Transcripts For SFGTV Planning 20240704

Indicating your time is almost up. When your allotted time is reached, i will announce that your time is up and take the next person queue to speak. We will take Public Comment from persons in city hall first and then open the Remote Access lines for those calling in remotely to submit their testimony. Please call for. 156550001 and enter access code. 266 a1565619 8 pound pound. You should be able to listen to the hearing live. Please wait for the item youre interested in speaking to and for the Public Comment to be announced to comment, you must press star three to raise your hand. Once you have raised your hand, you will hear the prompt you have raised your hand to ask a question. Please wait to speak until the host calls on you. When you hear your you are unmuted. That is your indication to begin speaking for those joining via webex, please log in via the link found on todays agenda and enter passcode cpc 2023. Use the raised hand icon to ask a question. You will hear a beep and then see the prompt that the host has unmuted you. That is your indication to begin speaking. Best practices are to call from a quiet location and please mute the volume on your television or computer for those attending in person, please line up on the screen side of the room to your right. Please speak clearly and slowly and if you care to state your name for the record. Finally, ill ask that we all silence any mobile devices that may sound off during the hearings. At this time, i would like to take roll commissioner braun here. Commissioner ruiz here. Commissioner imperial here. Commissioner diamond here. Commissioner koppell here and Commission President tanner here. Thank you, commissioners. We do expect commissioner moore to be absent this will now take us to your continuance calendar for item number one. Record number 2023 hyphen 005134 crv. Downtown conservation districts Design Guidelines with a proposed continuance date to october 5th, 2023. Item number two Record Number 2021 hyphen 010176. Qr. At 2261 fillmore street with the proposed continuance date to september 29th, 2023. Item number three Record Number 2020 hyphen 001105 drp at san gabriel avenue has been withdrawn. And lastly, commissioners, an item from todays agenda. Item number 16 has a request for continued continuance. Record number 2021 hyphen 003953. Chua at 2340 vallejo street with a proposed continuance date to november 2nd, 2023. We will now take Public Comment on the continuance calendar and members of the public wishing to on another date if you wish to make Public Comment, please come forward now and line up on the screen side of the room to your right. For those calling in remotely, please press star three for those joining via webex, please use the raised hand icon and you will have three minutes. Commissioner oh, im representing jenna and david lieb, who owned the property at 615 sanchez at the end of your calendar, i understand that sue has to will be calling in and asking for a continuance for this matter. She didnt let me know. She hasnt been involved in this case. She hasnt filed a brief. I understand she may not be. Well, i certainly hope for the best. But you know, my clients feel that if shes calling in to ask for a continuance, perhaps shes well enough to call in for the five minute presentation that she would have on on a requester. But we hope shes shes better. I think we need to ask her who shes representing, if shes representing the adjacent neighbor, the most affected one, sammy host, then shes representing someone who hasnt requested excuse me, if shes representing the owner of the building at 619, then shes representing someone who is not a requester. And i dont think she should have standing to ask for that as a member of the public. Really. Shouldnt be concerned with continuances. If shes representing the owner of six, one of the adjacent property, which is owned by sammy host and her llc, then why isnt the client here in lieu of ms. Hester making a case. If one requester is available today and the other has her attorney sick . We dont see why the doctor request who doesnt have an attorney whos sick, cant go forward today. Excuse me, mr. Gladstone, im just going to stop you for a second. I think we will all take that item at the end of todays hearing. Under the discretionary review calendar. But at this moment, we have requests for continuance. As for the items that were called so we are asking that we only speak to those items at this time. Okay. Thank you. Ill have my chance later. Thanks thank you. Any other members of the public . Good morning. Afternoon yeah, im not sure. Make it clear for me. Item number two, which is about the clay theater on fillmore. So its for continuance. It means that it doesnt matter whether i. So right now you can only speak to the topic of hearing the item on another date, not necessarily the project itself. Right now its proposed to not be heard today and instead we would have a hearing on september 29th. So i should be back on september 29th. If nothings going to happen until then. Right. Well, if this body approves continuing it to the 29th, then nothing will happen until the 29th. Excellent because we need to save the theater. I guarantee you, mayor , you love movies. So thats it. Thank you. Have a good day. Any other comments on the continuance calendar . Seeing none committee commissioners, the Public Comment is closed and the continuance calendars will before you their motion on the continuance calendar. Commissioner imperial continue all items as proposed. Second. Thank you, commissioner. Commissioners, there has been a motion that has been seconded to continue item number one to october 5th, 2023. Item number two to september 29th, 2023. An item number 16 to november 2nd, 2023. On that motion, commissioner braun, i, commissioner ruiz, i commissioner imperial i commissioner dickman i, commissioner koppell i and Commission President tanner. I thank you commissioners, that passes unanimously and well take you on to your consent calendar. All matters listed here under constitute a consent calendar or considered to be routine by the Planning Commission and may be acted upon by a single roll call vote of the commission. There will be no separate discussion of these items unless members 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 a future hearing. Item number four 2022 hyphen 010633 qr at 1938 ocean avenue item number five 2023 hyphen 002340qa at 999 valencia street item number six 2022 hyphen 0051539qa at 4220 third street item number seven 2022. Hyphen 003304qa at 326 27th street. And all of these are requests for conditional use authorization at this moment we will take Public Comment if there are any members of the public wishing to remove any items from the consent calendar , you may do so at this point. If youre in city hall, please come forward. If you are calling in remotely, please press star three and those joining via webex, please use the raise hand icon. You have one remote caller and well take that caller. Now. Yes hello. This is in regard to item number. Six okay. And are you requesting to take this off of the consent calendar . Oh, no, im not asking to take it off. I was just calling to make a comment. Is it not the right time if we would only take formal Public Comment if it was removed from the consent calendar and heard formally. So if you do not wish to remove it from the consent calendar, then there would be no Public Comment. Okay. Im not. Im not asking to remove it. Okay thank you. Sorry. No problem. Seeing no additional requests for Public Comment. The Public Comment is now closed and the consent calendar is now before you. Commissioner koppell move to approve item four, five, six and seven. Second, thank you, commissioners, on that motion to approve items four, five, six and seven. Commissioner braun, high commissioner ruiz high commissioner imperial high. Commissioner diamond high. Commissioner coppell and Commission President tanner i thank you, commissioners. The motion passes unanimously and will take us to commission matters in the land. Acknowledgment thank you. The Planning Commission acknowledges that we are on the unceded ancestral homeland of the rahmatullah, who are the original inhabitants of the San Francisco peninsula as the indigenous stewards of this land and in accordance with their traditions, the loney have never ceded land 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 community and by affirming their sovereign rights as first peoples. Thank you. Thank you, commissioners. That will now move on to consideration of adoption of draft minutes for july 13th, 2023. Lets take Public Comment on the draft minutes. Members of the public, please come forward. If youre calling in remotely, please press star three or raise your hand via webex. Seeing no individuals wishing to speak Public Comment is closed and the draft minutes are now before you. Is there a motion on the minutes . Commissioner brown move to adopt the minutes second . Thank you commissioner. Commissioners there has been a motion that has been seconded to adopt the minutes from july 13th, 2023. On that motion, commissioner brown i commissioner ruiz, i commissioner imperial i commissioner diamond i commissioner coppell and Commission President tanner. I thank you, commissioners. That motion passes unanimously and will take us to commission comments and questions. Are there any comments or questions from commissioners . All right. You got off easy this week, rich. Great. Thank you, commissioners. We will now move on to Department Matters directors announcement. Hi, commissioners. Richard gray, Deputy Director of current planning. We have no announcements at this time that will now take us to review of past events that the board of supervisors board of appeals and Historic Preservation commission. I am not seeing anyone here for the board of supervisors report, but i sorry, do you have it . Yes. So hi, commissioners. Richard gray again, im here for aaron star. Obviously, i am not aaron star, but i am reading his report this week. The Land Use Committee took up the duplicated file for the Small Business month fee waiver commissioners. This item was duplicated so that the duplicated file could be amended to include the Planning Commissions recommended modifications and then re referred back to the bic for their reviewing comment and recommendation. When the Planning Commission heard this item on may 4th and unanimously recommended approval with a modification to expand the program to all signs applied during the month of may. Not just awnings or signed copy on awnings. Super visor and gaudio included. This amendment and the duplicated file that was considered at land use this week. However at the suggestion of supervisor chan, the expansion of the fee waiver will only apply for may 2023 and may 2024. This week there was little discussion and no Public Comment and the item was forwarded to the full board with a positive recommendation. Next, the committee took up two ordinances at once. The Development Impact fee indexing ordinance and the Development Impact fee reduction ordinance sponsored by the mayor and supervisor peskin respectively. Commissioners, you heard these items on july 13th and recommended approval with modifications for both for the indexing ordinance you recommended eliminate the Development Impact fees assessed on changes of use throughout the planning code and for the Development Impact fee reduction amendments. Not sure if you read all of that, but the amendments included applying the reduction of section 415 a and 415 b to inclusion projects of all sizes, not only to projects with 25 units or more. Two authorizing temporary rate reduction for Pipeline Projects that have used the sf program. Three standardizing deadline with various rate reduction programs and between the Inclusionary Housing Program and other standard timelines for remove the requirement for two or more people to occupy middle income units. Five remove the on site off site and fee rates set forth in planning code. Section four 418 for the urban mixed use district for all projects. Six simplify the requirements set forth in division and by removing the distinction for projects that were up zoned through the creation of the visit arrow nct seven. Modify the planning code to maintain the same on site off site and fee rates for both rental housing and ownership projects beginning november 1st, 2026 eight modify the planning code to remove the annual increases from the inclusionary Affordable Housing program, which are set to begin on july january 1st, 2028, and finally nine. Correct. The proposed citywide fee off site rate for interim rate projects to 20. 