying implementation constraints defining responsible agencies, setting timelines, estimating funding needs where where available and fostering inter-agency collaboration. however, it is important to note that this plan is currently an unfunded mandate posing significant challenges to executing many of the proposed actions. >> now let's talk about the plan itself. >> the plan builds on the extensive public engagement and research from the needs assessment and contributes additional analysis on current needs and implementation constraints. it was developed in collaboration with the steering committee with input from over 40 city employees across eight agencies and other

stakeholders. >> the plan focuses on lower income older adults and adults with disabilities and cdph funded affordable housing mainly given the city's current deficit. the steering committee prioritized year one into actions that align with existing work programs. community priorities have also been prioritized for funding as resources become available. this is the main structure of the plan. it outlines six objectives to address affordable housing and the needs of the target population. at each stage of the housing process from production to existing housing, from application to placement each objective includes specific actions with lead and supporting agencies. year one and year two prioritization and funding information when available in total that are 49 actions across the six objectives. a more detailed analysis of the complexity of implementing each

action is provided in appendix eight which is available here preset for the community. >> oh let me see one slide for some reason i will now provide a high level overview of the plan highlighting actions in progress and priority actions for funding as it becomes available which align with community priorities. we've heard some of these priority actions are new and there are experimental nature may mean that they face funding sustainability issues however they would cover or are currently meeting actual needs for older adults and adults with disabilities. >> all right. i think we're getting objective one. >> actions aim to facilitate building more housing appropriate for older adults and adults with disabilities. prioritize affordable housing. this means addressing constraints to development of new housing including affordable housing and piloting innovative housing types for

older adults and adults with disabilities to satisfy their needs. >> current efforts include planning code modifications to facilitate senior housing and residential care facilities as part of the rezoning effort and the affordable housing sites, analysis and strategies where my city and planning are collaborating to identify potential affordable housing sites particularly in well resourced areas. >> mozilla has also 1573 senior housing units in its pipeline along with 28 units for people with disabilities expected to receive certificate of certificate of occupancy in march at the kelsey civic center site. >> while more affordable housing for older adults and adults with disabilities is the main community priority, it is tied to the challenges of developing affordable housing at large. a key priority is piloting an affordable assisted living

facility a housing option that currently does not exist for these populations. >> this initiative will require at least 150 million in housing funding along with advocacy to the state for project based assisted living subsidies which is an innovation that currently does not exist. >> object to actions aim to improve maintenance modifications for accessibility and preservation of city funded affordable housing. that means existing affordable housing. >> this means focusing on ensuring existing affordable housing is appropriate and dignified for all their adults and adults with disabilities. some of the efforts underway include hhs dispersal of $10 million for elevator mother organization for permanent supportive housing. also both hca sage and mozilla have disbursed a combined total of $30 million in 2023 for

capital improvements which are currently underway. >> a key priority is advocating for a permanent line item in the capital plan to fund elevator maintenance in city funded affordable housing especially in sro serving as permanent supportive housing. >> elevators are critical for vertical accessibility and we've heard accounts of older adults and adults with disabilities being trapped in their units for months due to broken elevators. ensuring proper funding for maintenance supports residents independence, dignity and well-being. >> objective three actions aim to make access to city funded affordable housing units easier for older adults and adults with disabilities. this means improving processes for applying and accessing affordable housing as well as subsidies to make the units more affordable to acutely low income older adults and adults

with disabilities. >> current efforts include most cities work to create an expenditure plan for property funds by july 1st. bastion november prop g provides funding for rental subsidies for low income seniors, people with disabilities and families. the senior operating subsidy is also set to expand from supporting 88 households in the 2023 fiscal year to 118 households. this fiscal year to 178 households in 2025 2026. >> additionally improvement points have been made to coordination related related to help where units unit placement sorry which serves individuals living with hiv. special thanks to manuel vasquez who lovingly manages this program. >> there are two key priorities. >> the first is creating a disability operating subsidy while advocacy from

organizations like seniors and disability action led to the passage of property continued efforts and needed to implement this action effectively. >> the second key priority exploring creating a program to assist older adults and adults with disabilities in navigating the complex affordable housing application process. >> objective four aims to improve communication accessibility and cultural competence for housing services for older adults and adults with these abilities. >> this means addressing gaps in how city agencies and cdd funders found that service providers serve these two populations at current efforts includes dance's development of a research director tailored to older adults and adults with disabilities. the directory will feature these programs as well as resources available beyond us

with the potential to include referral services in the future . >> a key priority is creating and tracking standardized training for property managers and housing providers on topics like reasonable accommodations, accessible communications, digital accessibility and elevator maintenance obligations. >> objective five aims to enable aging in place by stabilizing older adults and adults with disabilities already housed. >> this means working to ensure these two populations remain securely housed and that there are specific needs are served. >> current efforts include cardus enhanced care pilot at the kelly collin community permanent supportive housing launched in june 2024. the pilot provides in-home nursing caregiving medical case management and culturally

competent services for individuals with complex chronic illnesses who have experienced homelessness. >> all other programs that support housing stability such as rental assistance and rental subsidies are ongoing. >> though the plan calls for the expansion. >> a priority action is preserving the dream keepers initiative senior home repair program which has successfully served low to moderate income senior homeowners. it allows for homeowners to age in place any proposal promotes racial and social equity by promoting intergenerational wealth. >> objectives six actions aim to improve data collection reporting and accountability for affordable housing and services for older adults and adults with disabilities. >> this means continuing inter-agency steering committee coordination and collaboration to implement the plan.

is that me time or sorry? yeah okay you can just wrap up the last few slides. >> go ahead. sorry you can just go ahead and conclude whatever you want to go. some efforts on their way include hsa just changes to their one system which is their asset management system to better track unit features. >> a universal priority for the plan is securing funding for an implementation coordinator for at least two years. the steering committee has demonstrated that excellent interagency collaboration supported by acs leaders coordination during the needs assessment and my efforts in developing this plan. the next step is to allocate funding for a dedicated person to assist agencies with the plans implementations and next steps. agencies are doing what's within their work programs but agencies do want to emphasize the need for this coordinator in order that in order to make sure that implementation tracking and coordination is happening and that's it.

i just want to thank the steering committee for their collaboration input liaisons and honest conversations which allowed for this plan to be developed. all the city employees that participated in this project which were more than 40 and all the stakeholders which included senior and disability action that is today here. this project has been super illuminating for me and really inspiring so thank you. and that's it. thank you. that concludes staff presentation. >> we should open up public comment. members of the public this is your opportunity to address the commission on this item. >> i am ocean coast senior in disability action. we organize and educate seniors and disabled people to live independently in the city and

we facilitated through a senior disability action sro, a work group and this work group has been working for the last decade on the issue of broken sro elevators. as you know people are forced to climb up flights of stairs sometimes stuck in elevators and having to rely on mutual aid supportive networks in order to get their needs needs met when elevators are broken. >> and two years ago we were fighting to claw back $10 million of funds that were going to be cut from the budget and so we took over city hall elevators during lunchtime to highlight the point of how difficult it is for seniors and disabled people to have to navigate their lives. we don't want to have to do that again and so we're really hoping that we can put more baseline funds to support elevator repairs. we know the fees are $500. $500,000 is a baseline. it's not going to cover a lot. but i think that having that dedicated source of funds is

super important for our community and making sure that we have at least a baseline of repair funds for our elevators. >> additionally we really want to see the recommendations in this implementation plan implemented and so funding a coordinator to deal with all the interagency issues i think is really important to us and we recognize that the ongoing needs the senior and disabled people is ever changing and so hopefully there will be an eye towards updating this needs assessment in the future as well. >> thank you so much. >> hello. my name is esl and i'm also an organizer with senior and disability action. i want to give a really big thank you to the planning department for putting together this report and also to molina who has worked with us for the

past year or so and has been really supportive in all of our different housing programs. i'm here to speak in support of the implementation plan and investing and funding the work to get the recommendations accomplished. >> this report almost exactly details what i would love to happen in housing for seniors and does it and people with disabilities and i think we also have to think about what it means to not implement some of these some of these priorities. >> and what it means is that seniors and people with disabilities will fall further into marginalization and that we are further putting our community at risk of homelessness and displacement. and i have seen firsthand how displacement and poverty affects seniors and it is quite terrifying. it's something that my own grandparents are facing right now. so i really, really encourage you all to support implementing

this plan and to have a dedicated staff position to cut through the bureaucratic issues and resulting in quicker implementation. >> and i thank you for your time today. >> okay. last call for public comment seeing none public comments closed and this matters now before you commissioners. >> commissioner imperial i'm first of all wow this is the first time i think in the planning department that we've had this kind of information plan about the aging and disability population and affordable housing. >> i remember in the last four years that i was here in the commission there were projects that were actually living facility projects that were

being demolished. and i believe we do were being trance demolished into a new and we you know there were a lot of conversation and also community outbursts as well in terms of like preserving the living living community facilities for the seniors. >> and at the same time, you know, that's when we were also seeing that there are very limited funding for these facilities. >> so it's really good that we have this plan. i'm glad we're starting this now and we also fully support of having a coordinator that will do the the entire collaboration work between departments. >> i don't really have a lot of question. i think for me i'm glad that we're addressing this in first time so yeah and i'm looking

forward to see this. >> i hope we can get since there's going to be funding for it well proposing type funding for it i hope we can also get some tracking or some update as to how is this collaboration working out and there are it's mentioned here about budget where there is a senior operating subsidy and i think there's also the the disability operating subsidy that's also being advocated for how are they also going to you know, in the in the years to come in terms of the progress of this plan? i'm looking forward to see that, you know, after two years perhaps or i don't know if it's a year if there's more things that have been progress in a year maybe you know, i would like to have that kind of progress or some informational hearing about it. >> but yeah, thank you.

commissioner brown um, i want to open just by thanking all the everyone who participate in the interagency steering committee and also welcome director um, i, i, i just have one kind of in the weeds question for some broader comments. so on the action 6.2 the action that relates to adding point five fte for advocating for adding point funding 4.5 fte for staff i'm curious is the i know that that's maybe an abstract idea at the moment but is the idea that that staff would sit in the planning department or in a different department or would it be actually be multiple staff across the departments with you know, share of their time dedicated? >> it doesn't necessarily have to sit in our department. this is an interagency collaboration so it could be at

any of the other departments but there's right now no funding for this position. so it's really i mean i did this work not only was i working on developing the plan but i was working on actually tracking the actions and making them happen and you know, it does require someone who can spend that amount of time just like following up and understanding sort of where the constraints are or where things sort of fall through the cracks. >> yeah, yeah. thank you for that. um and so yeah, i do like the approach of the steering committee identifying um the top funding priority items. those items for which funding doesn't exist but there's an opportunity to advocate for them and you know the the key opportunities that people who are far more expert in me than me are seeing as what's really critical. so on the whole, you know, i, i just sort of look at the approach taken of this. i think it's a very thoughtful approach to the implementation plan. there's a very focused and limited number of objectives so

it's a really good job of kind of whittling this big effort down into something that feels very achievable and implementable. and so i, i, i really appreciate that. um, i think there's a great consideration of resources incorporate in this plan and how to prioritize the actions and um i like seeing especially the i think there's four primary items for the planning department takes the lead and you know it's good to see how this interacts with some of the commitments we made in our housing element and now i'm seeing them reflected in this interagency effort as well. so um, you know i can just say i have strong support for this effort and for playing the planning department's role within it and i just i'm looking forward to seeing this implemented. >> thank you. thank you, commissioner. vice president more we speak about affordability literally every week. however, when we focus on the staggering number of people

with specific needs for affordability it becomes an inclusive annual burden because when we talk about affordability we do not really recognize that it takes a particular interest structure to accommodate those people and it's not just to affordable units here or there but it's specifically designed and outfitted units to to to accommodate older adults and adults with disabilities. we never talk about that the challenges of affordable ag are so huge that we kind of at least speaking for myself feel completely helpless in our inability to really address it with the urgency by which the numbers ask us to perform and we can't. >> this makes it even more difficult and particularly looking at the president so and commissioner campbell as architects this is this is this is a this is a challenge i don't even know how to address. it is almost that we need to provide a separate category in affordability to specifically

look at opportunities and sites . but this can be more easily done than just extra marketing. another number out of some is be something rather for one or 2 or 3 units because those places most likely are not the units by which we are meeting the demand of this particular category. so thank you for everybody who spoke an enlightening but very sobering thing reality which also is in its own right and moving target. you have been working on that i think since 2018. i have a proper memory on that . however, as you were rightfully saying, numbers increasing but in the meantime we have left already hundreds and hundreds of people in the dust who were not able to be considered. i live at the edge of chinatown where i every day see people older people living in sorrows and i am wondering how they're making up how how are they making it up on those steep

stairs with no elevator? it is almost it is a heartbreak to watch and i see this for us as a challenge to really include in our housing discussion and on our demand for relevance a particular commitment to numbers of affordable units for older adults and adults with disability in our year performance that is a sharpening of our housing element and i think that's a sharpening of our needs assessment and i think it's requires a lot more hands on even from us here to speak about us making relevant decisions and supporting relevant projects and that's what i would say and thank you. this is an amazing report and it's kind of like it blows me away as the best way of saying it. >> thank you. thank you commissioner mcgarry

just hit echo commissioner moore there print the numbers here are staggering but when you break it down by disability as a whole this seems to require a purpose built purpose built properties just for our aging. >> it's just not possible as we said to slide them in with two units here and two units there . it's it's frightening in this as we this has to be its own entity and thank you for inviting me on this okay thank you commissioner imperial i actually do have one question to staff you know part of the objective one it looks like in the beginning the affordable housing sites analysis and strategy are we talking about here in terms identifying sites and identifying identifying buildings that are that are

suitable for the the aging and disability link or are we identifying affordable buildings that need more repairs or need more rehabilitation trying to understand what what does affordable housing analysis and strategy yes yeah so you'll actually be hearing more about that this spring so this is a kind of a parallel effort coming out of the housing element. so it's actually kind of the continuation of the affordable housing leadership council. we then when that was concluded we then pivoted into collaborative work with most cd to actually start to identify what are the sites that we need to basically if we were to meet our rina like how many sites would that mean? what sites meet the criteria for that most city needs in terms of you know size and density? and then we were also kind of looking at distribution throughout the city with particular attention to making sure we have enough sites in the well resourced neighborhoods of the city and so that the two agencies are working together and sheila can

speak a lot more to it if needed. but there's work with consultants so we have financial feasibility consultants who are just looking at, you know, the land acquisition process and we're also working with enterprise committee partners to understand best practices nationwide around how cities acquire sites and when when when they choose to acquire them and kind of what's the strategy in relation to kind of the larger pipeline of developing housing. so there'll be a report and possibly a hearing in later this spring. >> yeah. okay. thank you. >> thank you. i would like to ask the department and i hope i'm not overstepping as we're speaking about downtown recovery and adaptive reuse from office to residential that we potentially may want to keep an eye on a particular location or a particular building type that may be indeed suitable for the type of population we are talking about today. these buildings are large and

large enough in a we use strategy to provide the elevator, doing the proper hallways etc. to potentially become candidate candidates for this type of housing. >> the other item the other aspect i would like to think we should be looking at we do want to be near transport station. we do want to be near medical offices and other health and community resources such as parks etc. we have plenty of pocket parks very suitable for our elderly people to also have a quiet moment not just the big parks and take all of those considerations in a coned two layers of story to make it attractive for people to consider an adaptive reuse use strategy focused on this population. >> and i just wanted to throw that as an idea for us to be creative of how we're looking at things. >> thank you.