4 instead of 20. 5, and adjust the low income tier to 11. 4 instead of 11. 5. Theres a lot the committee delayed the file at supervisor spys request in order to include some of the amendments. However, supervisor peskin said that he was not inclined to include any of those amendments to the duplicated ordinance, so the committee ultimately did not take any of the Planning Commissions recommendations. This does not have implementation impacts for the department, as many of the amendments were common sense changes intended to simplify our existing process, which is extremely complicated. The Committee Members had a robust discussion about these two ordinances. Supervisor peskin explain the history of the inclusion ordinance. The reasoning behind the reduction and the process that led to their proposed reductions. Supervisor peskin was unconvinced that the spease and inclusionary numbers should be reduced and challenged. The assumption that these changes would lead to any new housing at all, he asked if anyone had projected how much money were set to lose should this pass. We did not. There was also significant Public Comment with most callers objecting to the reduction of fees and questioning the need for Additional Market rate housing. In San Francisco, the committee did end up moving the item to the full board on a 2 to 1 vote with supervisor preston voting against the motion. And then lastly, the committee considered supervisor melgar Family Housing opportunity sued ordinance. This ordinance would remove process requirements for demolition and Public Notice for building expansion. In addition to providing more density for projects in Zoning Districts that meet specific requirements. Commissioners may recall that this was heard last week and amended by supervisor melgar. Peskin also had amendments that he wanted to incorporate. However, they had not been drafted to form yet. This week those amendments were added and included one requiring a queue if demolishing any rent controlled units to ensuring Group Housing sud controls still apply. Three ad amendments to ensure that only one unit would be permitted in the rear yard should the project be allowed to have more than four units based on lot area four, excluding the north beach sud and the Telegraph Hill sud from the proposed Family Housing opportunity sud and five some clerical amendments. Public comment wasnt as robust as last time, but there were commenters in support and opposition to the ordinance. After Public Comment, the committee voted to forward the full item to the full board as a committee recruit. And this ends aaron starrs report. Thank you. Thank you. Hpc the Historic Preservation commission did not meet this week. I do have a report from the Zoning Administrator for the board of appeals, the board of appeals met last night and considered several appeals of interest to the Planning Commission as an appeal of the Zoning Administrator interpretation related to the method of measurement for bulk controls and associated definition of planned dimensions. The interpretation stated that unless specifically specified elsewhere in the planning code, the maximum plan dimensions per specific bulk limits apply within the exterior walls of each individual building or structure, such that a single building may not have multiple vertical elements such as separate towers that collectively exceed the maximum permitted plan dimensions. However separate buildings on the same lot will have separate plan dimensions for the purpose of measuring bulk limits. That internal interpretation was appealed by. 2700 holding, llc on the basis that the interpretation was incorrect, inconsistent with past practice and in violation of state law. After a substantial questioning and noting the code provisions, options and projects to obtain approvals from the Planning Commission for additional bulk, the board determined that the Zoning Administration had not erred or abused their discretion in issuing the interpretation, and they voted unanimously to deny the appeal. And with that, that concludes your review of past events that the board of supervisors, board of appeals and Historic Preservation commission, if there are no further discussions of Department Matters, 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. Each member of the public may address the commission for up to three minutes when the number of speakers exceeds the 15 minute limit. General Public Comment may be moved to the end of the agenda. Members of the public. If you wish to provide general Public Comment and you are here in city hall, please come forward. Those calling in remotely press star three and via webex use the raised hand icon. We will take speakers at city hall first. Hi george. Ashish. I sent you an email but i want to make a correction. If i could have the overhead really quickly. Thats okay. Ill figure it out. Well thank you. Okay. Anyway i sent you the email and ill just show it here. I made a typo. The house on the left is not 345 liberty. Its 365 liberty. So but im talking about 367 liberty. And what miss lynch is kindly handing out now are the demo calcs that i promised id send to you. So these are the demo calcs. There were two sets. There was an enforcement, which ill talk about in september. When you have your enforcement thing. But the calcs were changed and they are fairly close to the thresholds and so now its for sale again. Its sold originally in 2019 for 8. 7 million. The original before the work was approved, there was no hearing was 2. 2 million back in 2013, 18. So now its for sale again because somebody messed up. And i have to tell you, i went in to see it and its like a crime scene. It really is. Now, can we blame the demo calcs for that . I blame the demo calcs for that because i think it was a poorly done alteration that took advantage of the demo calcs. So thats why i keep harping on the idea that the demo calcs are an ongoing thing. The thresholds need to be lowered no matter what you do. 317 it seems like for now at least is still going to be around. Its been since 2009. They have not been adjusted. When you look at these calcs for this particular project and you look at the pictures i sent in the email, it seems to me that if this isnt a demolition, i dont know what is a demolition and all of the things that ive shown for the last nine years and no evali epicenter of de facto demolition. You know, at some point i run out of words. But please look at the email. If you havent, please look at the demo calcs and you can see how close they are. The original ones, and then the revised ones. Although when the enforcement was done, the staff could not, as i recall, could not confirm that it was a demolition. But certainly, given whats happened and now its the shell, whatevers left of it is i dont know what its sold for, but they were asking for point something for 4. 5 million for tear down. Anyway please adjust the calcs or at least discuss adjusting the calcs. That would be even. That would be fabulous. Thank you very much. Last call for Public Comment seeing no additional speakers requesting to speak under general Public Comment. General Public Comment is now closed and commissioners, we will now move on to your regular calendar for item number 13, Record Number 2021 hyphen 005878c. Wp expanding housing choice Housing Element Zoning Program. This is an informational presentation on. Good afternoon commissioners lisa chen with Department Staff. Todays informational presentation will provide an update on our Housing Element Zoning Program called expanding housing choice. Today will be reviewing some zoning concept maps that present our strategy for adding new housing to meet state requirements. Well also be discussing various policy considerations and other related efforts and close by highlighting recent Community Engagement events in future opportunities for people to get involved. As youll recall, expanding housing choice is one of the four key areas that the department is working on this year to implement the Housing Element and the mayors housing for all executive directive. We had a hearing on these activities and on april 27th and city agencies and policymakers are actively working on implementation of these areas. As you have seen through various hearings for the reZoning Program, specifically, the mayors executive directive commits the department to developing a final proposal by january 2024 to ensure that we are on track to meet state requirements. We have a large team of dedicated and knowledgeable staff working from across the department, several of them are here today to meet this target. And before we dive into the zoning scenarios themselves, i need to interrupt you. Sure. We have a request from commissioner reece to make a recusal to break your stride. Oh, sure. Im so sorry i misunderstood the City Attorneys advice, but as you all know, ive had to recuse myself from the Housing Element items because of my work with the Housing Element. Before i became a Planning Commissioner and because this is an Housing Element item, i must recuse myself from this as well. Thank you. Miss lynch. Do we need to vote on this recusal . I i think we should. Yeah. Lets just do a vote for that. Were not sure. Well just start all over our choice. Was there a motion to recuse commissioner ruiz . Commissioner brown. Move to recuse commissioner ruiz from this item . Ill second. Thank you, commissioner is on that motion to recuse commissioner ruiz. Commissioner braun, high commissioner diamond i, commissioner imperial high commissioner coppell high and Commission President tanner reluctantly. I thank you. Commissioners and commissioner ruiz. You can hang out in the back. All right. Okay. Diving back in. So before we actually present the zoning scenarios themselves, we like to just remember who were really working to expand Housing Choices for. So if you recall at our last hearing, we shared stories and quotes from all sorts of San Francisco residents seniors, families, people with disabilities, young adults, workers and so on that illustrate how widespread our Housing Needs are across the city. So through our engagement on this effort, were continuing to gather more of those stories that will be able to share later on in our process in accordance with state requirements and our adopted Housing Element. Our reZoning Program is focused on expanding the types and amount of Housing Available in the state designated housing Opportunity Areas, which were also called well resourced neighborhoods in the Housing Element to meet rina requirements, we need to plan for a minimum of 36,200 units in these areas. Were planning to accomplish this by changing zoning to allow more housing along transit routes, commercial streets and other key sites shown in orange. Most of this growth will be midrise rise in the range of 65 to 85ft tall, which is roughly 6 to 8 