well this is a really great comments. i really appreciate it and thank you for doing all these work and it's a robust strategic plan and i wish you good luck with getting the funding that you need the schedule of this is a very important for implementing this really robust plan so then our seniors and disables can live with dignity and grace. so thank you for the work and we're in full support of your endeavor and the next thing i think it will be really helpful to see like i mentioned in peril mentioned which i also thought of it's that i keep looking at these and i'm pretty sure you have a lot of data backing it. it will be nice to see it for capex expenditure on what it what are the existing stock of asset that you need to improve and what is the runway that you need to project in terms of generate these capital reserve to fund the maintenance piece?

so would like to see some data backing this. >> thank you. very good commissioners. if there's nothing further we can move on to item 14 for case number 2024 hyphen 005689 otoh for the final office conversion and demolition inventory informational presentation before we hear from the zoning administrator just a heads up to members of the public the chair has informed me that we will be taking 1035 howard street out of order next. >> okay. good afternoon president so commissioners corey teague zoning administrator if i can get the overhead for the presentation. thank you. so the purpose of the presentation today the real impetus is proposition c that was passed last year but is also creates a good opportunity just to give an a more general

overview of the office development annual limit program in general for some of the commissioner commissioners who've been here for a little while this would be a little bit of a rehash but for some of the newer commissioners they may not have had an opportunity to have an overview of the program. >> i am going to try to keep the time limited though but of course any questions you might have willing to answer those at the end? >> so again the presentation here is just going to go over a little bit the program overall some of the history and the rationale behind it and some of the kind of historical trends we've seen and then specifically move into our prop c and then to the program. so the overall program as you may know is just a regulation that limits the kind of the amount and kind of speed of major office development in the city. >> it is a city wide program is independent of any specific zoning district or geography

within the city and it applies to all office development projects of 25,000ft2 or more. if you're less than that you're kind of too small to be captured in the program and essentially every year on october 17th the city is allotted 950,000ft2. that split up into two kind of buckets which are the small cap and the large cap and that is square footage that can be allocated that year and roll over in future years for major office projects. >> so the program actually first started as part of the downtown plan in 1985 that version that was adopted by the board of supervisors though was time limited and very limited and had a lot of caveats. it was a very temporary type of provision and so the following year proposition m was passed which took the program and expanded it, made it a permanent program, added some other features to it including the small cap and then because

it is a proposition it really generally can't be amended except for through future propositions. >> so in terms of how it works again all office projects 25,000ft2 or more require an office allocation and generally require planning commission approval to grant that allocation and any unallocated square footage and any allocation year that isn't used just rolls over to the next year. so as you can imagine the office market kind of ebbs and flows over time. >> so there are some periods where we have a lot of rollover happening year to year and we have you know a lot of excess capacity and we have some years where it gets really tight if it's in a real boom economy and then the planning commission can revoke office allocations like they can't other entitlements typically if the project is kind of stalled out and not really active anymore or if it's you know, decided to convert partially or fully to some other use like residential and then any allocation that's

revoked just goes back into the cap that it came from. >> so there are some exceptions. so state and federal office buildings are kind of preempted. >> they aren't required to be approved by the planning commission because they're state and federal but the program still requires that we account for them so we still draw that down and account for that space in the program. >> similarly as a port and redevelopment are kind of quasi state and just depending on the area and what's been adopted in those areas different approval procedures may apply. but similarly even if the planning commission doesn't have to approve it, we still we still account for those and pull that out of the pot when those buildings move forward and then lastly city and county office buildings are not subject to the program and so we look at our current numbers. >> we look at the small cap right now as of today we have a little more than 480,000ft2 in the small cap. we keep track of how many

projects have submitted at least preliminary application ins so we can kind of see what's coming down the pipeline. we don't control how quickly those projects move forward necessarily but if you look at that we have roughly 353,000ft2 of projects in the pipeline for small for the small cap leaving kind of a leftover availability what we call a pipeline availability of a little more than 87,000ft2 the large cap and we'll get into how this increased recently but we have two point four close to two point 5,000,000ft2 and then we have i want to make a note about the kind of the projects we have on file which there's a little asterisk there for that . a lot of this is is taken up by very large long term phase projects and in the port where those are going to draw down slowly over time just to make the point that we don't have projects that are a lot of projects that are raring to go and pull down, you know, a few

million square feet just to be clear. but if you do account for all of that in terms of very long term pipeline availability, we're about 680,000 in the red. but again we get more allocation in each year. >> so proposition e so i mentioned that once prop m was adopted in 86 the only way to amend the program was to proposition and that basically didn't happen for 30 some years but in 2020 proposition e passed and what it really did was in various different ways was link our office program to the production of affordable housing in very specific ways that it that it wasn't in the past it also did a couple of specific things one this was coming right on the heels of central soma passing and those projects going forward and so it created some limits on housing approvals or excuse me office approvals in central soma tied to housing again and it also created kind of a city

wide reserve that i'll get into to provide a little more flexibility when we don't have a lot of space to allocate. so one of the very specific things that did to the large cap it gets 875,000 every year under the original program. >> what property did says we're going to take our arena goal which is an eight year goal. we're going to annualize it. so put it into an annual goal every october 17th when we get our 875,000 we're gonna look at the previous calendar year and see how we performed based on that goal and then our 875,000ft2 gets docked the percentage we didn't meet so what this table shows is that in 2024 when we're getting our 875,000ft2 into the large cap, we look at 2023 where we only produced 17.8% of what our annualized goal was which means instead of getting 875,000ft2

and in the large cap we only had almost 156,000ft2 added to the cap and that was one of the big components of property is just to tie it very specifically in that way. >> it also created a limit in central soma where only 6,000,000ft2 of office space could be allocated until all at least 15,000 housing units have been produced within the larger soma area starting in 2019 and this was really accounting for the fact that central soma had multiple key sites that were already kind of negotiated. >> it had lots of community benefits that the proposition didn't want to prevent those projects from going forward and providing those community benefits. so this was created there. it didn't really affect the small cap in any way and as of today within the larger soma neighborhood as of january of

2019 a little over 3700 units have been created and that's total units not just affordable just to show where we're still a ways off from the 15,000 but for that trigger prop he also created a couple of reserves and one is citywide and one is just for central soma and these were basically mechanisms for being able to allocate office space even if we had none in the tank we're at zero. we can basically go in the red if you meet certain criteria and for the housing balance reserve that citywide and essentially because it's tying office to affordable housing the tradeoff is you can go in the red, you can get an allocation even if we don't have space for it. if you actually build a certain amount of onsite affordable housing above and beyond what the planning code will require. so it's basically saying if you're meeting the need for affordable housing you can move

forward. central soma had kind of a similar program to allow you to go into the red if needed again to help ensure that the the key sites were able to move forward and then because those two programs allow you kind of to go into the red even if we don't have the space you still get the allocation, we still have to account for it just basically says we have to draw it down over time. so instead of pulling this off a project gets, you know, 500,000ft2 and we had zero so we're in the red 500,000 every year we're going to pull 10% of that down until that gets fully allocated. so that was the mechanism in place there to draw that down. so gives projects in those scenarios a chance to be allocated a move forward while we still have to account for it in the lon. and so proposition c was the second big amendment to the program and really again the impetus for what we're here

today proposition d.c. did three things one it exempted nonresidential two residential conversions from the real estate transfer tax and that's obviously not what we're talking about today. second, it allowed right now or and i shouldn't say right now but before prop m if you had a proposal where you were demolishing an office building and then building a bigger one, you needed an allocation for that for new e to kind of get credit for what you demolished and this kind of fix that tweak that so that you get credit for the office space that you demolish. >> but the main reason we're here is that it created a office conversion and demolition credit program and looking more specifically at that program it instructed us to search for any office conversions or demolitions of at least 10,000ft2. that happened beginning in 1986 or later and it specifically called on the zoning administrator to publish an inventory by september 1st and

also for the va to create a process where the public would have the ability to provide public comment and review and meaning. we meaningfully review the list and provide that comment and gave this year the ability to add rules and regulations to make that happen and then it also clarified that this is a requirement a timed requirement for this first one this year. >> but future inventories can also be published if we become aware of other conversions and demolitions that happen during that time period that we didn't capture this time. so the process we followed we we actually did a presentation to the planning commission here in june of last year we published the draft inventory of july and july 18th last year we have an office program mailing list. any time there are updates we

send it out. so we sent that draft inventory out to them. >> we did another planning commission hearing here on july 25th to also announce it. >> we updated our website etc. we provided essentially a month for public feedback but we didn't get any public comment on that and so after that period we finalized everything and published the inventory on august 30th and no appeals were filed during the appeal period and so what was the result? >> we basically found 2.3 million square feet of conversions in demolition since 1986 and that was through 32 different specific projects to conversions nine demolitions and one that was a combination and the size and the geography was pretty diverse. sizes ranged from 10,600 to over 400,000ft2. and then just in terms of geography and size you can see

most of the projects kind of hug the market street spine and then the financial district area. but we did have some outliers to the south and to the north a lot diversity in size and but most of them were were conversions not a lot of demolitions but that's that's how we kind of got to the number we have right now in our large cap being over 2 million before if not for prop c we would only have a little over 100,000ft2 in large cap but that was ultimately the result of prop c when we came before you last summer you had requested that once the inventory was finalized and the numbers were finalized that we come back and give you an update on that. so i wanted to do that and again just an overview of the overall program but happy to answer any questions you may have. >> thank you. okay. that concludes your presentation. we should open up public comment members of the public this is your opportunity to address the commission on this item again you need to come

forward and line up on the screen side of the room. last call seeing none public comment is closed and this matter is now before you commissioners again this is an informational item. >> commissioner brown just want to quickly say as one of the commissioners who was interested in seeing the end results of implementation of prop c and what you found thank you very much for coming to the hearing and preparing for this . commissioner vice president moore good hunting. >> i'm surprised there was that much to be found. two 2.5 million square feet is quite a bit of square footage given that we have a cap. >> congratulations. thank you. thank you for the thorough report. really appreciate the work. look who's really good work yourself and your team. thank you, corey. i was quick just in response to that and specifically vice president moore's comment.

i just want to give andrew perry a lot of credit because it was a lot of work digging through the weeds and a lot of old building permit and plan research and definitely couldn't have done all that in that timeline without his helped so thank you. >> thank you. thank you. and andrew okay commissioners if there's nothing further we can move on. >> and as previously stated we'll be calling up item 16 out of order for case number 2024 hyphen 007142 crv for the property at 1035 howard street good afternoon commissioners monica jack mucci with department staff the applicant monica in order we have a commissioner mcgarry need to make a disclaimer. >> okay. good afternoon.

to be completely transparent the north cal carpenters union has a letter of intent to work on this project. i worked for the north cal carpenters union. i checked with our lawyers and they've submitted a summary to the office of david chu on this and previous ones that may be at issue and i have no conflicts of interest on voting on this item and that is my disclaimer. thank you. sorry monica one more interruption for those persons standing up against the wall in front of the doorway causing a fire hazard so i'd respectfully request that you find a seat that looks like there's plenty of seats left to be had. thank you. appreciate the cooperation. >> go ahead, monica. okay, monica jack mucci department staff the application before you is a request for a waiver of the active use requirements of planning code section 140 5.1 for the upper floors of a building at 1035 howard street

which is individually individually designated as a category two building under article 11 of the planning code and located within a mixed use general zoning district. >> the overall project would convert 61,545 gross square feet within the existing vacant commercial building from laboratory use and office use to 3600 gross square feet of ground floor social services use 21,851 gross square feet of self-storage use with an additional 390 gross square feet of accessory retail use 43,996 gross square feet of commercial storage use and 1210 gross square feet of undetermined active use space at the ground floor. the project includes restoration work to the windows and store fronts and a commitment to a historic building maintenance plan. >> on december fourth of last year, the historic preservation commission or hpc, reviewed and approved a major permit to alter for the proposed exterior work and a land use incentive pursuant to planning code section eight o 3.9 b to allow self-storage use within the building. >> in addition, the hpc

deliberated on an active use waiver and that is the very very narrow action before you today planning code section 140 5.1 which governs street frontages for most development projects allows the planning commission on the advice of the historic preservation commission to modify or waive certain street frontage provisions for historic buildings including those designated under articles ten and 11. >> the planning commission can only modify or waive these requirements when the hpc advises that the requested waiver or modification will enhance the economic feasib active uses which are generally defined as those those uses which do not require opaque walls are required at the first 25ft of depth from facades facing a public street at the ground floor and 15ft of depth at floors above prior to deliberation by the hpc on december 4th the project proposed active use only at the howard street facade storage which is not in active use was proposed at thet. >> the hpc introduced a series of conditions of approval which