stories, but with some lower and Higher Heights in selected locations. Everywhere else, sites can already add four plexs and six plexs under current legislation. Since our hearing in april, the department has released two zoning concept maps that are variation on the scenarios we submitted with the Housing Element. These two concept maps are meant to show different configurations of height and density that meet state requirements. And well note that even though were showing two options, were not simply asking people to choose one or the other as their are, of course, many iterations that can get us to our target. The two maps are meant to show different trade offs and elicit feedback that we will incorporate into a revised scenario this fall. Zoning concept one is shown here with the proposed height changes in orange and red. It spreads new housing more widely across the neighborhoods and thus heights are slightly lower than in zoning. Concept two. There is a buffer or a ban surrounding the major streets shown in dark blue. And in these areas, density limits would be lifted, but height limits would remain the same. Zoning concept two is focused on the same major streets and sites, but has slightly Higher Heights. For example, some corridors that were 65ft in the other map are 85ft here because because growth is concentrated on these streets , there is no surrounding buffer. I should also note that we consider these to be the idealized final heights, taking into consideration the state density bonus and other programs. So in other words, we will design our our zoning to consider these programs such that buildings would not exceed these heights. To make the maps feel a little more tangible, weve been showing people examples of buildings in San Francisco that match the proposed heights, including nonconforming buildings in the rezoned areas that people may not even realize exceed current heights. Here are some examples of midrise buildings specifically showing both new and older architecture. The ultimate goal is to address our Affordable Housing needs, both by creating more opportunity sites and funding to develop, subsidize Affordable Housing, but also by adding a greater diversity of housing types overall, such as apartment buildings, townhomes for plexus and other small, smaller multiunit buildings that are shown to be more affordable than Single Family homes. This will also help address a common theme that weve heard from residents, which is that they face challenges, finding the types of homes that meet their needs when their life circumstances change. Here are some of the other policy considerations were focused on, even though we arent creating area plans or neighborhood plans through this process, we are still thinking holistically about how new housing can enhance these neighborhoods. In addition to housing expanding Housing Affordability and diversity, were thinking about the housing approval process, how and how new, how new housing can enhance neighborhoods by bringing new infrastructure and resources and contribute to Cultural Heritage and urban design relates. Lately, staff are working on several technical analyzes to inform this work. First, we are reviewing our analysis of zone capacity, which is essentially our reasonable estimate of the amount of housing that could be built under the proposed zoning. Were reviewing both our soft site methodology as well as exploring other tools like the probability model used for the Housing Element. Were also launching our financial Feasibility Analysis to understand how the proposed zoning changes can encourage and encourage housing development. Were working with the Economic Consultant century urban, who you remember, has worked with the city on both inclusionary housing tech studies, and were hoping to have the initial results of that for our next round of outreach this fall. Were also developing objective Design Standards and we have trent green from our staff whos working on that effort, which will include visualizations of how the New Buildings may fit in with the local context. So well be gathering feedback from architects and other stakeholders in the coming months. So there will be more opportunities to weigh in on that and finally, were starting to develop the parameters of how the Zoning Program could be structured and implemented. So as noted in the case report, we are exploring creating a local Bonus Program and are working to identify ways that such a program could be an attractive alternative to the state density. Bonus. As you know, policymakers have been working on numerous legislative proposals that have been before the commission and that may intersect with this rezoning focused on removing process constraints, increasing housing density and modifying our inclusionary housing and impact fee requirements. Our final zoning proposal will incorporate these amendments as applicable. Shifting gears, we wanted to give a recap of our recent outreach and future opportunities for people to get involved. So heres our timeline. From now through early 2024, showing two phases of engagement this summer and fall before the adoption process starts next winter. To date, weve had a diverse range of events. Our recent open houses have been the most widely attended, with about 200 Community Members over the two events. Our team also conducted a series of field visits earlier in the year, walking along the corridors and meeting with supervisors, offices and nonprofits. Weve also had about a dozen Community Conversations which are essentially one on one presentations with Community Groups. And finally, weve been excited to partner with cd and self help for the elderly on a series of Community Education workshops meant to provide Capacity Building and information about housing and zoning for residents in d one and d for that process will ultimately include 40 workshops, of which about half have been completed. Here are some images from the recent open houses. On june 22nd at the lgbt center and july 11th at Golden Gate Park. We wanted to make sure these events were accessible to the broader community, so we provided childcare and food. We translated our materials and had live interpreters on site and we worked with cbo partners and supervisors offices to publicize the events. The presentation and all of the content from the open houses are posted on our website, including a Community Input form for people to provide additional feedback. Here are some themes pulled from the input weve received so far. So overall, there was a strong recognition of our Affordable Housing needs and a desire to see more housing that serves our most vulnerable residents. Not surprisingly, there was also mixed receptivity for Greater Heights and density, with some attendees wanting to see us add more housing, including in different areas and at Higher Heights. Other attendees expressing concern about changing the predominantly low Density Development pattern and a range of comments in between. There were also comments reinforced our need to improve our housing approval process and comments about infrastructure and service needs. As we continue to add housing. And finally, we heard about the existing community and Cultural Assets in these neighborhoods that people love and want to see enhanced. We are continuing to solicit feedback throughout phase one. So i already mentioned the open house input form on our website. In addition to that, were creating a slimmed down survey that will be released in the next few weeks to get even more targeted feedback. Were also continuing continue to get requests for Community Conversations from neighborhood groups and we encourage people to get in touch with us. If you would like to schedule a meeting soon will be launching into focus groups that are targeting equity populations like renters, youth, seniors and others. And finally, were coordinating with supervisors offices on outreach opportunities and building out our communication strategy more broadly. To let, as many people know about this work as we can, our next steps will be to continue to collect and analyze this feedback, which will inform our draft zoning scenario to be released in phase two this fall and well have other Community Engagement and opportunity during that phase, including additional open houses. So in closing, we just want to thank everyone whos participated so far. Weve already heard a lot of rich and substantive feedback and were looking forward to having more conversations. So this concludes our presentation and were available for questions. Thank you. Thank you. At this time, we will open Public Comment on this item. Members of the public here in city hall, please come forward and line up on the screen side of the room to your right. Those calling in remotely, please press star three and those joining via webex. Please use the raise hand icon. We will start with city hall. First. You will have three minutes. Oh thanks for three minutes. Heres a copy for the record and for mr. George ashutosh since sacramento doesnt require the rezoning to be completed until january 2026, its baffling to me that the mayor would instruct her department and the board of supervisors to finalize this Major Overhaul by january 20th, 24, which is two years ahead of time, require quired by the state. January 2024 is roughly six months away. When will the financial Feasibility Study from century urban on the rezoning as sat on pages four and five of todays memo to the Planning Commission be published in the fall. Well see. That would be nice. This Feasibility Study seems vital for the public and policymakers to read and digest the may six, 2022, financial Feasibility Study, also from century urban on densification under the four plex scenario, states that the most financially feasible way for homeowners to densify would be to add a unit to the existing Single Family home. This scenario would not require a rezoning. Thanks to sb nine or supervisor melgar as proposed ordinance would a rapid rezoning on a faster timetable than required from sacramento just create a speculative frenzy because developers would have the means to get ready for the market on the upswing . I am still very concerned about the warning in the october 2021 staff analysis in sb nine that low income homeowners might feel pressure to cash out this seems even more likely under a large rezoning, particularly a rezoning on a fast track. The fact that some objective in the 2014 Housing Element were not enacted most specifically. Policy 3. 4 to preserve quote naturally affordable close quote. Housing types mirrors the issues around speculative fever of the past decade. Given the tremendous gap in Affordable Housing, it is unfortunate that the section 317 demo calcs were never adjusted since march 28th, 26 excuse me, march 26th, 2009. If adjusted, the calcs could have been the tool to enact the policy to preserve more naturally affordable or financially accessible housing. The findings for some of the recent legislation cites the tripling in the median sales price from 2011 to 2021 from 439,000 to 1. 5. 