modified the project and subsequently the waiver before you today the hpc did not recommend approval of the waiver as originally proposed and instead recommended that the project comply with section 140 5.1 by providing code compliant active use at the ground floor as required. however, the hpc did recommend that the planning commission approve the waiver at the upper storeys allowing the project sponsored a program the first 15ft of building depth on the second and third floors with storage uses. the project sponsor has revised the project to include active uses along russ a 1210 square foot area that i mentioned earlier it's sort of located at the rear of the street facade is still schematic in nature and the project sponsor will be required to work with planning staff and the zoning administrator to revise this area for full compliance with 140 5.1 before we approve any permits or permits are issued. additionally, the hpc recommended that the planning commission encourage the project sponsor to develop lighting and streetscape plans for review and submittal to

planning department staff before a permit approval with the intent that the howard and russell facades be adequately lit and programed with street trees and other standard streetscape elements. a finding has been added to your draft resolution to formalize this request by the hpc which i initially omitted and i also omitted the other conditions of approval that were included in the hpc se motion in the staff report you received last week. so as you may have seen i sent a revised staff report yesterday that includes the full list of conditions introduced by the hpc in your executive summary and that's just for your reference. >> the department has received a number of formal letters of opposition to the proposed project from members of the public and a number of individuals spoke in opposition to the at the hpc hearing and i know that there are a lot of folks assembled here today so i don't want to take up too much oxygen to restate what they will state in a moment but in general opposition has centered around the proposed storage uses and previously the lack of an active use at the ground floor since the hpc hearing

opponents have stated that the proposed plans are not showing actual active use of the ground floor. >> members of the public also expressed concerns throughout the process about the environmental impacts of proposed■ storage uses particularly pollution from truck emissions and general increased vehicular activity at the site and in general folks would prefer residential retail school, other neighborhood serving uses at this location. the department has also received two formal letters of support for the project and both writers state that while other uses would be preferred, the proposed use would activate the building over its current vacant condition and provide an opportunity for community organizations to have high quality space. so based on the info included in your staff report, the department recommends approval of the proposed active use waiver for the upper storeys only and that the sponsor develop and submit a streetscape and lighting plan for department approval based on the hpc recommendations and before i conclude i just want to restate that this is sort of an unconventional action that's

before you very often when somebody is requesting an exemption because it's a historic building, it's part of a larger entitlement package that's coming to you. so it's very rare that this is just a one off kind of request for the waiver and in this case there just isn't an entitlement required to be approved by this commission. so that's why we're bringing only this waiver to you today and i'm happy to answer any questions you have about that and the project broadly and that concludes my presentation . >> the sponsor is here with the presentation as well. thank you. projects sponsor you have five minutes. >> thank you. good afternoon commissioners john kevin here with reuben, judith and rose on behalf of the project sponsor turbine and real estate partners we're excited to present to you this project which will remodel state this important historic building, activate the building, increase security in the vicinity, provide long term affordable community space for filipino community organizations and enhance the soma pilipinas cultural district. >> the angled building was constructed i'm sorry, go ahead. yeah that was in 1930 and the art deco style and is now rated

as an article 11 significant building the building has definitely seen better days and has been completely vacant since at least 2017. you'll see here just a few examples of the poor state the buildings in the project would repair and rehabilitate the building, restore the storefronts and establish community tenant spaces along howard and russell street frontages and establish a mix of storage uses in the building. importantly, this is the only project that would support the $10 million in cost necessary to save and restore this historic building. the current owner has spent the last seven years exploring multiple uses for the building including advanced manufacturing pdr retail office lab and life science educational residential none of these have been able to generate the income necessary to restore the building which will require restoration of the exterior of the building a seismic upgrade and installation of all new electrical plumbing and mechanical systems in the building. since it's just a rehab we expect the construction to take just nine months so this project will quickly come online and begin contributing to the area. >> the project restores the

storefront windows along howard and russ street which have been boarded up since the 19 60s. >> the project also creates multiple different active uses on both street frontage. we have a signed mou with the soma pilipinas filipino-american development foundation to occupy the green space along howard street for very low rent for 25 years the blue space along rush street has been master lease to pilipinas to be occupied by cultural district arts service retail and other community organizations for 25 years at very low rent in red we have a small retail space for the storage operation and the store for the storage and in purple as discussed by ms. jackson mucci we're continuing to work with staff to provide loading access for the storage operation while also carving out additional tenant space. it's been pointed out that the mezzanine currently extends into this area so obviously we've got some work to do in this area before it's final. the building is uniquely positioned at the center of the soma pilipinas cultural district. the soma pilipinas have adopted a master plan to make significant cultural

improvements to rush street between howard and folsom and 1035 howard anchors one of the principal corners. it's obviously important this large historic building is to this district. we we're proud to have the written agreements with carpenters, electrical plumbers, sheet metal and fire sprinklers, unions to exclusively cover their trade work in the project's construction. >> the project will have result and increase security around the site by having two onsite employees including one living on site installation of 24 hour security cameras, installation of a high quality gate along the open area at the rear of the lot and at the recommendation of the hbc working on a lighting plan that will also improve public safety. >> the hbc unanimously approved the project at their hearing in december, including the recommendation of the planning commission to approve a waiver of the active use on the upper floors allowing the storage operation to occupy the entirety of those floor plates. and we're asking the planning commission to now affirm that waiver. this is the only project that has shown itself to be viable after many attempts over seven years. this is a one of a kind opportunity to achieve multiple policy objectives. i think everyone understands

that without this project, this building will sit vacant for many more years and that is what's particularly relevant to this important historic building which is obviously in serious disrepair and we lose the opportunity to provide this someone pilipinas and other cultural community organizations a secure office and gathering location in the community for a generation. i'd now like to have ryan tours up from the project team come up and speak to our community outreach. good afternoon commissioners ryan towards our terminal real estate partners partner there first just wanted a level set tell you know remember why we're all here. we're working together towards a shared vision right to try and better the streets in the neighborhoods of san francisco right opposition are our development philosophy centers focus on restoring vacant and distressed buildings, converting them to their highest and best use. we experience developers with projects ranging from hospitality conversions to residential to self storage. at 1035 howard we looked at the full spectrum of possibilities. we strongly believe that we

have identified the highest and best use for this property a vision that will breathe new life into the building, restore its historic beauty and positively impact the surrounding neighborhoods. we understand some folks have some concerns with self-storage. well, the concerns should be heard. i also want to remind everyone of the hundreds of small local businesses and individuals who will benefit from the services that the self-storage provides . we have been proactive in engaging and listening to the neighbors and the community. i've enjoyed getting to know raquel, rudy and others during this process. we're excited to partner about our partnership with salma pilipinas. we worked earnestly with rudy and united place to come to an agreement. my hope and goal was to provide below market rent for 25 years to both groups to enter the building. unfortunately we were unable to fulfill ups requests thank you. but that history that every time for 25 years the commissioners may have some clarifying questions for you and call you later. thank you. with that we should open up public comment. members of the public this is your opportunity to address the

commission on this matter through the chair each member of the public will have two minutes ready? >> ready. good afternoon commissioners. my name is alex lansberg. i'm research and advocacy director for the electrical industry. i wanted to rise here in support of this project to us. i have a letter from the sheet metal workers. there were representative had to go pick up a kid so this as good as it gets today i think you've heard a lot of good things about this project. i think i want a couple of things i want to underscore. there's been talk of of mills act credits to be able to restore to this this beautiful building. it's obviously going to put a lot of our folks to work with are just hundreds of people in the out of work list and all that and all the union halls and it's going to be really critical to getting them and local contractors on on these jobs. i think another another thing to remember is that the level of investment that's going to be going into this building

doesn't just go away. it doesn't just create self-storage that's going to be used in perpetuity. self-storage is really a modular sort of use so that when there is a higher better use or when when the economy turns around when these guys get their investments out, we can come back and take a look and see whether there are other uses out there. there are also you know, it's actually i ironic that we had just a couple of items before hearing about all the all the needs for senior housing and whatnot and the big thing that's missing is money to make this stuff happen. so as you know, as time evolves as this building operates in time, we can we can come back and revisit and seeing whether something else is possible. but in the meantime we don't want to see this building fall apart. we want to get people working again, improve the streetscape as much as we can in the area and and move forward. >> thank you. good afternoon, president and members of the san francisco

planning commission. my name is jay anthony. many of our i'm an organizer for norcal carpenters union local 22 here in the beautiful city of san francisco. i represent approximately 4000 carpenters in san franciscoalifm speaking on behalf of my brothers and sisters carpenters that live here in san francisco in support of the proposed gentrify our redevelopment. i was born and raised and continued to live in san francisco. i have been a union carpenter for 11 years and i understand the importance benefits that a project like 1035 howard street brings to the city and the community that proposed gentrified house redevelopment will will create economic opportunity by creating union jobs for san francisco residents as well as uplifting the community to provide real estate partners is a new developer in san francisco and this is their first proposed development turbine as we believe in in our developers in san francisco should do is make the right decision by partnering with labor to this project they have made a commitment to use a union general contractor. a union general contractor

means area standard wages and benefits and the opportunity for apprentices to begin or advance their career in construction. there are plenty of local developers who are unwilling to make this commitment. >> in conclusion, the norco carpenters union fully supports the proposed 1035 howard street redevelopment because it will help elevate the quality of life for the working class as well as a community and set a standard for other developers to follow when they come to the city of san francisco we ask that the commissioners approve this project that our members can go to work. thank you for your time and service on this matter. >> boom boom boom all right. >> good afternoon commissioners. my name is christian turcios born and raised in san francisco. >> i'm here in favor of 1035 howard street. the redevelopment project and this will give me a chance to further my apprenticeship and skills in the city and most of my jobs. >> last year they beat out the city man so i'd be killing to

get any chance to save money on gas. >> believe it. but more importantly it's more than just developing an old building in me. you know is my future you feel me? >> and yeah, thank you for supporting our work and our profession. >> have a good day. you good afternoon, commissioners. my name is dan taurus. i'm a business agent with sprinkler fitters yuma local 43. i was born in san francisco. i lived the majority of my life in san francisco. like the young man that spoke right before me when i was an apprentice i worked while i lived on the corner of 18th and york. i was able to jump on that was it the 5:05 a.m. or five l or something like the nine san bruno. it's been it's been a minute i used to take that downtown and i haven't a project like this in the city i mean i reported at our union meeting last night about the we're close to 10% unemployment right now and that doesn't even include the people

that are technically employed but not working. you know, so we need to like mary mayor lurie said in an article that i read this morning he wants to revitalize san francisco and he's going to start by, you know, cleaning up the streets and we need to continue on with getting some more construction downtown. so i encourage you to move this project forward and thank you for your time. fellow commissioners. my name is dave fahy. i'm here with you a local 38. plumbers and pipefitters union of san francisco like the my people in front of me that have just mentioned my my my position at the union and business development we desperately need construction jobs in the city right now with the current state of what's going on you know but not only what a project like this. create opportunities for apprentices and also could

create opportunities for pre-approve ownership and other city agencies for local hires and people to go to work. so it'll be people that are currently out of work and also people from the community that want to enter and create a career path in the industry of construction. so we hope that you stand in support of this project. >> a lot of commissioners hello zero. i'm john goldman of goldman architects located at 172 russell street where i've been for 24 years after two years of construction i want to just point out a few issues on the plans that you are reviewing. >> first of all, i'm very happy that the facades are going to be restored. i love the building. it's one of my favorite buildings in summer if not the city. >> but i do have a few issues with the drawings which i want to show point out right here

this designated after use area is only shown 20ft deep with a public corridor behind it which is roughly five feet deep. so that needs to be changed to be sure it's 25ft deep. secondly, the mezzanine plan as the fellow from rubin judaism noted actually that the mezzanine as shown now extends to the rear street facade that creates a seven foot four inch ceiling heights on the active use areas. >> look at the elevations. nothing is indicated here that in fact there would be a floor coming right to the window wall here hitting the windows in a random and arbitrary place. >> that's not acceptable section you see here in these sections they're adding an entirely new floor between floors one and floor two.

>> it's not a mezzanine. it's a floor. so that. simple solution pull that pull that new floor back 25ft from our street facade. the other issue is this work. yeah. the other issue is the internal corridor on floors two and three. that corridor should be on the perimeter so that you're not having the backs of prefab storage units against the glazing. just create a perimeter corridor 4 or 5ft wide whatever is needed that'll totally solve the problem and you'll see people walking the corridors occasionally instead of the back of units. >> so easy changes in the design i guess i'll put this back in and how that happened and i'm open for questions if you have any. >> good afternoon commissioners and fellow san franciscans. my name is justin apple. i'm a homeowner at 112 rush street which is right across the street from the rush street facade of this building. i'm also a local firefighter so

appreciate all you union carpenters out here. i'm a union member myself. understand that i live across the street from this building and it's been a it's been a blight on our neighborhood. there's you know, with the drug epidemic right across the street every day we walk outside one day last year there were bloody footprints just walking right past our building. so this this this building has contributed to a lot of blight in the area which is unfortunate because you know, sixth street is blighted and that as you come down towards rush street it really starts to get very residential and there's a lot of like small businesses and families like mine that live there. so i do take issue with with the fact that there are a lot of people who are from san francisco who don't live on this block. i, i think that anybody that you asked your hey, do you want a storage facility across the street from your house in this beautiful art deco building? i would say no, i don't think that it's going to address the blight issues that the developers will tell you that it has.

the developers also suggested that the commissioners were in support of this project. they mulled over this thing for like 45 minutes and they set out this long set of conditions. they did not like the idea at all but they said well you know we're in a difficult financial time so we're going to set all these provisions in place so you guys can do something positive for the community with the confines of you know, the financial situation that we're in. and at every step of the way they have failed to deliver on what the commissioners have asked them to do. that section that john just pointed out in the building who is going to occupy retail space that has seven foot ceilings the only possible use that he can see as an architect is more self-storage. so we would like to see that whole space activated at a bare minimum bare minimum. >> thank you for. >> hi how are you? good afternoon. i will be speaking on behalf of

michelle. leave us. i have lived, worked and raised my kids in selma for almost 25 years. my organization owns two buildings directly across the street from this project and some of filipinas and filipino american development foundation does not speak for me. please reject this project. crisis happens in an instant in this neighborhood. we do not need yet another challenge. >> i'm not able to be physically present but hpc the only voices in support of this project were from those that directly benefit from the project. so i urge you to look at the fiscal. sponsorship of any groups in support of this project. i'm proud that the opposition to this project is a diverse group of residents, business owners and community based organization workers and property owners demanding what's best for our community. this farce of a commuty benefit is now. benefit to those of us who actually live in this community. united players has never signed

an nda with a developer because if we are negotiating on behalf of the community then the community deserves to know what we have negotiated for them. >> we don't negotiate for ourselves and keep it to ourselves. >> that should not be allowed. we would rather this building continue to sit empty than exacerbate the existing problems in our neighborhood with no benefit to the community. >> thank you for. hi. good afternoon. my name is lauren. i am a resident of soma living with my husband, three children and parents for almost 20 years. i work as a certified nursing assistant. >> i changed my ship to this i am here and my other. >> and the other moms say take a day off because is speaking about literacy important to us?

i'm a part of a a filipino resident community and i didn't hear about this project from soma pilipinas i didn't support. 1035 powered project i live half a block away from the project. i stand here with our with our other parents live less than a block away from the project. many other residents could not take a. of work but they wanted to be here. we are not supported the project and we don't want storage in our neighborhood. we do not want random people coming in our community to put their stop here. they never leave here. we want school or grocery store or anything benefits our community. we live here. we don't want storage. >> outside our house. thank you.

hello. good afternoon commissioners. i'll be speaking for myself and also for a neighbor that wasn't able to come here. so first i'm going to do that. good afternoon commissioners. my name is alexa jeppesen and i am in opposition of this project. i was born and raised in the summer for 27 years. i have always lived on rice in its home and my whole life our neighborhood deserves the basic essentials such as grocery stores. health resources and other resources that are accessible for families and the people who work and live here. we also need buildings and large spaces for nonprofit orgs and or programs to execute their jobs in helping the community. having a storage will just add more problems like increasing crime and traffic. it's already enough. we have to worry about our own well-being and the safety of our kids and families. we deserve a vibrant and thriving community and all those space was offered to other soma programs. they deserve more than what is being offered. this is my home and my neighborhood and we deserve to be part of the conversation because we have to deal with the consequences 24 seven

whereas others can go home outside of soma. again, i'm against this project and now this is my part our neighborhoods deserve more than just quick fixes and short term gains. we deserve investmts and breathe life into our streets, bring neighbors together and create lasting opportunities for everyone. a storage facility that is space taken not space given it does nothing to heal the challenges we face daily challenges like the lack of accessible groceries, safe spaces for our children and clean environments where we can thrive just and not just survive. i'm a resident of selma born and raised and all my life walking down the street i've always seen that the building is not being used and now finally seeing it being put to use for storage space that you know that's crazy to me it can be used for so much more things and actually. that actually benefit the community. our neighborhood is more than just a collection of streets. it's a living, breathing home. we need development that honor that invest in us as people not just as data points on a developer. it's. spreadsheet storage spaces

don't build features they just take away our space. we deserve more than that. we deserve to be seen. >> we deserve to be heard and we deserve to be valued. thank you. >> good afternoon commissioners . thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak. my name is rudy corpus. i'm the executive director of united players of donna's permission organization has been serving our city for the last 30 years. i'm born and raised in the south. the market the neighborhood that you're referring to is where my family is. >> do i want to see a good neighborhood? absolutely do want to see that building built for community and for everybody? >> yes. >> what a lot of people did referred to is not only that we have buildings for the community and space are ready for the youth but that's the street that they named after us. >> and when you're not a park a

something that they build in your community when you got folks who were. parachute in bob building get some people who they say it's for in a community but anchoring a community and speak for the filipinos as there i find that appalling i'm born and raised i'll walk by and i look at that building every single day when you talk about the historical. preservative of building yes, we want that to be what we want it to be but not the expanse that you selling our people out. this is not fair that you as an organization will get or get a nonprofit who is not from our neighborhood either but they filipino like me. >> but don't tell the people who live there what the project is going be. >> this paper was given to me right outside is doing yeah i've been had this paper that's not fair man and we don't even get to see what the program in

a project is. how do you expect a solar panels who are there to support a project do i want to see it thriving? yes. you want to see the new you know the laborers get jobs. absolutely. but not the expense that they got to come to our neighborhood and we got to fight against our own people again. >> see, these are two things, man. i swear to god my dad i really hate coming to but i come to because i care about our community and our people and 99% of the people that are in that neighborhood who are filipino or were not filipinos say no to this project. >> thank you mr. corpuz time good afternoon commissioners. my name is heather phillips and i've worked in soma for over 20 years and for many years i live less than a block from this project. >> i'm here today in opposition to this waiver for active use

on the ground floor. >> this site has been vacant or nearly vacant for many years and we know how detrimental that is for community safety. when large stretches of street frontage are left with no active use and we can't pretend that in an entry to a storage facility is an active use right? >> the planning requires an active use because we know how important it is to keeping our communities vibrant, healthy and safe. >> these requirements are meant to protect communities against this exact type of conditions where it's a slow market opportunist stick outsiders coming in to hold on to land in the community and keep it from being activated until they can sell it at a profit. >> that's what this is a short sighted plan to yes fix the shell of a building but to hold the community hostage to being able to use that building for something good, it would it would improve the shell of a

historic building but it would permanently alter the building's ability to serve a better purpose as active retail a grocery a school or community services site. >> the small amount of space being designated for community use doesn't create an active sidewalk. >> it doesn't provide enough enhancement for residents and businesses. >> of course we want labor to be active and working of course we want the building to be restored and of course we want for soma pilipinas and for arts and culture to have a space of their own but not at the expense of the community of the residents who live there. >> they've shown the community shown up today to share their voices and i hope you will listen and this isn't an already decided matter because they really wanted to be here. we had probably three times as many folks who just couldn't wait more than three hours to be heard. so please i beg you to consider the pleas of a neighborhood.

>> hi commissioners. my name is alex ludlum. i'm active on a few community boards at the cbd west bay. i also live a block away. i think this is a typical hearing in which 100% of the people in favor stand to make money on the project and 100% of people opposed. will have to live with the building in their community. i don't have a lot new to add except i'll say that the community benefit district picks up 1 million pounds of trash a year in this neighborhood due to the misrule of our city and the fentanyl crisis and and absolutely this corner has been like a top

three problem. location between sixth street and venice. it's at the top of the list every year and you know the requirement for active users which this seeks to waive obviously tries to prevent that, sort of situation or a building has no activity and thus attract. drug dealers and encampments etc. i would also like to add that i think it's appalling that commissioner mcgarry would would get david chu to say that there is no conflict of interest that's just obviously ridiculous. >> thank you. >> agree to remind members of the public that the commission does not tolerate any disruption or outbursts of any kind. so if you want to support the speaker please do so silently

you can wiggle your fingers in the air. we'll argue your toes but i would ask that you refrain from clapping and cheering. thank you dear community and commissioners my name is christine and i support some of the other businesses and arts administrator. in the last couple of years we've worked with multiple organizations to complete over a dozen new public art works in the neighborhood including two new murals. unrest and for some street rush street is an important neighborhood corridor and with community use of 1035 howard we hope to contribute toward rest becoming a hub for community cultural arts and visual storytelling. the rush street corridor has brought many community groups and students together to learn the history of filipinos in san francisco starting with an homage to victoria and all the graves at the entrance of the park and to seeing themselves and the themes of togetherness and by neon in check teaches punks awesome a mural and cc and francesca's care about mural attendees 48 and 1052

possum rush street is also the site the proposed site for the incoming summer filipinas gateway which will be the first permanent highly visible monument in san francisco to represent the contributions and triumphs of filipino community in previous community events, rush street has become a plaza for community performances, arts activities and jeepney rides day to day rush street serves as our gravity of center to come together to honor our stories and to celebrate our artists. >> we hope community use of 1035 howard can continue this invitation and lead us towards finding one another when connecting to our homelands and our histories as part of our chess strategies to expand access to filipino arts education and to stabilize filipino artists, we hope to invite programing for families, seniors and community members that would include poetry poetry workshops from local writers, filipino language classes for all ages and exhibition opportunities for emerging artists spaces to

play, learn and explore is integral for our artists and community members to cultivate their voice and creativity. so we wish the 1035 howard a community space to be a shared maker space for artists across disciplines to create and record, rehearse and share their works. we imagine 1035 howard as a community space to tell our stories to inspire current and future generation of artists and to share the space with community groups and artists who are still needed in space. >> thank you fellow commissioners david wu with some filipinas the 1035 howard street side had a different proposal in 2020 that was approved by the historic preservation commission that included a significant addition of new office space the 2020 project would have contributed to the gentrification of this largely residential and industrial portion of the south. the market an area that mainly consists of one, two three story multifamily residential

buildings and light industrial buildings. the 2020 proposal for this site included the addition of a five story office building attached to the current building. this would have expanded the office sector further into this western portion of soma which is inappropriate for this neighborhood and out of context and scale with the current buildings further increasing gentrification and displacement pressures on this residential portion of soma by attracting wealthy office workers would have had an extremely negative impact on the existing community due to the city's overreliance on the office sector specifically in tech jobs. we are currently seeing a high rate of office vacancy. for this reason office development has stalled and the project did not move forward in 2020 and the site has continued to remain vacant while wealthy investment firms and real estate speculators and private developers have plenty of time and capital to wait for a rebound of the office market and are always on standby for when the office market will

change so that they can profit off of san francisco. we cannot just sit and wait to see what will happen on this site. it could potentially become another office project in the future with high income workers that drive up the cost of rent. >> while we would prefer to see more active users at this site such as affordable housing or an active pdr pdr use, we are supportive of the historic preservation commissions approvals for a condition and a supportive of the agreement made for active ground floor use. we should take the opportunity now to ensure that the current project provides community uses that benefit the existing community and something that also work towards fulfilling our chess goals. >> thank you. >> good afternoon commissioners. my name is carla lorelle. i'm the director of west bay filipino multi-service center where the oldest filipino led nonprofit in northern california predominantly serving rtimmigrants in the souf

market. i just want to name that we had over 30 residts and staff that were with us but our main program is our afterschool program so they had to leave to pick up the kids where they walked the rest street past the very building to get to our centers who are also speaking against the resolution approving the 1035 howard waiver for active use. >> i said this before historic preservation but this isn't the first time an outsider has come to tell the existing residents what is best for their community. >> i mean despite what our community has gone through to settle for a 70,000 storage facility with 30 600ft2 of a community benefit feels demoralizing to the existing community. our community residents dream of groceries, of schools, of schools, of arts, of larger community organization spaces where this can actually be. >> and i feel like there's been minimal effort when this was expressed to the developer just on the notion that things aren't penciling out instead the developer efforts have felt

like an attempt to just get the project across the finish line even going as far as saying that they would offer us the very space that they were giving the other community organization because we bring more people out further dividing the community that's going to continue to stay here which is not okay. >> i want to be very clear i want someone pilipinas to get a space. this is the api equity fund was created and more recently with this economy so many soma filipino orgs within this past year have been able to get all these spaces in our neighborhood at record prices and there's an opportunity for that. but i feel like this is really about the existing residents. the question isn't about an office space. it isn't about affordable housing or housing. it's about who wants a storage not outside of their house, who wants a storage in their neighborhood. and i feel like it's really important that we listen to what the existing residents want, what they deserve and■ like i said, i can drive away and i don't have to be there after my work hours. but it's really important that we prioritize what's important to them. >> thank you.

good afternoon planning commissioner and community members. my name is second last currently the facilities manager of the biennial community center and the board member of the filipino american development foundation. i am a long time resident and worker in the south up market. i am a manager of the adult coordinated entry up episcopal committee the services located on homeward and seven. we are a place where homeless adults are navigated into permanent supportive housing. i'm the founding director of the annual patrol lantern festival. i'm also known as the community historian and i authored a book on the history of filipinos in south up market and fate. the abbot has been the steward for the biennial community center for over 20 years serving the low income residents artists and grassroot and nonprofits community groups needing space over two decades we hosted thousands of community events for seniors

work road workshop open mike for your birthday parties questioning neighborhood meeting council the space was open to everyone in the neighborhood not only for pilipinas but also many service providers even the city departments doing outreach to the neighborhood. the biennial community center has function on and continues to serve as the cornerstone in strengthening the community because we were gifted the space that we can make available at low cost or no cost to the community. so when we were offered to be steward for multi-use community space at 1035 howard street we saw it as an opportunity to continue this legacy to steward much needed in this space even if a number of legacy filipino organizations including those who have been able to acquire their own building. there are still many filipino groups and artists aware in great need the space to do their important work to serve the community. but our work anchor and cultural district is central to our mission of serving the low

income community of the south up market as a local historian and long time resident and worker in the neighborhood, i thank you for your support and consideration for the decision of utmost importance and historical significance of our community. >> thank you. hello again commissioners as i am coming in many hands my name is gaynor and you on hunger. it's hard when you're stewards over cultural districts and you know you want the best for community. you're not going to make everybody happy. but i'll say this one thing that i stand firmly on is in within our culture dishes are just within our communities as san francisco is what's best for the people that's there not what's best for me, not what what's best for what i think you know because it's more than

me. >> and so with this project, one thing that we know when we talk about equity and how it looks like to us it's how it looks like to us that is from here how it looks like to us in our community how can we as a community be at these tables? equity came about because we were gentrified because we were pushed out because we're displaced, because all these other people from outside came in our neighborhoods and tried to take it over and we didn't know what that meant. my family lost their home. they were forced to move out but i still stayed. grateful for that. why do i say that or why do i share that as we continue to stay here and fight on behalf of our community, the ones that we live in, the ones that we struggle and that we advocate for the best for the entire community that's what we stand

on. many developers have come into our communities and bamboozled us. they make us by if they really was about equity then so my filipinas shouldn't have to pay nothing in this building that should be part of the community benefits for this cultural district but it's not. and that's the challenge that we have. the other thing is r■hudy, my brother, we started up very he believed in us and it was just a school club. but we continue to fight because we love our hood. we want peace. we want better for the community. don't forget you can't come and do anything in our hood without actually having the hood part of it because it's not for us then it's for the benefit of developers. >> thank you. >> good afternoon supervisor

commissioners and also community members. my name is recorded on this. i'm the director of summer pilipinas the filipino cultural heritage district in san francisco and i want to start just by acknowledging other concerns that was raised by community members. you know, a lot of the folks in this room are longtime friends . there are ties there. you know, siblings and it it's i know it's hard for you guys to hear this. it's really hurtful, you know, to to for it to be said that, you know, we're not for the community. you know, i want to acknowledge that this you know, this is across the street from you p and but it's also our cultural heritage district is home tom sh brandon to market street and as the director of the culture district we're looking at for a whole ecosystem and it's it's hard sometimes and honestly this building is you know we don't care for storage.