8 million includes the 9 increase from 2019 to 2020. This exactly, precisely mirrors the increases in what the staff has determined is the epicenter of de facto demolition, and that, of course, is no evali. Please please do not rush the rezoning of San Francisco. Take advantage of sacramentos generosity and please adjust. The demo counts and please codify the residential flat policy to preserve flats in their existing configured station to preserve existing sound housing. Thank you very much. We will now move on to our remote callers. Good afternoon, commissioners. Jake price on behalf of the Housing Action coalition. I want to really commend lisa chen and the Planning Department for their work thus far. I was at the open house earlier this month in Golden Gate Park and found it very informative and insightful , very excited about this proposal. But i do want to offer one piece of feedback that i dont think we should be limiting the rezoning efforts to just transit corridors, neighborhoods need to grow as well, and focusing it all on transit corridors. It doesnt provide a diverse ification of Housing Options throughout the city, which we would love to see looking forward to more work and more outreach being done. And thank you, everyone, for your work thus far. I adam van, brian , this all seems really great. This is my first time coming to one of these things, so i dont know exactly how this works, but i was curious if this does anything to address mixed zoning throughout the city. I think a lot of the places in sunset and in richmond are devoid of, you know, nearby walkable Grocery Stores, restaurants, cafes and all that kind of stuff. And if were rezoning things to allow for higher buildings, i think we should encourage and incentivize. Yeah mixed use zoning for this, i dont know if thats something you guys decide here or somewhere else, but im curious about that. Last call for Public Comment. Please press star three use the raise hand icon. Come forward. Seeing no additional requests to speak, Public Comment is closed in this informational item is now before you. Great. Thank you. Staff thank you. The callers i know this represents a brief report, but lots of hours of work amongst a very diverse design team. Hopefully we can give you some feedback. And also just id love to hear where my fellow commissioners are. Whats on your mind . What are your most important things or maybe what youre hearing from parts of the community that are important about the Housing Element . So i wanted to dig in a few things there, not necessarily in any order. I wanted to hear a little bit more perhaps about the open house events as well as some of the online forums. First, just a technical question. The Feedback Form is that thats online now is that for folks who did attend the open house or is it something that even if someone didnt attend, they could participate in that in responding to that . Sure, sure. It is available to anyone. So, you know, we did have people came to the events and were just kind of blown away with how much content there was. And so we wanted people to have a chance to provide additional feedback if, you know, things came to them after the event. And then we also wanted an alternative for people who couldnt make it to the event so that they can have almost the same experience and see all the boards and the same questions. But like i mentioned, were also creating an Additional Survey thats going to be kind of a more traditional, slimmed down version of that. Okay. And is it something that it will be open until a certain time . Im just thinking about us as commissioners, letting folks know that they can respond to that. When is the deadline for folks to use that Feedback Form . If you have. Yeah, yeah. So we havent set an exact date, but were kind of roughly aiming for the end of september to continue collecting feedback and then into the fall were going to move into phase two and have a revised scenario. So of course its a bit fluid because well be accepting feedback throughout. Of course. Of course. Thats great. And maybe just just give us a little bit more sense. The open house, i know you noted that there were areas of, you know, unsurprising, kind of like some folks saying we need more height in more places. Some folks saying, well, im not too sure about the height. You know, as you looked at the differences between the two scenarios, were there like themes or preferences that came up that or even rationale of like why folks would or wouldnt prefer or one of the rezoning scenarios just give us a little maybe more insight. I know its not maybe specific, but just what you can recall or what youve been able to gather. Yeah. So i would say there was a lot of nuanced feedback, which was it was very helpful to be able to meet with people and talk to them versus just having people vote on 1 or 2. So you know, i think people were we saw people really grappling with some of the trade offs, which, you know, some of the commenters also just commented on. You know, having kind of that buffer of d controlled areas, bring some advantages in terms of just distributing the growth more broadly, maybe creating a transition from the corridors down into the neighborhoods. But then there are other trade offs because those are smaller projects, you know, maybe theyre not paying into our Inclusionary Program and so on. So it wasnt necessarily that there were clear leanings toward one or the other, but people were kind of raising different trade offs and different preferences according to their what their opinions were, and then trying to figure out maybe they couldnt settle it even for themselves, but they kind of see that there is pro and con to either scenario and kind of trying to figure out what the right mix is. Did you see any geographic difference like in certain areas or certain corridors, folks that i like scenario one in this particular area, but in this part of the map, i like scenario two. Did anything like that come up . We havent been able to isolate those sorts of trends yet, which is i think what were hoping to build out through the rest of our outreach. As i mentioned, for example, were partnering with some of the supervisors who want to do kind of district level outreach, which i think will be helpful. So right now its kind of more just overall feedback. We are hoping that people will give us that very specific geographic feedback about specific streets or areas, because thats ultimately what really helps us create the next scenario. Yeah, because i could see certainly theres different capacity streets, different scale of various things throughout and so some may be more amenable to a scenario 2 or 1, just depending on that. And then you also mentioned that youre doing some district walks, which i think is a fabulous idea. Maybe just share what you do on those walks or kind of what happens when folks are joining you for those. Yeah yeah. So theyve been a bit informal because, you know, theyre not like a public event. Its really a way for our team to also build our own capacity and meet with nonprofits and others who are working on the ground and hearing from them about different needs that they are seeing in their neighborhoods. So theyve really varied from walk to walk some of them where i think our first one was in the sunset where we met with five and cbos in a day. So we were kind of exhausted by the end of it. But some of them have been a little bit more loose in terms of the agenda. We have been meeting with supervisors offices on some of the walks as well, and its kind of a way for us to see the urban realm, see the history and then also meet some of the people. Great, wonderful. Maybe shifting gears to some of the more policy questions weve talked, obviously a lot and i in particular about creating a local Bonus Program. So i know that you have a few paragraphs in the staff report about it and in particular reminding us that we as a body and the board of supervisors and mayor said we want to create a ministerial path for housing approval and in fact that we need to and in fact, for our sites that were repeating from previous cycles, we are under state regulation to do so. And so curious what the discussions have been around the potential paths for that. I know that theres been some concern of like would we does our charter even allow it . Our charter allows it when the state tells us to. But other than that, do we need a more complex Legal Mechanism to make that local path, ministerial . Yeah so i would say those conversations, conversation are still in a very early stage because we are working with the City Attorneys Office and trying to explore what the pathways are. But as you know, its not only the sites that are being that have been reused, low income sites, its also the sites that we are rezoning that were going to designate as low income sites to meet arena and so, you know, we have also been just mapping the universe of sites so we can get a sense of how widespread they are. Okay. And do those have to be within the well resourced neighborhoods or some of those sites could be distributed across the city, correct . Yes some of them are outside of the well resourced areas as well. But in the last in the adopted Housing Element, there was an effort to not include the priority equity geographies for the reuse sites. Great, awesome. Um, and then one of the things that i think i know comes up here and also obviously came up in the, the outreach were doing is, is thinking about how do we colocate or plan for more community facilities. Just curious how that works going in particular, just like are we thinking of a range of strategies like trying to have facilities that are part of developing projects or is it more looking at current public sites like an existing library and you know, creating more capacity by adding floors or something on an existing public facilities . How do we think or even know fire stations, things that may actually need new land and need to have more of them . Any thoughts and how were trying to think about not just the units, but all the resources , things that are public that go along with the neighborhoods . Yeah so this is obviously a much longer term discussion than we can solve in the six months we have remaining. But you know, i think we are building on some of the analysis that went into the eir where we were identifying the specific facilities and which ones have additional capacity, which ones maybe will be stretched with addition of new housing. So we have been communicating with other agencies about the changes that were proposing and so that its on their radar as part of their Capital Planning processes. I will also say that part of the these being well resourced neighborhoods or housing Opportunity Areas is that they in many cases there are Infrastructure Infrastructure in place to support growth. So it really depends on the specific topic. Yeah. And probably similar to the specific neighborhood, even as we get from just like the entire geography to what are in certain areas. And then of course layering on that, how many units might be there and what kind of additional facilities may or may not be needed. I think that is all my questions. I think the only comment i will make is, you know, im eager to see how things continue. I do think this is timely. I know theres a concern that you raised around kind of why are we doing it so quickly. But i think weve been in a housing crisis for decades. So no time like the present to move forward and implement the thing that we said we want to do. So thats my thoughts on that. And i hope that im very impressed with the work they all have done. And i know it still be quite a lot more work to do to get us to propose rezoning plan. With that, im going to call on commissioner diamond. Thank you. I want to start by thanking staff for all of their work. Its tremendous. And moving this forward, and particularly we want to compliment you and encourage you to keep doing the neighborhood meetings so that we can actually get the input from the people whose neighborhoods are going to be most affected by this. I think thats an absolutely critical piece of this, together with input from the supervisors on these two district concept maps, zoning concept maps on sort of a very, very localized level because the supervisors are the ones who know best the needs of their districts. And i believe thats an absolutely critical step with that. Although this is just informational, i wanted to point out three concerns that i had based upon