our position at hpc was very nuanced and it said that, you know, if the hpc finds that this is the only feasible project in the foreseeable future that can support the restoration of this historic asset that we would we would support it given that they have agreed to provide committee space for activation. and so it's not like we love storage. it's not like we don't care about everyone else. it's you know, i think the advice was that it could be a lose lose situation for our community meaning this project would go this project would not happen and it would sit there for ten years. abandoned hazard is no service to anyone or it could push through without any community activation whatsoever. and so that was a tough decision we had to make as a cultural district and you know for us, you know and to show you that this is we're not making money off of it, this is not for me personally we really intend this for the whole

ecosystem of small businesses artists, residents who are always asking us for free or low cost space to use and and you know four of these 25 years and i will no longer be here but you know there is after waves of displacing and the only reason we're here is because of the people who came before us and the people who kept place and space and you know, this is even beyond anyone in this room. you know, keep this peace for generations. >> thank you. okay. last call for public comment. >> i'm an outsider of i've been sitting here listening to this and like i feel rather pain going on. but i have a question that puzzles me. it's 44,000ft2 of commercial storage that's extraordinary. seems like extraordinary. i mean mr. teague was just talking about small cap buildings. that's like a small cap building. so my question is about the code does commercial storage includes servers?

i didn't read the packet but i'm just curious does commercial storage include servers? >> thank you very much. >> okay. final last call for public comment seeing none public comment is closed in this matter is not before you commissioners. >> commissioner mcgarry i would just like to clarify to the gentleman who made made the comments i'm in a weird spot i mean union rep for the carpenters union have been for 18 years. i'm a proud union member for 18.5 years i have worked with pretty much everybody who has spoken here from other trades in the field and as a union rep what i do right now but it is ridiculous that every union rep who serves on a commission and i am here to serve on a commission for san francisco as a whole and i just want to let

that man know and clarify to everybody here that i've had to get the lawyers to start to basically for every and every scenario that comes up that one union member works on that job site. i have i have a four page document here with hyperlinks just so i can actually vote on it, you know, and that's the same for any other union rep who works for any other union who's on any other committee. so i have to say and this is what i have to say no conflict of interest exists to prevent planning commissioner sean mcgarry from voting on project pretty much projects that have a union member on it. so i really want to clarify that because basically the tone of the individual the gentleman that was up here painted my situation in a really bad light. so i hope and i'm here to

answer any questions or outside after this meeting to answer any questions to any member of the public that wishes to know what i do for a living, how i represent the members of construction industry and in san francisco or san francisco as a whole on the dais here today. >> thank you. thank you, commissioner. commissioner vice president moore i like to ask architect goldman if you could give us some additional information if you don't mind. you pointed out five extremely concerning issues the size of the mezzanine as you would read it on the russell street facade . yes you continued was seven foot ceiling height in the retail space seven foot four inch actually is what shown but yes. thank you speaking you spoke about the lack of 25 foot active zone. yes. regarding the west street side

on the most western portion of the block and you added talked about the lower floor showing up on the actually on the first floor elevation. did you by any chance as discussed this was historic preservation commission. i personally believe that there is no disclosure about these items. we are not has to preservation right. >> but i am personally very concerned. unfortunately i didn't make that meeting and i was surprised that there's been no discussion about this. it's as if nobody's noticed that this mezzanine it's not a mezzanine is it actually a new floor? it doesn't meet the definition mezzanine but anyway this new floor i'm just can't believe that nobody has mentioned it extends to the rest street facade creating seven foot four inch so called active spaces. i mean you can't have an active spaces seven foot four seating you can't even have a occupy wall space unless a seven foot six inch high. so that's really crazy and i don't understand how nobody's mentioned this in any report from the planning department or hpc or anyone nobody said a

thing about this to me it was a first thing i notice this is very crazy. what's going on here is the solution just pull up pull up four black pull it back 25ft problem solved, you know and then you've got your normal high space. it's about a 15 foot seven inch ceiling and that works fine. so if it's just pulled back to align with the east wall of the designated after use space that's fine. >> that'll work. no problem. and but the other thing i did mention is there's also a problem in floors two and three floor plans where you don't it's showing an internal circulation system which means the prefab metal units should be right up against the windows making the windows useless. it's so easy simply to create a corridor system around the perimeter of the building along those windows. it's not going to hurt the i mean they probably would have pulled back two units a couple of feet anyway so i another couple of feet and all of a sudden you've got corridors around the perimeter and you're

looking at people moving when they're up there at least you're not looking at the backs of prefab metal units. now i notice monaco said hey, if you're going to have something obscuring those windows we're going to ask for blinds window blinds well let's not do that. that's not going to look good either. let's just move those let's just create a perimeter corridor system solves the problem and you can look up and see corridors instead of the back of prefab metal units right against the window. well, that's crazy. >> so i'm not arguing with the use because you know i haven't run the numbers myself. it may be quite true that all that works on those floors is storage. it could be quite possible but let's do it as well as we can, right? i mean there's no reason to have these kind of compromises. it's quite a concession to eliminate the 15 foot deep active use space on floor two and three. well at least give us a four foot corridor so it's not actually an active use but it actually will allow access to

each of those storage units without having them back up to the windows and which would look ridiculous. >> thank you. thank you, mr. coleman. it's a perfect segway for me. thank you so much. i personally believe that that is a question that needs to be resolved for me personally if indeed we have an investment of $10 million in his store in preservation of this incredibly beautiful building, then i think we should really spend those extra five minutes on doing it correctly on the inside as well. curtains are not an issue or blinds are not an issue. what the issue is we do not want to see the shadow or the outline of storage cubicles in this incredible facade. we do not want to see the ceiling depths of a mezzanine sitting right. it's a warm spot where the wisdom of the horizontal facade would be interrupted by that. does this all easily doable? i would say i was holding myself forward for the project today until that has been clearly addressed and historic

preservation commission has taken the responsible look at what it really does to the performance and visual appearance of this building. i do not at this moment have any objections to what you are trying to do with it but i expected that you would do it correctly also in your own interest. you may not have even noticed the challenge. some of these decisions are made to the quality of what you ultimately were delivering. i think you're going to have a better building and more successful building will remarkable adaptive reuse but those tweaks need to be made in order for that to come across. >> thank you. >> thank you. thank you commissioner imperial thank you. you know this is when whenever we're here in commission where i think we've sent we've seen a lot of items or projects where committees are divided and you know and at the bottom and also

you know there are conversation i would say well these cultural district doesn't speak for the neighborhood though is something that actually also mentioned back in the mission action plan. you know you know, i'm a prominent of a cultural heritage district and i do believe that, you know, that any kind of development that would happen within the cultural district, you know, we our culture, our districts are important to have chess strategy and having a due diligence to work with a cultural district in itself and also committing engagement i, da points that you cannot meet all of the needs i guess at this point however, i'm not saying that the needs of other you know of of committee members mentioned here are not, you know, validated and they are

valid. these are the things that also needed in the community. the question is, you know, whether this whether this is a development that will address those my i mean this is quite complicated because our complex because it is historic old building and this is something that's heard during the historic preservation committee and it looking it's looking into the kind of like the viability of the the feasibility of this building itself and that's when the cultural heritage district comes in whether in terms of what can it be done. but we live in a society or this is a where a planning or a project sponsor comes in and we're we're trying to just mitigate the issues that he can and so and so in terms of you know, i do not have a problem with the use of storage.

there has been other storage uses in the site of market as well. they i in the historic preservation to conditions that are put in there in terms of the the lighting i'm glad that that's also considered and was considered by the historic preservation as a conditions that can also illuminate in terms of the the the gateway project i believe of the the cultural district in itself. so yeah so that's where i'm co■(ey■:gng from in terms of thu know what we have in front of us what's the hpc recommended for the you know in terms of waiving the waiving the the active uses in the upper floors ? i guess my question to to a developer what act what kind of active user are thinking of in this in the first floor thank

you commissioner perry on the first floor you're saying yes okay if i could get as a gov tv to bring up the computer just because this will be the best way to see this. okay, so well, it's not all about the coast captioning but this is the full first floor active use requirement applies 25ft deep along both frontages howard street is on the left and russell street is on the bottom so the green space along howard street is the original space that the project sponsor worked with someone pilipinas fgf to long term lease them the space for their administrative offices and other programing when we wrap around the russell street frontage on the first 25ft that blue space that is the additional space that we've master lease to soma pilipinas for other community organizations in the neighborhood at very long term very low rent as well so so

that entire lr you know for those community spaces you'll see right in the middle is kind of the existing core of the building the entrance of the building. so that's that's still there the the central entrance on ross the red space is a retail space that is both serving the storage use and will also have retail goods and items in the space and then the last purple space on ross which i think has gotten a lot of attention and appreciate your comments. commissioner moore this is a space that we still need to work on. clearly the mezzanine is not going to be able to create a 7.5ft space, right? so to mr. goldman's point, we're very likely going to need to set that mezzanine back this building is going to be a storage building. so we need to figure out exactly how the loading works and there are roll up garage doors along this area where the purple space are where our tax credit consultant said you cannot touch those and still get tax credits and i invite

mr. jack moocher mr. teague to comment on this as well. this space has a lot that's going to need to go into figuring it out both from a code perspective and a operational perspective and what we're going to do is make that space try to carve out as much as we can for actual tenancy while also being able to serve the storage use in the building. >> does that answer your question, commissioner yes, it sounds like you're still working on what kind of active use that you are thinking. yes and also going to work with the planning department staff in how to similarly that in terms of the retail space, what kind of retail space that you are, what kind of retail space that accommodated for that that's for the operation of the storage building so people can both engage in renting a storage unit. but these operations also have retail sales associated with them as well. other you know items like a ups store might have oh i it i, i get what you mean business services okay those sort of

questions i have vice president moore you know i'm not sure what if you're asking for a continuance or whether to have the hbc we have a comment on that first but i you know i mean you brought it up as kind of as more like in terms of the historic building reference and but you know, i actually i think the historic preservation commission has made a lot of comments in it but and i'm willing to make a vote today but i'm curious as to what other commissioners have to say . thank you, commissioner campbell. >> thanks and thank you to everyone for coming out. i always say this is like not an easy meeting to get to so really appreciate everybody's input. >> i think it's safe to say that self-storage and commercial storage are not optimal uses and i completely empathize with the community

for their concerns around that especially in a building of this character. >> right? this is a very special building and so you'd love to see it have a use that really warrants that caliber of architecture and history and i think if we could choose how buildings are used, i think it's safe to say this would not be our first choice. >> but i do my impression is that the sponsor has made exhaustive attempts to identify other uses for this building and i think the fact that it's been sitting here for 7 to 8 years empty is is a testament to that because there losing money as they desperately try to find a way to occupy get this building occupied and at the end of the day we're really just at the mercy of the market when it comes to what we can and can't put into this building and if we if we want to wait for a grocery or a residential project or that restaurant, we're going to wait we're going to be waiting a lot

longer. >> so while not ideal, i think it's where we're at and and and the hbc has said that this is the this proposed project would enhance the feasibility of preserving the property and i do think that's something that we really want to celebrate here this use will help activate a long vacant building. it will add footfall which there is inherent security at you know, eyes on the street really add an element of security to the neighborhood and it's much overdue rehabbing rehabilitation of this building and these are signified again investments that are getting put into this building and it will provide funds for ongoing maintenance in the form of a historic building maintenance plan which is important that this building won't just get fixed once it will continue to be nurtured over time and buildings are living breathing things that require ongoing maintenance.

>> i'd say one other positive to the storage in addition to providing the capital needed to make these improvements is it does have a minimal impact on the building. so that means down the road we're not compromising historic fabric and we can reverse this intervention and possibly have that restaurant or that grocery store or those residents residential units. >> i do have concerns. i am an architect and when i read the plans that mezzanine on the russell street side on that corner was troubling. and so i just want to dig a little bit into i watched the recording of the hpc meeting from december fourth and i heard a lot of concerns from our our counterparts there at th c and i think what really meant a lot to them and it means a lot to me too is that the the frontage along both howard and russ are active and either they didn't realize

it or it wasn't clear in the drawings that that back corner of the russell street elevation is is not going to be active so i think if the sponsors are open to pushing that mezzanine back the 25ft that's going to really do us that's going to really help. >> i think ensure that it's active. >> i would also make a plug for adding transparency to the rolling doors. i see that they're existing to remain but if if you look at the building i don't know if someone could pull up the elevation from the deck but there's very limited visibility into the actual space. >> the rolling doors are actually one those two rolling doors are when elements that actually come down a little bit further. there's a way to get some transparency there. i would i think that would go a long way and that activation that we're looking to get and i hadn't thought the upper floors

in terms of the 15 foot depth requirements of on the upper floors i know that the hpc was okay with making that concession but i would love to hear from the sponsor if incorporating a corridor around the perimeter is feasible to the project. i do think that's a really provocative alternative and maybe we could pause there and we could hear from the sponsor about that idea. >> yeah, just one thing backtracking the mezzanine was just yeah, better. >> i don't think it stays right . the mezzanine was just an oversight because there was never an active use before the hpc so we will not have mezzanine perfect in the back half so i just want to clarify that that's the corridor on the second and third floor. we can try and get creative.

>> i don't have you know it's then i would just caution that we'll have motion sensor lights ,right? >> so i don't know that it's always going to be on if you know you're not once you have a leased up self-storage facility you're getting maybe two people a day, right? you're not you're not getting a lot of move ins, move outs. and so if if there's not a lot of activity is not going to be a lot of light on and so i don't know that it's really an active use up on the second or third floor maybe we could think about something and again just spitballing you i know some of t maybe you could put some some sort of murals on the back of the metal panels that are lit up that are more inviting right . i just we're open to be creative so yeah, that's a great idea actually. >> thank you. mural idea that's yeah. thank you. so someone mentioned loading zones and this was another area that and i don't know if i'm getting out of my purview here

but i was curious about how we envision things getting loaded and unloaded into the facility. there is this nice parking lot that we're introducing in the back and i would think neighbors would really appreciate having loading concentrated in and out of that parking lot rather than dominating the sidewalk where i see that we've got the proposed freight elevator as well as the entrance into the facility. >> so i would love to hear if we could try to concentrate loading and loading actually from the parking lot and and stop me if i'm out of i'm out of line here. but i just think that would be really beneficial to to the neighborhood. >> sure. so we've obviously heard pushback from some of the residents about the loading and unloading on the street. there is one freight elevator that's in the middle of the building that's historically where they used it for the industrial use.

>> the issue that we're having is we want this to be an institutional asset right run by an extra space or a public storage right where they take pride their security will have an onsite manager that lives there 24 seven and the live in unit they need to have a clear line of sight to the loading and so the office needs to be next to the elevator right the leasing office and so if you have all the loading out back they will refuse to manage the asset and there's travel distances for how long people can walk with their stuff. so let's say you had a unit in the front of howard but the loading is off the back. >> it's over 150 feet of distance walking so there's mandates put in place by some of these institutional units or institutional storage operators and so we're just trying to work through that. we're not opposed to it. i thought, you know, personally keeping the lot as untouched as

possible leaves the opportunity for other things to be developed for the community in the future. right. and not having the self storage sort of eat all that excess land so we can try and be open to it. >> i think we're we're trying to get the approval first and then work through the details so that a couple last comments were what i heard also at the hpc hearing was if we don't do the corridor that runs around the second and third floor there they were very concerned about the how we're going to achieve translucency and they wanted to make sure that all the glass was transparent so it was consistent across the building and i noticed in the drawings that they're call it that we're calling out for a translucent layer and i just wanted to confirm that that's removable. that's a removable film, not something that's integrated into the glass market community

department staff thank you for the question. actually the hpc made it part of their conditions of approval that the glass should be transparent and that it was a commissioner who put forward that if any sort of obstruction or obscurity was desired that it would be a removable shade or blinds or something like that. so the glazing should be transparent. >> okay. but i think it could also be a film that could be removable and maybe that's what's being called out in these drawings as translucent layer. i just want to make sure that that fits the requirements from the hpc and then thank you for calling out the lighting plan that will help illuminate the building as well as the sidewalk and then my last two comments were just around the mural and if there's a way to get the mural integrated either on the facade or whether it's on the third or fourth floor corridor, i think that would be i know we lost some of the real estate when we integrated those five bays of storefront but great if we can find another. >> yeah. thank you for bringing that up commissioner. we haven't really had the time to talk about it but yes we had

originally committed with some someone because this this block of ross is very important. they've already got some beautiful murals at the other end down by folsom and what a great opportunity this big frontage we did lose some real estate but we've already been in conversations about we're going to be looking for other opportunities on this building to both restore the historic building but also complement the adjacent, you know, corridor. and i think what we're one of the things we've been talking about is mural or painting or you know, on those upper levels so maybe counteracting this idea of, you know, that the windows are not going to be particularly active just because there's not a lot of people in this building. i think there's a lot of opportunities but that's certainly already something we're working on with with some focus. haou. thank you. i'll leave it at that. >> thank you, commissioner mcgarry so this is a beautiful art deco building and it's in serious disrepair. there is 10 million that's good

that's been offered to go into it and it's been vacant since 2017. i don't believe from what i see in this building that it will survive another eight years of neglect. it will i i've been in this town for 3030 few 32 years. it'll be torn down. it won't survive so it won't be a site that will be feasible to be saved and it'll be swapped with something new. i do want to explore the idea of the 25 year lease below market lease that was offered and i believe this is on the ground floor which would activate the ground floor and if so this will replace the community onsite was a say for any future development. so i'd like to know from the developer i think a lot of the community has gone but if anybody has left can they explain to me was were these discussions hard? where are we looking at this from a 25 year point of view or

was it just an immediate transaction? so if you can answer that yes. >> commissioner mcgarry thank you for asking that. i would love to clarify. >> i'm very transparent. so when we first started this obviously we're first time developer in san francisco so we did not know all of the the community groups and we started to learn quickly. we first met raquel. we offered a well below market lease for 25 year term after that that was originally on howard street, right? and so then i met with rudy after the hpc hearing in the clubhouse and i offer rudy same term for actually more space for 25 years united players and rudy came there their proposal was we want 10,000ft2 on the first floor free for 25 years. i don't really know where the 10,000 square foot very arbitrary number. i respect what you know united

place does and i know that raquel and someone pilipinas does as well. she's been very flexible to even swap spaces from howard to russ and and let united players lease the front space as well. so we've been very transparent obviously i had an mou with united players i couldn't work with some of filipinas so i couldn't tell you not to place exactly what it was. but i'm telling everybody here are transparent now it was it's the same terms just different square footage and so it's i just want to we need to be transparent when we say you know, united place is saying they haven't seen these plans and no one came to them and the hud needs to be involved. >> absolutely. we we tried to involve them there. there was a paper trail and we met there in the clubhouse so we want to be good neighbors and work with them going forward and i will never shut that door. we want to be good neighbors for 25 years so thank you.

thank you, commissioner bron so like many fellow commissioners have said, you know, storage is not my preferred use for this building especially given that storage can actually be very lucrative and we have a very long recovery period for developer activity to really pick up in the city. so this could end up being there for quite a while. that gives me that gives me some pause but i'm also recognizing a lot of factors here so you know, storage is allowed um in this situation for preservation of historic buildings in the city. i had to really kind of follow the bread trails breadcrumbs of 5.1 leading to 83.9 and follow this but uh but in this instance the lab because specifically it's the store building that would be getting repaired and i see the value of that. so the storage use itself is is allowed.

um the of course there is the matter of the upper floor waiver from the active use requirements and i'm from everything i have heard here today i'm comfortable with the upper floor waiver but as it's been said anything that can be done to sort of enliven that space would be helpful. and i have a question a second about that. um, it's also a positive i really appreciate the pieces work and ensuring that the entirety of the ground floor it becomes an active use um and so that's that's a positive i you know i'm going to dive in a couple of questions here um might be a little scattered today but there was just the discussion of the murals i'm not entirely sure i followed that discussion. are we talking about the murals that would possibly be on the storage on the interior of the building? i would imagine as the next storage building kind of on the exterior at least not the the main part of the building on the exterior or am i wrong about this originally if you

take a look at the the elevation on russell street, the storefront windows that are there today, we originally were going to leave them boarded up and put the mural across those first five days. so that was that that was the retail space that was available. hbc felt that it was really important to open those up so we're opening them up. they're going to be glass now and that's why we're needing to look towards other opportunities on on the building for that. >> okay. i appreciate that and i would i agree with them there again, i think having those first five days of the store, you know making a historic building is very important. having them open and transparent is very important. >> um okay so then my other question was just about the mezzanine plans and maybe i know the project sponsor you respond to this before i just wanna make sure i'm understanding too. so is the issue here that the plans that we have today basically weren't updated in response to the transition of the russell street frontage to active use? >> is that why it's still showing the mezzanine in that area?

thank you, commissioner. there's been a lot of moving parts in the last three months on this project element and coming out of the hpc hearing there's a very strong directive to continue working on , community engagement really trying to to put that whole puzzle together coming back from the holidays this wasn't actually the mezzanine issue just came up in the last couple of days but really what came up right after the holidays was the issue of well the we're not getting active use waiver on the ground floor so that purple area that was on the diagram before we're going to need to make that fit within section 140 5.1 which is relatively complicated and then two we still have a bunch of back to house operations that we need to incorporate into the space. so the mezzanine was another component of this preview. so so yes that carried through from the hpc but not in an intentional way actually in an unintentional way. looking at it now it's very clear that seven foot four inch ceiling is not going to be possible here. so that's why you're hearing us immediately say that that's not

what's going to be proposed because it's not even going to be allowed. >> okay. thank you. thank you. and actually, mr. teague, that might be a question for you i'm curious about so is the mezzanine not allowed in the situation with an active ground floor use because sure it would have yeah. >> i did want to acknowledge the complexity of all the different moving parts here and this is not a typical type of project and action before you actually noticing the mezzanine resulted in conversations because it did create challenges because there's the mezzanine is proposed as essentially a mezzanine for kind of the entire floor plate and the way the planning code works the mezzanine is really relative to the spaces within because it requires opening into that space, right? it has to be part of the same space and then by definition the mezzanine is not a separate story. it's part of that same story because it all works as a unit and that wasn't really happening here and if that doesn't happen then you essentially have a second story and that means the ceiling high

on the ground floor was seven feet 2 or 4 which wouldn't meet ground floor ceiling height requirement. so i didn't jump in because we it was getting there that everybody understood the mezzanine is going to have to either go away along that frontage or be pushed back 25ft one of those two things. so that's going to have to happen kind of no matter what if that helps to answer that question, that absolutely does help and it's also get verification that it's not actually kind of drawn as a mezzanine at this moment. so yeah, yeah. thank you. let's see if i just give me a second several other questions here. >> um, no, i think those are all my questions. you know, i, i think ultimately i'm looking at the tradeoffs here. i'm looking at the possibility of this building being vacant for a very long time and maybe this project doesn't pencil anymore if we don't allow the upper floor active use waiver which is really what this is primarily about. it's not about the use itself. it's about just the active use in the first 15ft.

um and so you know i would i would love to see this building improved and the ground floor activated and become an asset to the community and get people on the sidewalk and provide services to the community and hopefully as has been stated, you know in the future it's possible the upper floors could be converted back to or converted to another use pretty easily given the nature of the self-storage uses. so i am i am in favor of the project um and and i'm on the verge of making a motion but i want to hear me presents those comments. >> thank you. thank you commissioners. it's a long day today and thank you for still hanging here with us. >> um and also apologies if i'm starting to sound a little dehydrated because i am i remember this project came in front of me when i was on

historic preservation commissioners. oh, thank you for the water. and it was a very awesome potential adaptive reuse project back then it was going to add six storeys behind this historic landmark which of course sadly it didn't pencil out right. so what i'm seeing right now is another round of very conscientious effort to try to figure out how can we do some different types of adaptive reuse to activate a vacant property not only because as we can and it creates a lot of issues with our immediate neighbors because the building is unoccupied but also we wanted to see business thriving economy is picking up and people are getting jobs to get things build and getting spaces and we city can have tax

revenue coming in that can help a lot and so i'm looking at it more from the economic vitality vitality standpoint and i'm really appreciate that the project sponsor and some community leaders work really collaboratively to try to make it happen and i also like to thank you supervisor matt dorsey's office and also our planning staff monica have worked tirelessly. my recollection is more than half a decade of work in this particular property to figure out what can it be done here if not that success story housing unit that clearly did not meet the proforma. >> so with that being said that i've i have a kind of soft spot for making common sense here to move things forward so then we can enable jobs and then they bait and enable some active space that really we can see the light at the end of the tunnel per se.

then just continue to perpetually keeping it empty and then continue to have a lot of issues on safety, streetscape and everything. >> but i do feel sympathetic about a lot of people's raised concern on what this is going to look like on the ground floor. so i'm going to go then really quickly but i wanted to emphasize that too they weren't asked to give a waiver for the active use on second floor only. so i want to make sure that we're focusing on one piece here but then we can just look at that independently right? so we look at it about i have i think i'm looking at it there's a lot of confusions from the communities, from advocates and also from the counterparts. it stems from the inconsistencies of the materials that we're looking at

. um like commissioner brown mentioning about these drawings and we are i'm i'm myself as an architect i am not quite sure which floor plan should i be using to make my decision here because mr. john cavan you show us a diagram that has a consistent 25 foot setback that is slated to propose to give to some of the nonprofits but then the drawings that was sending out in the email to me and also some of our packets it really shows there is only a portion of a 25ft. the other parts of it is 20ft like the architect had mr. goldman so that is kind of something that i'm not sure technically what are we if we issue any if we give any motion today what is the actual

documents that will you be using to move forward with monica cojocaru energy department staff i may ask zoning administrator teague to correct me on this but i believe that historically we have allowed sort of circulation space that's associated with active use to count toward active use but i can let him speak to that. as for your action today, it's actually a resolution not a motion because there's not an entitlement before you and again i do i mean i said this earlier so i't much but it is true that this is a very unorthodox sort of regulatory situation mostly because when an applicant is requesting one of these waivers there's also a larger entitlement and it's just a finding within your larger entitlement that you're approving. >> and today it's truly just that waiver. so we have it as a resolution rather than a motion if that's

helpful. >> this is really helpful. so later on this project will come back for an entitlement. no, there's no entitlement required. okay. >> well so how are we going to reconcile this because clearly these drawings are little but you know, inconsistent and i'm going to go another layer deeper as i can't help myself as an architect. but do you not seeing that there are different elevation points here in your floor plan so the phasing how it street you have zero feet as your elevation but then on your parking you have -1.5 but then on well actually on your double doors going into your loading dock is negative 1.1ft five but in your parking area is -four foot five. so i'm not sure what is if we're talking about a seven foot four ceiling height in that active use space and the last three column be closer to

the parking lot where is the actual finished floor? it's just kind of hard to understand how do you able to extrapolate is is really seven foot four i mean it's it's again really really hard to understand and from the plans and so i apologize all the lundberg lundberg design we've been working on this back and forth and there are absolutely mistakes on these drawings. i think they're i can explain most of them and they're pretty simple. the elevations you're reading are the relationship to grade the floor is at one level but the grades dropping down so the as you move down russell street the various the steps down then we get into the parking areas even farther down so i don't the numbers you mentioned are all correct there the relationship of grade to finish floor the finished floor within the building it's at two different heights so the back area where the sort of proposed mezzanine the center is the

back half of the building, if you will is lower than the front part, the howard street part of the building i guess. >> so there is a change kind of at the lobby level line where the two are where we resolve that issue. >> you know, in speaking about the so and first of all i should say that the mezzanine is absolutely a mistake. >> it shouldn't be shown as going to russell street. it should be held back. so the 25ft and it's not it's not shouldn't be called the mezzanine space. it's a second floor space. it doesn't meet the requirements of mezzanine. >> so i think the suggestion that the roll up doors be transparent i don't know that that meets the mills act requirements for tax credit but i think it would as long as we kept the roll up doors so that would provide more transparency in that area and honestly the back of that area is a perfect spot for the murals to be put. i think murals on the ground