what ive seen so far. So that those can be looked at in more detail as you go forward. The first is and you made reference to it in zoning concept one, theres this darker blue area that has no height change but removes the density limits. So my initial question is if you remove the density limits to those areas, then become potential potentially subject to the state density bonus law. Yes. So as as we mentioned, were trying to build factor that in. So in creating our local program will make a determination of are we changing the baseline zoning or do you have to opt out of the state program in order to utilize whatever zoning changes were proposing . And that could be all the zoning changes at once, or it could be a scale like we have in homes. So were still designing all of that. But the idea is that were hoping that those maps that you see there, those are the idealized final heights. Okay . So i am very concerned about this issue, which is we are saying here that were not changing the heights. And if we move forward with zoning concept one, i need sort of complete reassurance that we dont end up with state density bonus projects that can then go from 40ft, which is or 45ft, which is what the height is in most of these areas to 65ft, because that then just undermines what were telling people, which is that these represent the end heights. Shepherd and apart from that, i have a concern about increasing the density in those areas beyond the increases that weve just reviewed as a commission. And at the board, which is changing the density to four units and then six units on the corners, those were, i thought at the end highly negotiated but well thought out ordinances. And i dont understand why we would want to increase the density above that, especially if we have another alternative that gets us to the same end result in terms of the number of units that we need under our rina goal, i believe that, as ive said consistently throughout here, im very much in favor of increasing the height on the commercial streets and not on the resident side streets and the density increases on the residential side streets i think are great in terms of the ordinances weve already considered, which is moving it to four units or six units at the end. But beyond that, i have concern about how it will actually transfer from each neighborhood, even though we say if we dont require parking, people wont have cars. These are family neighborhoods and people with children generally have at least one car. And i dont understand where all these additional cars are going to park. If we are jamming up the density. And while we theoretically would like people not to have cars, i dont believe the transit on the west side is anywhere close to the place where it is, where we can assume that people will not have cars if were increasing the density. So i would really like to see a lot of discussion around that issue in your neighborhood meeting. So we really get a sense from the people who are out there what they think about taking the density with or without the height increases above four and six, which is what weve just adopted. So that thats one issue. The second issue has to do with an issue i raised last week in conjunction with the cultural districts, and thats clements street. This issue may come up in other areas as well too, but clements streets not that far from my house. So im much more familiar with this neighborhood than i am with the others. And clements street is an incredibly unique neighborhood. I walked down it again this morning just to remind myself how it really functions. There was virtually zero formula retail on this street with the exception of banks. It is filled with Grocery Stores and beauty salons and restaurants. Many of which are owned and operated by members of our asian community, caters in many respects in terms of whos at the stores. When you look at them to the neighborhood residents, which is important, many of whom are asian. And i am deeply worried that if we increase the density on the street in boston areas, you have to go up to 65ft. That the only way to really do that, given the small scale of those shops at the moment, is to tear the stores down and build 65 foot New Buildings and even if we put retail in at the bottom, which of course i assume we would, that the rents may be significantly higher than they are now in the current composite of shops wont be able to coexist. And i think it is really, really important that we understand and the features of our commercial strips that are attractive to the residents in that area to make sure that in our tier, to add more housing, which is absolutely critical, that were not destroying the way neighborhoods function in this case, its particularly. Significant to me when i look at this, especially from arguello to 12th avenue. Thats where theres the highest concentration of these shops. I mean, it goes all the way out, but its particularly from arguello to 12 to 12 that on any given day you see how this neighborhood operates, that just different than you know, fillmore or chestnut or union and when i look at clement, you know, its two blocks away from geary or i dont think anybody has any objection to that going up to 85ft or or even higher and two blocks away from california , which i see youre calling for 65 or 85 foot height limits. And i you know, i have no concern. I deeply and very much in favor of those. But clement street is completely different because of the way it currently functions. So i think its absolutely critical that you be in close conversation with supervisor chan in particular. And as i say , there may be other neighborhood commercial streets that function, you know, in ways that are unique and important and vital to how our neighborhoods function. So i want to make sure were not skipping that step as we paint with orange and paint with blue, you know, on a map that were taking into account, the on the ground realities. And then the third thing is, i want to reemphasize, as commissioner Tanners Point about the infrastructure that i recognize that Capital Planning projects can be much further in the distance. But if we rezone, we could end up with a lot of housing where there arent Neighborhood Parks and the schools, you know, may or may not be sufficient. And the water lines may not be sufficient. And the eir identify and the transportation for sure may not be sufficient. And so i think we need to make sure that were not letting ourselves get ahead on housing, that these need to move. Im not saying one needs to be contingent on the other, but are all out effort to increase housing on the west side. I believe needs to be matched by an all out effort to make sure that the infrastructure thats necessary for those units to work as neighborhoods is that the infrastructure doesnt lag behind. So those are my thoughts and comments. So far. Thank you. I was going to pick up on a couple before i go to commissioner brown, which is i think that it would be interesting to think about with like a retail displacement policy or program, whether its for clement street or other areas, because i do think when we think about displacement and gentrification, we have some hope and confidence that because of some of the Home Ownership rates in some areas that we can limit that and layering on our tenant protection and other policies. We have to hopefully preserve tenants in place that were trying to mitigate residential displacement. But i think part of gentrification that is maybe not as a focus on our department is around retail and other services or other uses, worship places, other things that can be really important to a community as it exists. And so how do we think about what could that look like . And i dont know. Thats not my area of expertise and maybe not ours, but did you want to address that at all . Miss chen yes, i will just say that we have been in contact with pd and particularly the office of Small Business. And so and thats actually kind of a community that we really want to deepen our outreach in throughout the next phases of outreach, just making sure that Small Businesses have a voice in the process as well. Id be curious to know if they feel like owning their building is something they want or they like leasing. Like what . What kind of tools . Give them more stability. Is it having longer leases like some of it may be strategy, business by business, but itd be curious to know like what they feel would help them have more place based ability for their their enterprise. Yeah. And those are those are all great questions. And we did add our open house. We had a station that was specifically devoted to the ground floor of these buildings that are coming in and what are the uses that people love currently and want to see preserved and enhanced in kind of the next generation of buildings that are on these corridors. So definitely theres a lot more conversations to have there. And maybe its something if we are doing a kind of as a Bonus Program, maybe theres something we can do to leverage, say, part of what youre doing on your ground floor as part of your bonus, like getting the bonus. I dont know. Theres something that could be there and then i wanted to pick up on your concern around state density bonus. I think question i have is, is for the state density bonus. If we do density control, my understanding is its hard to predict the height that would result from a state density bonus project because its really they get a bonus of Square Footage which could be any number of floors depending on the dimensions of the site or how they choose to distribute the additional Square Footage over the site. So it would seem challenging to get to a definitive height because because theres so much variation over each parcel in the density controlled areas and assuming the density control goes along with the rezoning. Right. So i may not have explained this completely clearly, but one of the levers we have is really just keeping the zoning as it is today, as the baseline, and then having people opt in to whatever our local program is in lieu of the state program. I see. Okay yeah. So, so and that may change also because we have current legislation thats pending that may also change the density limits in some areas. So it is kind of an evolving baseline, but that is our goal, which is to basically craft it so that our program is competitive and an alternative to the state program. I see. Great. Thank you very much for clarifying that. And ill call on commissioner brown. First of all, i just want to echo the thanks to all the work that the Department Staff has been putting into this effort and the outreach effort in particular. Its a very high touch, high time kind of thing to do, but its really important. So i do appreciate that. Im going to start by getting in the weeds a little bit on the sort of pivoting off of this question around the state density bonus and how that interacts with things. I have kind of a Bigger Picture question of so we have to meet the zoning gap of 36,200 units and if we are relying on density bonuses, as you know, were trying to take into account the effects of state and local density bonuses on height limits and how many units can be produced. I mean, does that i just want to make sure and kind of get reassured that that counts towards filling our our gap. Is that right, lisa . John yes, great question. Its something were grappling with as well. So we have been in touch with, for example, city of los angeles there. They are also considering their rezoning as one, a mix of a Bonus Program. And they actually said that they were inspired by our Homeless Program in creating this idea, as well as some targeted changes to specific corridors. So we will, through the course of this effort, be in touch with the state