level will really benefit the community. i think if we start proposing murals on second and third floors they're not particularly visible. i don't think that would be a great location for them. i think that would be a really good location and i think that kind of meets a lot of things have been mentioned and every question i'm asking i'm sorry for what you want to say something? oh, i was just going to add in that you know, i think it's worth noting here that, you know, with the commission's action really being focused at this point on the second floors and above because the hpc did not support the ground floor, it's not unusual for the department to continue working with the sponsor to ensure code compliance of other aspects of the project that aren't the action before the commission. so the ground floor really isn't before the commission at all. the ground floor is going to be fully code compliant, doesn't need any entitlement and we are not going to be signing off on any building permit until it does so the issues relating to you know, correcting the plans, making sure the mezzanine that shown on the plans is no longer on there and making sure transparencies there etc. etc. all of that is monica's heavy lifting following the hearing

to ensure that that happens. so really the focus of the commission is really exclusively around the second floor and above. so i just wanted to make sure you guys kind of understood that distinction of the work we still have to do which is typical post commission approvals versus the actions before you guys. >> i that's why i want to emphasize that earlier on stating that too but also need to also focus on having the project sponsor and their architects here to hear all our commissioners concerns and feedbacks and wishes and because the reason why i'm asking about the elevation points is to comment on the project sponsor mentioning about the storage operators there. what do you call that your distance relative to your programing for your customer check in and loading your storage operator has some type of program requirement that they need to be adjacent to

each other. so that's what kind of inspire me also making it concerning to me about the drawings that the state has right now because it's telling us that if i have a storage unit here i need to park and then i need to roll all my stuff outside of your security gate onto the sidewalk to russ avenue and then go in the building maybe perhaps through the retail a little space or some of these roll up doors to somehow get back into the storage. >> so that doesn't make a whole lot sense to me. >> so i'm just try to yeah. thank you commissioner. so again this space has not yet been programed. there is no intent to have someone park in the parking lot and bring storage via the sidewalk through those doors. but what you're getting at is a critical issue which is we still need to figure out the loading operation of this

building coherently so that an operator can actually use it and so that we are compliant with the planning code. so just to be absolutely clear, the intent is not to bring it through the gate onto the street but then to the what we what we're going to file after this is a building permit that very clearly has all the plans vetted by both planning department staff and building department staff to make sure that all of these discrepancies are you know, our code are corrected and code compliant. >> okay. and you will also be a good custodian to the neighbors, right? >> absolutely. yeah. yeah. because this is kind of i think that's why they're all still sitting here. i'm wondering what what this has happened we have bill signed out too late. yeah we've built a lot of bridges already and as i think you heard from ryan, these guys are going to be a member of this community now for for many years and that these conversations are going to are going to be ongoing. so we really appreciate that point. >> okay. and okay. thank you. thank you. and i guess another question i would have is that there's

clearly a lot of group haven't been represented here. no, no mistaken but then there's also another group that hasn't been really represented here that we have received letters and comments from is the local business merchants and i think their desire is to have some of these active use also as a retail use. so i am because now i have the project sponsor and then i have the major lease holder here and i would like to hear what your thoughts on enabling some of lo. oh and then maybe some of the neighbors well i don't want to speak for i'm sorry i'm not sure what this maybe maybe i'll ask you to come speak after they answer the question. yeah.

do you mind commissioners i think the main reason why we participated and engaged and signed an mou is to ensure that there's going to be active users in the space. right. no one wants storage and so so in terms of the howard street side i think the intention is definitely co-working space community workshop performance and to make it available either at very low cosr community when we were approached about being a master lease holder for direct street side i think it the intent is really to maintain to be able to capture it as below market rate space and because we know that there's a 40% vacancy in terms of office in retail currently but with the agreement with the sponsors we could actually have a community planning process to and you know reach out to whether it be retailers, artists you know you

know i imagine and we double check with them that retail and other uses would be pretty much usable for that site and so you know i'm not sure in terms of grocery store but i think i imagine like a really small grocery store could even i think that could be explored and you know that will be we have like a year to actually do that community engagement to find out what the big the uses are our concern with having those those spaces sit empty and then also i think with this agreement we could actually offer it for an affordable price versus at the the market rate that you know is really the main deterrent to to active users in that street. >> thank you. and then that gentleman would like to speak for a little bit i'm sorry to speak out of order

just an apple again concerned neighbor i actually organized a lot of the opposition here i got rudy involved also some by the small businesses association henry carlin which who's the president executive director of sabo which represents some hundred or over 100 small businesses in soma. >> he was here earlier but he had to leave and he asked me to to say if if anybody brought up samba that he was hoping that whole area with roll downs on the back side of russ was opened up to retail grocery stores, gyms, anything like that and part of that would be raising getting rid of the mezzanine and having an adequate ceiling height. >> okay. oh, thank you for relating the comment. so it sounds pretty reassurance that that mezzanine was a drawg area on the record. you're going to clean up your drawings right? okay. okay. all right. well that's kind of summarize

my comment i, i agree with the rest of what all my commissioners had said about the second floor and then corey, you have something which just just briefly i was going to focus in on what miss way pointed out in terms of what the action is before the planning commission but she covered that. the other thing i just wanted to address since there was a question about whether or not commercial storage or self-storage could essentially be servers and i assume that was a question i can they be like a server farm and the answer to that is no. like we have a separate land use definition that captures server farms. >> you could store servers that you're not using if you're a company in the commercial storage. yeah unplugged out of use you could store them there you couldn't be putting them to use so just want to make that clarification oh this is really helpful. >> thank you corey and commissioner brown. um i am going to make a motion uh to oh a resolution yet i'm

what is the right terminology for this? i am adopting the resolution a motion to adopt the resolution? yeah. i have one quick question for i do this though so you know one of the the components of the resolution that the hpc kind of handed off to us that i have no problem with involves the the lighting plan and there's some other things in there. and so during this conversation ,you know there's a lot of things are clearly going to be covered by review to make sure that this matches the planning code including the mezzanine issue. but there was the comment about potentially encouraging the sponsor to make the roll up doors on rough streets transparent if that is you know compatible with mills act and historic preservation needs or requirements and then also some commentary about encourage and encouragement about having the loading occur off street if possible. and i'm wondering if the those don't deal with the upper floor

active use requirements that were really here about but is that our our vehicle for putting that encouragement into the resolution i don't the appropriate yeah yeah conditioning encouraging so that is part of the resolution right okay in that case i'm going to make a motion to adopt the resolution but also including those two items so encouragement to make the roll up doors transparent if compatible with mills act and historic like requirements and store preservation considerations and requirements and to encourage the project sponsor to uh have the loading occur off street if possible. second did we want to also encourage the corridor on the perimeter if possible could we

add encourage meant to move the corridor to the perimeter on the upper floors? >> so yes i'm that as well. yes we want to encourage them to do that. >> second very good that there is a motion to adopt the resolution as proposed adding encouraging paragraphs that would encourage rolling for the roll up doors on russell street to be transparent for the loading to occur off street and to move the corridor to the perimeter on that motion. >> commissioner campbell i. i i i i so i unanimously commissioners that will place

us on the final item on your agenda today number 15 excuse me, folks. i know you're leaving but if you could do so quietly we still got some business to attend to when you get up for case number 2024 hyphen 00228168 2830 day street this is a conditional use authorization. good afternoon commissioners we're good evening michelle taylor department staff the item before you is a request for conditional use authorization for the property at 2830 day street for the tantamount demolition of a residential building 2830 day street is a three storey building with two dwelling units and one unauthorized dwelling unit. the project site is located within an rh three zoning district and a 40 x hay in bulk district.

the project requires a conditional use authorization pursuant to planning code sections 303 and 317 to allow that tantamount to demolition of the residential building. the project includes the rehabilitation of the three storey building with two units in the year due to accommodate a four storey residential building with three dwelling units one off street parking space and three class one bicycle parking spaces. the project includes a dwelling unit mix consisting of one five bedroom unit one three bedroom unit and one one bedroom unit. the existing units have been vacant for three years. the department has received five letters of support from the adjacent neighbors and in the time since the publication of your commission packets the department has received two additional comment letters. the letters discuss tantamount to demolition and the flats removal policy. on the latter topic i just

wanted to clarify that the flats removal policy was established by this discourage s of flats. the department defines a flat as a residential unit which has windows at both the front and back of the building or dual exposure a flat removal may occur when an alteration to a unit results in a unit losing that total exposure. the proposed project will maintain the two existing flats and both of the existing units will maintain windows at the front and back of the building . the third unit is a new unit and replaces a you do you that did not meet the definition of flat. therefore the proposed project would not be considered a flats policy removal project. the department finds that the project is on balance consistent with the objectives and policies of the general plan. the property is compliant with the planning code and the residential design guidelines

and although the project results in the tantamount demolition of a residential building with two dwelling ■] units in the year two you the project will maintain the two existing units while providing improved residential building with a net gain of one residential unit resulting in a total of three units. the department also finds the project to be necessary, desirable and compatible with the surrounding neighborhood and not to be detrimental to persons or adjacent properties in the vicinity. therefore the department supports the proposed project and recommends approval with conditions it also like to read into the record updates to the draft mode motion which you've received a few days ago. section eight i on page eight has been updated to accurately reflect the proposed project scope which would rehabilitate the existing units and add a new unit and section eight are on page eight on page ten has also been updated with

corrected areas for each unit and finally the conditions of approval included a number formatting error which created a blank condition number six by mistake. this concludes my presentation i'm available to answer any questions i'll now turn it over to the project sponsor team to present. >> thank you. thank you project sponsor you have five minutes i don't think the mouse is my problem.

okay. thank you. how do i get the graphic to go up? >> it's up. thank you. hello. my name is sorry i also need water. my name is neil schwartz, the founder of essayé schwartz in architecture and the architect for this project i've been working for over 25 years in san francisco. i'm a fellow of the american institute of architects and was the founding chair of the public policy and advocacy committee of the aiaa which works often with this commission. in addition, i'm a professor of architecture at the california college of the arts. as you've heard in the planning department's presentation and in our support our sponsors brief this project meets or

exceeds all applicable regulatory and design requirements and has a strong and vocal support of all neighbors who have commented on the project. >> this includes the five adjacent neighbors who attended our community meeting and the additional letters of support from five other occupants of these properties shown on this map. so we have received support for the project from ten directly adjacent neighbors and have not received any neighbor feedback opposed to the project. we believe there's a number of reasons for this. >> first, this is not a developer driven project seeking to maximize profit and minimum expense. this is a private initiative of young family with small children committing to investing in and staying in san francisco with the creation of new rental housing. second, the design is the result of a highly proactive community process that engaged adjacent neighbors early on and solicited and responded to their goals and concerns.

this process began long before we began designing and before our permit application and formal process of review. as a result of this we have integrated significant voluntary setbacks into the design including the preservation of a non-protected view corridor for adjacent tenants. the adjacent neighbors are eager for the renovation of this property and the preservation and expansion of rental units in the neighborhood. >> third, the project adds an additional unit to the san francisco housing stock upgrading an existing back of the garage unauthorized studio that is multiple safety deficits with a new one bedroom 100% accessible unit. this ground floor unit has both a front entry garden and a central light court as well as full access to common rear yard open space. we have designed this unit with an eye towards aging in place affordability and universal design principles. we believe this is consistent

with the objectives of the aging and disability affordable housing implementation plan. on today's commission agenda. in addition, as shown in these diagrams, the project maintains the existing legal units as as residential flats but with substantially improved access to light and air at both the front and rear as well as through the inclusion of oversize light courts. these light courts represent 400ft2 of space more than three and a half times larger than the light wells the residential design guidelines would typically expect as a minimum for this project. >> fourth, the project is right sized for the number of units and bedroom count. the existing building has seven bedrooms including the studio udu while the final project has nine bedrooms as well. many older structures the existing buildings floor plans created its bedroom by converting living space such as dining rooms into sleeping

rooms leaving units with little flexibility or social space. the final project scales appropriately relative to the number of bedrooms created and rebalances the proportion of living to sleeping spaces in each unit. these more flat balanced and flexible floor plans promote a greater variety of family structures and co-living possibility as fifth. we believe we believe the support we have received from the community in the planning department is directly related to the quality of the design. the massing and street facing facade came from a careful study of the neighborhood patterns of development responding architecturally to each but in a forward looking way the project improves on several troubling neighborhood patterns such as the prominence of garage doors, the lack of green space and the lack of engagement with the street. >> >> finally we have developed this project with an eye

towards it being a model for thoughtful and sensitive neighborhood evolution. we have done this on every front from outreach to the community and planning to the maintenance and expansion of neighborhood rental housing to taking into consider affordable consideration affordability and accessibility and quality design. for these reasons we urge the planning commission to support the project. thank you. i'll make myself available for questions. thank you. that concludes project sponsors presentation. we should open up public comment. members of the public this is your opportunity to address the commission on this matter. >> hi. my name's nina couture. i'll be representing two neighbors that aren't able to attend today. i'm reading two of their letters. the first reads dear commissioners, my name is david blumen and i reside at 147 29th street. i'm writing to express my

strong support for the proposed development at 28 and 30 day street. the property has been neglected for years becoming unsafe and unsightly. it attracts crime, pests and the entrance floods during heavy rains causing issues for neighboring homes. the new owners have been exceptionally considerate involving us in the design process and making adjustments based on our feedback. their proposal includes a mix of mix of unit sizes suitable for various families and income levels. the ground floor unit is fully accessible with ample outdoor space making it ideal for somebody with mobility challenges or on a fixed income. this is a significant improvement over the illegal unit that was previously either in a time where affordable housing is crucial. this project enhances our neighborhood while maintaining accessibility. it's refreshing to see a young family investing long term in our community rather than commercial developer. their commitment and responsiveness have been greatly appreciated. i believe this development will be greatly beneficial to our