to make sure that, you know, whatever we create will satisfy the requirements. I think we do have a precedent of creating a local program, so that is helpful. But i think itll also just come itll be contingent upon us to demonstrate with evidence that we think that this is a viable program that people will choose. I see. Okay. Thats thats reassuring. Especially i guess there is some, some some wiggle room to play with here. I mean, if some of those units come out of the assumption that there might be a density Bonus Program and you know, i think were hitting Something Like up to 56,000 units, all in with the comprehensive rezoning that has been shown. So theres still some space in there where we could maybe have a base zoning that does achieve the 36,200 and then density bonus for the above. But either way, yes. Yeah, very important to just find out what the states perspective is on the extent to which these units count towards capital. Mr. Whiskey had something he wanted to add. I just wanted to build off just which one. Hello okay. Sorry, the wrong one. I just wanted to build off of what what lisa said, which is that not just do we need to demonstrate with evidence, but we did actually count the existing state density bonus towards our existing sites. Inventory in the state. Except that because we could demonstrate with evidence that the city has clearly evidence that projects have been using the state density bonus. So we did factor that into the analysis that the probability analysis that that sort of created our baseline from which the gap was created. So weve already weve already have experience doing that with the state and were confident that with additional evidence that our new local bonus and whatever form it takes will be attractive and viable that the state would accept it. I think theres already past practice of doing that. Okay. Yeah. And its good to see the revisions to the off site methodology and the Feasibility Study also building more that evidence, i assume that would be part of that as well. Yeah. Yeah okay. I had two other things i wanted to raise. I guess. So one is sort of ultimately a lot of the questions ive been asked have been around making sure that we are customizing things for local conditions. And i know that it was mentioned that were not people are not being asked us to choose between alternative one and alternative two. Its a way to kind of gauge feelings and so ultimately is the idea that there might be very much a localized sort of mix and match and variety of outcomes. And the rezoning process, that sort of neighborhood specific, is that where this is all ultimately landing or is there still sort of a move towards a Bigger Picture of what broader change to the zoning . Yeah, thats a great question. I think it also kind of picks up on commissioner tanners comment about are we hearing Different Things from different neighborhoods . You know, i think the way that we created those maps were to really illustrate some principles. You know, density on corridors and then the buffer or not having the buffer and then other key sites. I think our approach is really going to be just to hear whats the breadth of reactions that were getting and also people raising the trade offs and hearing peoples concerns about one type of kind of urban design pattern versus another. And i think all of that will inform that next scenario. So you know, i would say that they were meant to be zoning concepts. They are kind of illustrative of ideas. And then once we get the feedback, well have a clearer idea of if there is kind of more of a tailored approach or if it is a little bit more of kind of consistent up zoning in a certain way across the city. Okay. And thank you. Yeah. So ill just add ill echo the emphasis on, on my interest in that sort of local outreach and seeing how very local conditions might affect what ultimately happens. And then finally, as part of that, in some of the bigger and some of the broader outreach, like the two workshops that were held, which are more of citywide , were was data on the locations of the participants collected at least districts that they live in or things like that . What kind of location data was collected . Yeah, yeah. So we did ask people to identify their neighborhood when they were filling, adding their postits or filling out their kind of event guides. I dont know if there was 100 adherence to that. So and then also sometimes comments were more general and sometimes they were more specific. So there was a range. There but i think, you know, having kind of that more local outreach through the supervisors offices and the one on one conversations can kind of fill in some of those gaps. And then we are also making sure that people include that information through the Online Surveys. Great. Yes. Yeah. The Online Survey seems like a great way to kind of cross tabulate those. So yeah, i appreciate that. Um, okay. Those are those are my questions and comments. Thank you very much. Thank you. Commissioner moran, commissioner imperial. Thank you. And also thank you for all of this work. Looks like our commission is also going to give you more of our to in terms of summaries and reports what we would like to see as well. I also echo what other commissioners have mentioned in terms of its also important for us or for me at least, to see the summaries of the trade offs and also seeing the local conditions. So i hope that in the next report, you know, that that will be more specific outlined in our summaries of report. Its good for me to understand what are actually being trade offs in different kinds of zoning that we are being proposed and also the breadth of feedback per per areas so that will be a lot of work. I understand. And with the limited time two, im also concerned about that. Im not going to lie in terms of the capacity of the staff and also how are we really going to do gather all this Important Information in order for us to make a good decision . Another thing that i would like to actually press upon is on the financial feasibility from the you know, from the report, from the inclusionary housing tax report. One thing that, again, i , i emphasize are the area Median Income and this and this is something that you know, i think has been an ongoing conversation for the last ten years in our in our city about the area Median Income and whether its also an appropriate measurement when were talking about financial feasibility and including the financial feasibility or the area Median Income in a way that how it affects different kinds of values, the different income level of households and most of the time, you know, we, you know, we rely on the financial feasibility, especially if its new developments. Right so i think its good to advise the consultant to take that into consideration, consideration. And i think im not sure in which area in which body, but i think there has been a lot of conversation in the area. Median income, whether the sf market value area is appropriate. And then theres also the federal poverty guideline also two, that is a lot lower than but also have the realities of the low income households here in San Francisco. So id like to see that kind of financial feasibility in a way that also affects the different income levels and how these new developments also will impact in these different income levels. I also and part of the report as well is to analyze the pending legislation, including the inclusionary housing tax report. And also i also want to highlight in terms of other legislations to that proposing to have to expand the rent control units. I think that would also be important to be part of the financial feasibility, not just the inclusionary housing tax report, but also the impact of the new rent control units. So those those who i think would like to see and also i think what i like for us in the department to challenge ourselves in terms of the zoning concepts, because what i see in the map is you know, highlighting the proposed height limits, the proposed density controls. But you hear from the commissioners from us that there is more than that, that what we would like to see not just the heights in bulk, but also the businesses right. The infrastructure that what would create a thriving neighborhood schools access to schools and you know, and pipelines for transportation in i know there will be a lot of work again for the department to think about how to coordinate these different needs but also incorporate that in the map because also part, you know, part of what weve been discussing, too, is the Affordable Housing strategy. And i dont see that necessarily here in this map. And so, you know, i will probably see that more in the text. But its good to see that also in the map as to where are the Affordable Housing strategies in this map will be located. So thats what im looking for in the next report. Then feedback. So thank you. Thank you. I just want to pick up on a few things that you said to add to that. I think, you know, as and partly theres so much information and youre displaying it beautifully. So it could be interesting as we get deeper into our deliberation to be able to have maps with additional layers, whether its we toggle it on and off at home or that as its in the case report there toggled on the transit understanding, the transit mapping where housing opportunity sites are and know youre doing the mapping right now where low Income Housing sites could be located. If we can get a sense of kind of where they are and then also kind of some of the key business areas and corridors, which obviously theyre mostly on commercial corridors, but we know theres kind of nodes where there can be a higher concentration or maybe more successful kind of populated area of businesses, not just its allowed to have a business on the ground floor, but we know this is like a kind of a key shopping area or retail area. And that can help us as were doing more fine grain, you know, detailed rezoning on certain areas. Maybe it is different in different parts of it. And the other thing i want to mention this would be maybe for mr. Tucker and mr. Whiskey, as we kind of keep doing the planning and what i would like to have us have a hearing on would be one a hearing here at the commission around tenant protections. I think i really, really want to understand how our different city agencies are working together, where there are gaps in working together, where there may need to be memoranda of understanding drafted to make sure that we are not leading in a negative way. Displacement or unintentional gentrification because we are not able to work or have the processes worked out with our sister agencies to effectively help to coordinate. And i would even extend that not only to sister agencies but to nonprofit partners that are funded by the city to do tenant protection work. How are we making sure that all of those different bodies are coordinating together , let alone adding on the layer that i think we Fund Nonprofits to help folks when they do need to go to court to have a lawyer. So how is that also factored into this . And i dont want to be here saying, well, its not our job, its the rent board. Like thats just not satisfactory to me because whether its rent board or the Planning Department or Building Department, i dont care. Its the city, its the public that is being served by the city. So i would love to have us have a hearing to really understand what thats about. And similarly, i want to thank mr. Green for working on our Design Standards. Id love to have those have a separate moment so we can talk about those in an informational context before were asked to finalize. I think that is going to go a long way towards not just whats the height, whats the bulk, whats this, whats the that . How is it going to look . Right . How is it going to feel . What is it going to look like and how are we going to transition for some of these neighborhoods from the Design Standards that they may be used to right now, the guideline to something that is like its either this or its that and were moving into ministerial approvals, etcetera, etcetera. So id love to have those be two items that do come back to us for robust discussion by this commission before were asked to vote on and approve any rezoning plans, any comments or questions, staff or commissioners, Commission President tanner we did have one additional request to speak remote. Would you like to take that at this time . Sure, we can take that. Thank you. Hello, commissioners. This is jane natoli with San Francisco yimby. Ill just give you a call. I want to thank you for taking the time to dig into this. Theres a lot of good questions. I want you to keep pushing on this because we know we have a lot to do. One of my concerns is when ive been digging into this is where relying a lot on other projections, such as whats we really need to nail down the fact that we need to create a lot more capacity because a lot of thats not going to happen. And so i want you to continue to be creative and continue to think about that as youre expanding this. Its been its been good to hear your questions and see what you have to say about this as we continue to explore this. I know this is an ongoing process and there will be more opportunities to provide feedback and see how this develops. But i really want to encourage you, obviously, transit corridors are important, but the idea that a block off of a transit corridor, we cant do a little bit more is a little odd to me. And i think we really need to expand our concept at times and not just put all of our housing in one place. This is something we need to do as a city. And so its going to take everywhere pitching in just about every way possible. Weve tried for too long to push most of our housing to too few places with really negative results for a lot of people, unfortunately. So lets continue to expand the way were thinking about this and the way were approaching this. Thank you for your time today. This is a great. Were sorry. Thats you, josh. Sorry i slid over a different microphone. I just wanted to build off of presentan. You made a comment about in terms of tenant protections and making sure that were not saying thats thats not our job, but just extending that that theme back to also the topic of infrastructure and other services as well. I mean, the planning Planning Department, were not just the housing zoning agency. I mean, were a comprehensive planning agency. And we take that that charge very, very seriously. And we didnt just leave the eir as the last word on on what we need to do in terms of planning for infrastructure. Were very actively engaged with all the agencies that that that that cover these topics. They speak the mta, the school district, which is not even a city agency, but we were very closely engaged with them. The rec park and we had Agency Partners at the workshops. We had mta staff at the workshops we review language with sfc and were working with them daily in parallel with this to make sure they are also there planning for this growth thats that were planning for as well. So i just want you to rest assured that theres a lot going on that were not were not necessarily covering or highlighting here. But but its definitely part of our work and part of the conversation. Right. Thank you very much. And maybe one thing, just to add on commissioner imperials comment on amis. It may be interesting as you are working towards creating our local Bonus Program, one of the things that is impressive about the state density bonus is the lower levels of ami that it pushes for. And so that may be a way to get at some of the neighborhood level ami levels. Its just by having our Bonus Program reach a little bit deeper than even our current inclusionary does so that we have kind of if you look at all of our programs and including state density bonus, were kind of hopefully meeting every income group at some point and that could be helpful for some of our income groups that are left out of the higher tier, it can be still pretty high income even if its like 100 ami or 80 can be pretty high income. With that, i dont see any other commissioner comments or questions. So thank you again. Staff we really, really appreciate this great work, very good. We can now move on to item number 14 for Record Number 2015. Hyphen 012490 in x hyphen oh 288 bloxham this is a request to modify the approved large project authorization. Good afternoon, commissioners. Three Department Staff. The item before you is a request to modify a previously approved large project authorization which was to demolish the bay club. San francisco tennis building and construct a new mixed use building at 88. Bloxham street, which was formerly known as 645 fifth street. In 2019, the previously approved project proposed to retain the bay club tennis facility by constructing new Tennis Courts. Fitness center cafe and administrative offices. Now, the revised project proposes to remove the 127,000 square foot private tennis club that was to be located below grade from the scope of work, thus requiring an updated large project authorization. The project has a total of 1,097,000 gross square feet of area and will include. 775,000 gross square feet of office 3000, 1000ft s of Community Recreation space, 9000ft s of pdr uses 19,000ft s of retail, 4500ft s f childcare facilities off Street Parking spaces, loading and bicycle spaces. The project site is identified as a key site in the central soma plan and will provide qualified amenities including 106,000 square foot air parcel dedication to macd for future development. And 31,000 square foot recreation and Community Center known as the jean friend aquatic annex and a development of a new park known as the bloxham linear park. The project site is currently vacant. Permits were issued in 2019. Sorry, post the 2019 approval to demolish the former tennis Club Buildings at the project site. The proposed project will consist of three Building Components the east, the west and the Community Center and or the Affordable Housing component and these will be built on a podium over multilevel basements. The east and the west components have shared lobbies and floor plates and theyve been designed with them having different differing fenestration patterns and building materials. The overall bulk of the project is minimized with staggering heights and massing designed to maximize views. Light and air access. The 2019 project received the following exceptions from the planning code, which are the same for the revised project as as follows building setbacks and street wall articulation off street freight loading requirements. Pdr space requirements, wind height limits, bulk controls, horizontal mass reduction and narrow and midblock alley controls. As of date of the publication staff has not received any comments in support or opposition of the project. In summary, the Department Finds that the project is consistent with the objectives and policies of the general plan. Although the revised project eliminates the Tennis Courts, this change does not affect the overall bulk massing or design of the project. In fact, it results in a reduction in the depth of the excavate thats proposed by approximately 23ft below grade. The project provides new mixed use development, a Public Recreation center and significant site updates which will enhance the neighborhood amenities and opportunities for employment. The dedication of the air parcel to for future development will also further the citys objectives in increasing the supply of Affordable Housing. The Department Recommends approval this concludes my presentation and i am available to answer any questions. Thank you. Thank you. Well now have the staff presentation. Yeah. Sorry. Project sponsor. Presentation. Yeah. And through the chairs chair, youll have five minutes. Good afternoon, commissioners. My name is teresa nemeth. I represent alexandria state equities inc, who owns and has been working on this project for quite some time. We are very pleased with the presentation that the staff just gave you. It is comprehensive and provides all the details. So really i dont need to take more of your time other than to say we are seeking to make no change to this project other than to remove the underground private tennis club that was to be built on the site. So with that, i can make myself available to answer questions. All right. We will now open this item up for Public Comment. Members of the public at city hall wishing to make public testimony on this item. Please come forward. Those calling in remotely, please press star three. Those joining via webex, please use the raise hand icon. Greg halbert. I was just curious about the tennis and i think pickleball that if the bay club was going to be a tenant there, why would they eliminate it since it was part of the original thing . So. Seeing no additional comments is at hall. We will now go to our remote callers. Hi, can you hear me okay . Yes, hi. Hi. My name is bobby carter. I own a home a couple blocks away from 88 buxom weaver teresa from alexandria years ago, introduced ourselves to her company and about 1800 members at the club. She and their company were very insistent on working together to always keep those Tennis Courts. So the fact that they are trying multiple times to eliminate them, including the board of appeals, who every member voted, that we have to have those Tennis Courts there. I just dont understand why this is going back to planning again without those tennis court. Thank you. Hello my name is seth sokolow on the executive director of san franciscans for sports and recreation. I just want to call the Planning Commissions attention to a letter that we sent on march 13th, 2023, and ill just read that letter briefly. Its only a few sentences. This letter confirms that san franciscans for sports and recreation and Alexandria Real Estate Equities have reached an Agreement Regarding bloxham pursuant to this agreement, our organization, fsr no longer seeks from our the inclusion of a tennis facility on site, nor any other property in lieu of that site, and therefore has no continuing interest in the development. Accordingly, we are not taking and will not take any position regarding whatever alexander Real Estate Equities intends for the site. Thank you very much. Last call for Public Comment, please press star three. Use the raise hand icon. Seeing no additional requests to speak Public Comment is closed and the item is now before you. Thank you. And we had a caller and sir here in person asking about the Tennis Courts. I think the last caller kind of answer the question, which is the organization, as i understand, that, had an agreement to the i dont know if theyre going to be the Owner Operator or somehow connected to the Tennis Courts. Is no longer pursuing that. I dont know if the project sponsor wanted to speak further to the tennis court or anything else. Okay. Other comments, questions or motions from commissioners. Commissioner koppel. A motion to approve. Second, thank you, commissioners. There has been a motion that has been seconded to approve with conditions. Commissioner braun high commissioner ruiz high commissioner. Imperial high commissioner diamond i. Commissioner coppell high Commission President tanner, i thank you, commissioners. That motion passes unanimously and well take you on to your next item, item 15, a 2021 hyphen 001 for zero seven hd adoption of shadow findings item 15 b Record Number 2021 hyphen 001 for zero seven ct z a request for conditions for a request for coastal zone permit item 