neighborhood and i urge you to approve it. thank you for your consideration for the second letter. >> this is from some era and paul samarra was here earlier today but she had to leave. her letter reads dear planning commission we are enthusiastic supporters of the renovation of 20 eight j street. >> we have had the opportunity to meet with the applicants and other neighbors regarding the design and we truly appreciate their commitment to ensuring the project aligns well with our blog's focus on community. from what we have learned the new building will feature more bedrooms than the current structure offering expanded housing options while maintaining a focus on environmental sustainability. >> we believe this is an important step towards accommodating more residents in san francisco without placing undue strain on our resources. in our view the development at 28 days street will not only elevate the architectural landscape in our neighborhood but will also make the area more desirable for current and future residents. increasing housing opportunities in an environmentally responsible manner is precisely the kind of

growth we should encourage. thank you for your time and consideration for this project. we look forward to seeing 28 day street contribute to the vibrancy of our community. sincerely samir hempel. there are residents of 139. >> 29th street. thank you for look. my name is wyatt arnold. i'm reading a letter on behalf of a neighbor at the project who couldn't be here today. dear commissioners, my name is malcolm henley and i live at 2060 a day street. i am a direct neighbor of the proposed development at 28 and 30 day street and i strongly support the project. the proposed work the current property looks more like a haunted house than something fit for living people. not only is it a blight on the neighborhood, it is also hard to imagine that it could possibly be legal for human habitation or cost effective to repair. i'm thrilled that someone has taken on the task of replacing it. matt and helen have met with us frequently to discuss how their development would interact with

our buildings. as part of this they have graciously made several changes to their plans building less than their legal right. in order to preserve some of the views that we cherish, let's show the world that s.f. can still build and approve these plans. they will be an improvement to the stock and character of day street and the larger neighborhood. >> thank you. malcolm handley. >> my name is megan and i live in the neighborhood where the project is planned. i'm pro housing and i support this proposal. >> the current structure is in deep disrepair. it's not structurally sound and it's been uninhabited for years. it's attracted rats, attracted crime to the neighborhood. the proposed building has been thoughtfully created by community members who have been in the bay area for decades and it increases the units of housing while providing light and great space for the neighbors as well. it also improves on an adu

which is important for folks with low mobility or fixed incomes and i think it would be a really great thing to be able to increase the housing in san francisco and improve the neighborhood. several of the neighbors have written in letters of support as you heard earlier and were present here including john who had to leave but also expresses his support for this project. so we're all very excited for this project and we hope that it can be passed. thank you. >> hello, my name is neil o'shay. i'd like to share with you another of the letters of neighborhood support. this is from brady forest which reading on his behalf. dear commissioners, i'm writing to express my strong support for the proposed development to

30 day street. as a resident at 155 29th street living diagonally adjacent to the property in question, i want to share my perspective as an immediate neighbor. the current structure at 2830 day street fell into disrepair under its previous owners. the backyard was on maintained became a dumping ground for detritus and became overgrown with weeds. the building itself seems poorly maintained. the rear of the building looks like a haphazard diy effort from the late 1900s with a quote bedroom that looks like a converted porch and a column that's misaligned from the foundation. >> we're particularly excited that the new owners plan a total renovation. they shared their plans with us and the new facade and rear look beautiful. >> we're glad the new building will be owner occupied. it's refreshing to deal with owners with skin in the game. we also like the range of unit sizes with one small unit that's perfect for a young

single person or a retiree and two units for larger families. we're excited to do whatever it takes to help this project succeed. it's a clear upgrade for the block and we'd love for them to be able to get started as soon as possible. for these reasons i wholeheartedly support the proposed development at 2830 day street and urge the planning commission to approve the project. sincerely brady forest. >> thank you. >> hi. how much time do i have please? >> thanks. georgia shooters. i sent you two letters. i hope you read them. and i pretty much said most of what i wanted to say but i'm going to say more now. >> i think that this project isn't the best possible template for codifying the flat policy under based on the findings that you have in the flat policy. it has a high end facade with one entrance for two units the

living room and the proposed units two and three on sheet a07 are like white hot wide hallways. there was a buyout in 2022 of nine people nine people lived there till 2022. why is this project now considered tantamount to demolition? why was the switch made to preserve two walls? how come? comparison of the plans and the design on the pen from last april are the same as the plans in your packet today. what is the rationale to suddenly preserve two sidewalls in december 2024 with new applications and more work for the staff when the project from the inception had been 100% demolition? why is there an issue between db and planning which actually came up last week at the d.r. hearing for 411 clipper and i saw an email from november as i sent you the other day from my records request that.

what's that about? the commission has tried to close the loophole of section 317 b seven which can be done by codifying the plat policy and i have said for years i think the commission should close the loophole of the never adjusted demo counts by using your legislative authority. >> now for whatever reason it appears that there is a loophole with project sponsors using determinations from d by the only d by definition of demolition that exists in section 103 of the building code. that section is entitled violations. a violation does not occur before a project is reviewed and approved. a violation occurs during construction. this is not a metric that can or should be used during review of a project. every member of the planning commission whether appointed by the mayor or the board president is by their appointment representative of the public. the two determinations one last week in this one were neither consistent or objecti. last week it was a retention of

one wall for clipper. this week its retention of two walls. at the clipper hearing last week some extraordinary statements were made by the commission and staff about d.b. a's role in deciding what as a demolition derby has no role. they have form six. here is the letter i sent yesterday to the plant to the city attorney. the planning department does the intake now and under the new procedures implemented this year. >> the planning department is in charge. the staff can use the current demo counts to assess whether or not a project is a demolition. and at some point the commission may see fit to adjust them to better meet the findings in section 317 a. >> but the commission needs to get to the bottom of why this project made the switch and seeking the. >> a. thank you very much. >> last call for public comment . >> seeing none public comment is closed and this matters not before you commissioners. commissioner president i mean

rice for vice president for i would actually ask ms. value to explain the switch from demolition to what we have in front of us. >> you are the best one to explain that. sure. so there are often a lot of different factors that are going to set applicants out on different paths. i can at least i maybe can't speak for the sponsor of why all of their decisions but i think one of the obvious ones for us where we were supportive of the switch actually is that by having it be tantamount to demolition it more so retains the rent control. the existing building is rent control. what we can guarantee at least is that if it's a demo new construction the rent control is lost. and so by having projects come forward as alterations there is you know again we don't give indications of whether a building is or is not rent control but there is certainly a much greater likelihood that the end product will be a rent controlled set of units and not

a loss of rent controlled housing in our housing stock. and we were i think really appreciative that this sponsor team was open to listening to that concern of ours about losing and first, you know, losing three rent controlled units from the housing stock if they did a demolition and they were willing to modify the project to be tantamount instead. so i know that was at least one of the driving factors and it's good for me. so i and i very much appreciate your clear explanation. i do believe that we're doing absolutely the right thing here. i think it is a wonderfully designed project. i see thoughtfulness. i see really creativity and something we don't see that much anymore. >> so i'm in full support including the variety of units. it's really allows a wide, wide gesture to the community. it's an all seems not same size, same thing. it is basically inviting what we see as a basic core ingredient for community and

neighborhood. so i'm prepared to make a motion to approve but i have quite a few people having pushed the button. so i second the motion. i'm also in full support of this project and i think it has a lot of positive outcomes a lot of which have just been mentioned. but i do just want to commend the sponsor for the process of engaging the neighbors and getting all of that support. it's pretty unprecedented to have all of your neighbors come out and be excited and can't wait for this project to start. so hats off to the team for for that process. i also just want to say i really appreciate the presentation was very clear. >> it's not a surprise that you are a fellow. it shows in the presentation and in you know what makes this a very successful project and the concessions that were made and a testament to why the neighbors are excited about it . a lot of respect put in and time put into that. >> so thank you for that. commissioner brown i know the

project sponsor has been very transparent and i really appreciated everything that you've shared today so i'm going to pose the question to you out of curiosity more than anything else. what drove the decision to make this switch to tantamount to demolition on the project? >> we've worked very closely with the planning department and the community on this and there's been a lot of dialog about it so i just want to support and second what liz has outlined. i would also say that the process that we have to go through. clients don't want to hire a structural engineer or if they don't know they have planning approval. so as we started to be hopeful that the project would get planning approval, we began to look forward and and look at the future and begin to develop the project more closely with a structural engineer and with the building department and we were able to revise the project

design and the drawings to meet the definition of tantamount to demolition. and as liz said, the project preserves the same class of rent control as the existing building. >> so it seemed like a win win . >> thank you for that explanation. and it's just sort of you know, i'm sitting up here sometimes we don't get the nitty gritty on the details of how things evolve with projects and so that was that was helpful and i'm really glad to see that there is the retention of the rent control units. i think it's a great project. i'm glad to see all the neighbors support and this has my full support. >> thank you commissioner brown. this is a really one of the good examples of how well our planning staff work together with a very competent architect, highly respected. my thing is not just locally but also regionally and nationally. i personally really applause being able to see that taking planning staff recommendation and actually go to advocate it

to your client and to get that facilitations of understanding of what really it we all need to kind of get in there and do our part and that i want to this is one of the few projects good example of the result of it and you know it's really great and i like these renderings too by the way is kind of really interesting and your presentation really highlight the issues that we always grapple with and it's really clear to describe what your voluntary additional setbacks versus what you are required to do. so it shows that as a very responsible architect you actually understand not only what is prescribed but what■% is also sensitive to the specific context of that particular property and what the neighbors. so it is not a small feat to be

able to convince to have a majority of your neighbors show up and 6 p.m. or you guys probably been waiting since three because excuse me we moved the bigger project ahead of you so so you have my full support and i'm really happy to see that most the majority of the neighbors are excited to see that happen and also creating a different range of income level of housing stock is what we needed in san francisco so thank you for doing that and i wish you the best to continue your teaching endeavors or teach more architects and developer to do the right thing. yeah. thank you and commissioner imperial yes i do have a question in terms of whether the housing accountability act term civil replacement i mean, anderson that this is retaining

the rent controlled units but i'm not sure which state bill is but in terms of like making it making the units affordable or retaining the the prices previews tenants price does this apply to this? i believe it's the housing accountability act not sure since this are rent control units sure so so the new units will all retain sort of the rent control that's for sure. there is no sb 330 replacement requirement here because it's an alteration project. but what i would say which you are asking about housing accountability act which is the other thing that i think we appreciated when we were having the conversation with the sponsor on the willingness to you know, retain the rent control is that by doing that they're actually giving up their housing accountability act protected status if you will. so as you know new construction of two plus units it means that

it's a housing accountability act protected project or this commission has a lot less discretion to disapprove and so they basically forwent that protection. i think that enough confidence in a well-designed project that they're willing to take that risk before the commission and so that was a tradeoff they're willing to do in order to ensure the rent control protected status of the existing building. >> that's something i actually appreciate from the project sponsor. i'm trying to remember whether the rent price of whether the rent price for the new units will be in accordance to the income levels of the previous tenants does that i don't believe that's a factor although i don't have that information off the top of my head but it's not subject to the the sb 330 replacement provisions are not applicable in this project but the rent control is and i do know that the rent ordinance has a very complex set of regulations when an existing building is rent protected and so it would be

subject to all of those same provisions i'm looking forward again to have the state built informational hearing. i think i need to be reminded of that but yeah i just pose that question because those i believe that is sb 330 which doesn't apply here in terms of like the rent prices but i do appreciate the the projects sponsor in terms of retaining the rent control and overall this small building you know three unit and also like other commissioners mentioned i truly appreciate the two plans that provided because it really made me understand even though i'm not an architect but it made me fully understand what the units look like and the look reasonable to me as well. so yeah, i also have my support in this. >> thank you. if there's nothing further commissioner more you said you're going to hold off but commissioner campbell seconded her not for her. >> okay.

>> i thought you made a motion. i thought you did. >> she did? yeah. okay. yeah. very good then necessary and there is a motion that has been seconded to approved with conditions as were amended by staff on that motion. commissioner campbell hi, mr. mcgarry. hi, commissioner braun high commissioner imperial i mission or more i am commission president so i so move commissioners that motion passes unanimously 6 to 0 and concludes your hearing today

>> here is great wall hardware, 3500 square feet of retail space. we carry about 22 thousand items in here and countingfelt it never stops because i have a thing. when a customer says, do you have this and i don't have it, it bothers me. i won't have it. so, it is just one of those things owning a hardware store, people expect you to have everything and you try to if full thill fulfill that need. native san franciscan. born in chinatown, same as bruce lee, chinatown hospital. my family moved to the sunset in the late 70's, so my mom and dad thought, we are already doing construction, why don't we open a hardware store? it is nice dove tail to each other, so that is how that got started. we started this store in 1983,

and we have been going every since, so now it is 40 years. i like serving my neighborhood. i fealt a hardware store is different from other businesses. most businesses you want to buy this or that and eat this or that. a hardware store is different. people come in and usually have a problem and need a solution and looking for you to navigate them through that problem and offer them products that help them get to where they need to go. the people are great. i love this neighborhood. there is different etnisties and cultures here. we all intermingle and mix together and get along fine and i like that about this neighborhood t. is nice place to be. it is near the beach and beautiful and near the zoom and park and stern grove. great schools and parks. what's twl not to like? i am always looks around the corner the next thing to and crank it up more and make it safer and more enjoyable.

bringing in new businesses. support them. great wall hardware, open 7 days a week, monday-friday 8 to 6, saturday is 10 to 6 and sunday is 10 to 3. >> [music] in the town inside here i'm young. he was putting art, music and drinking together upon today have a nonpretentious pretentious spitz that the community can enjoy each other and the time off we get in this world. [music] >> spends energy elevating artists and credit a safe place. a place to have a community.

>> it is i great neighborhood the art district because we have the contemp refer museum of sf. yerba buena for the arts all of the operators and businesses here we get together and xhoukt and support each other this is a very cool neighborhood to be a part of. [music] paint on canvas is primary low when we do. this is guilty pleasures an all female artist show. it is going to be great. fun we have interactive elements. >> we love having this gem. you know people come in and discover it and get to feel at home. this is like home san francisco >> never be afraid it anybodying

on our door. [laughter]. if the hours are post and you had want to seat art we are here 9 o'clock to 5 o'clock most days. [music] to the flag vice president carter which i don't like to take roll. commissioner clay resident commissioner benedicto commissioner yanez president commissioner ye hear