15 c Record Number 2021. Hyphen 001407cu. A request for conditional use authorization and item 15 d 2021 hyphen 001407 pca map request for planning code text amendment and zoning map amendment all at 2,745th avenue. The irish Cultural Center. Thanks, laura. Good afternoon. President tanner. Commissioners Gabriela Pinto of Department Staff for get started. Id like to introduce Jonathan Goldberg with supervisor and guardiolas office who will make some opening remarks. Good afternoon, president tanner and Planning Commissioners. My name is Jonathan Goldberg and im here on behalf of supervisor district four supervisor joel garcia. Supervisor and garcia is pleased to sponsor this planning Code Amendment to create the street and 45th avenue Cultural Center special use district located at 2,745th avenue since the united irish Cultural Center opened its doors in 1975, the center has served as a storied home for the district four Community Event and cultural gatherings. But over the course of nearly 50 years, the center has outgrown its Available Space needs. The proposed special use district would facilitate the construction of a modern state of the art Community Center that will reactivate the street. Frontages and beautify the neighborhood. On behalf of supervisor and guardian, i want to thank us of planning staff gabrielle pinto and City Attorney staff julia nelson for their work on this. I also want to express our gratitude and appreciation to leo cassidy, redmond lyons, liam reedy for their Creative Vision and steadfast leadership efforts to champion this project. This place has a storied legacy and we are grateful for their work to consider the needs of the united irish Cultural Center for the next 50 plus years. Thank you, commissioners. I hope we can have your support for this study and redevelopment redeveloped. Community center project. Thank you. Thank you. Johnson once again, Gabriela Pinto, Department Staff. There are four items before you related to this project 2,745th avenue assessors block 2513. Lot 26, the first item is an ordinance to amend the planning code and zoning map to create the walnut street and 45th avenue Cultural Center special use district. The underlying zoning for the subject property is nc1 Zoning District and 100 a height in bulk district eight the special use district will principally permit General Office institutional retail sales and service Wireless Telecommunications facilities. Nighttime entertainment land uses at the site. Reduce the Transportation Demand management requirements and allow exceptions from floor area rear yard bulk requirements. Be a conditional use authorization. The second item is a request for a conditional use authorization pursuant to pending special use district planning code. Section two 49. 96. Section 303 and board file number 23 0505, which would allow exemptions from the planning code sections 124 for area 134 rear yard and 270 bulk. The third item is a request for a coastal zone permit pursuant to planning code section 330. And lastly, the fourth item is adoption of shadow finding pursuant to planning code section 295 that the net new shadow cast by the project will not be adverse to the use of the San Francisco zoo. The project itself is for the demolition of an existing two Story Community facility and the construction of a six story river basement 91ft tall, mixed use building operated by the united irish Cultural Center. The building will contain public and private community facilities, restrooms , bar office, 19 entertainment and instructional use contain 54 off Street Parking spaces, two car share spaces and 52 class one bicycle Parking Spaces. The project will also improve pedestrian walkways with the new ada curb ramps, a new bilbao at the intersection of walnut street in 45th avenue loading zone, street trees and 44 class two bicycle Parking Spaces. Since the publishing of the case report, the department has not received any letters in opposition. However the department did receive a letter from speak sunset, parkside education and Action Committee with questions and concerns related to the project. Prior to this middle of the listed applications, the project sponsors did conduct a number of outreach efforts, including inperson meetings. The publishing of a monthly newsletter and an active website. Over 200 Community Members have expressed support for the project. The department does find that the project is on balance and consistent with the western shore area sorry, western shoreline area plan and the objectives and policies of the general plan. The project will maintain a long standing community member, the united irish Cultural Center within the outer sunset neighborhood, and help preserve an important part of San Franciscos history. Additionally, the project will expand the centers ability to hance enhance the lives by providing informal activities for all ages related to recreational education and civic concerns with the focus on preserving and reflecting the history of the Irish Community, the project will also enhance and provide neighborhood serving retail uses opportunities, Job Opportunities and Business Opportunities for the residents of the neighborhood. In conclusion, the Department Recommends that the commission approve the proposed ordinance and adopt the resolution to that effect. Approve the request for a conditional use authorization and coastal zone permit, and adopt the findings that the net new shadow by the proposed project will not be adverse to the use of San Francisco zoo. This concludes staffs presentation. Im available for any questions and this project sponsor have has prepared a presentation for you all. Thank you. We will now have the project sponsor presentation through the chair. You will have five minutes. Good afternoon, commissioners. My name is liam reedy. Im the president of the united irish Cultural Center, have been a director for the past five years and a member of the center for the past 26 years. And im here today to voice my support for the redevelopment of the irish center and much of the motivation surrounds the fact that there is very few of these spaces in the southwest side of the city. Many of the people who come to us to rent our space, whether its the chinese cultural ballroom dancing or the irish dancing schools or branches, church, theyre actually being forced out from other locations that have been torn down. And there is a dearth of these facilities across the city. We have a wonderful programing going on right now with kids programs. We cant wait to expand it into a bigger building. I want to say one of our biggest concerns is not having enough space for everybody who wants to rent the center, not just the irishamerican community, but everybody across the sunset near and far. We had a wonderful summer camp that we had to limit this past summer. Its the third year we had an irish summer camp. We had 75 kids. It was a huge success. All the parents come to me and said, leon, we cant wait till we see what the new irish center can give us. Youll see from the team here that we have a wonderful project that everybody seems to be behind, which is amazing in San Francisco. But these cultural spaces truly have to be preserved and we have to reinvest it Going Forward for the next five decades. So again, i urge you to support the project and youll hear more in detail about what we plan to provide, not just the irishamerican community, the sunset community, but the entire San Francisco bay area. Thank you. As if we can get the laptop. Thank you, commissioners, for your time today. My name is dane bunton, principal at Architecture Firm studio, based here in San Francisco, with a strong presence in the sunset district for over 40 years. The irish center at its core, is a place that not only represents the history and culture of ireland, but also acts as an Iconic Community building, serving the people from all, all cultures and all walks of life. So its value and importance for all of us in this room is no secret. Id like to walk you through the Design Concept weve developed with the irish center team and very closely with the local community over the past three years. Our proposal includes a new six Story Building that is able to accommodate a greater variety of spaces dedicated solely to cultural and Community Based programs. This diagram shows you a breakdown of the programs by floor. You can see theres a lot going on here, so ill start at the two underground levels and then move up through the building. This is b two. This is an Aquatic Center level with a lap pool kiddy pool, saunas and a hot tub. B one is a parking level. The ground floor. Youll see the lobby here. This is where you enter from 45th and wawona. And then we have a ground floor museum featuring an irish art gallery and a gift shop as well as a continuation of the emerald pub and restaurant which is off of 45th avenue on the second floor. This is the Saint Patricks room, which is one of the most important spaces to the building. Its going to hold a number of large events, including a full theater for Live Performances, banquets, weddings, as well as dance performances and boxing. The third floor is the Dowling Library and moore Museum Gallery program here, the fourth floor is an office Level Holding the admin offices as well as irish dance and language classrooms. And then the sixth floor is a roof deck featuring a full Service Restaurant with views to the ocean. Outdoor dining and a Members Party room as well as an outdoor roof deck. So we conceptualize this building as a mass of solid limestone, which sits atop a glass box. This creates a dichotomy between the Public Programs and the members only programs. The Public Programs such as museum, restaurant, event, space and library are conveniently located at the ground and first floor. Lower levels, which create a buzzing hub of activity, activating the street level. The upper levels hold more of the member focused programs such as classrooms, offices and a gym representing the four provinces of ireland. The building massing is split into four quadrants that are broken via glass fissures and a glass roof, allowing for daylight to shine deep into the lower levels. The building form also takes cues from the irish standing on stones and the traditional thatched roof cottages of ireland. The facade is clad with a slate rain screen, which is designed not only to withstand the seaside climate of the outer sunset, but it also represents traditional irish building materials. So thank you very much for this opportunity. Were here to answer any questions that you might have. Thank you. We will now open this up for Public Comment. Members of the public at city hall wishing to make public testimony, please come forward and line up on the screen side of the room. Those calling in remotely, please press star three or use the raise hand icon via webex and you will have three minutes. All right. Hello. Thank you so much for letting me speak today. My name is jake woodfin. I live on 46th and vicente and i am also the pastor of Branches Church in the sunset district, outer sunset district. When we were first looking for a space to meet about two years ago is extremely hard to find. One out there in the outer sunset. And we finally came across the irish Cultural Center and we felt like it was a godsend. I mean, the rent is great and theyre always they dont price gorgeous or anything like that. And theyre also so, so kind to us with the church life, its always in flux and its always up and downs and always like last minute, and theyre always there to helpful, to us. And as a nonprofit, they really understand the needs of a nonprofit as well. And theyve always been there to meet our needs. Is that goes as well. Now, if i was being completely selfish, i would say leave it exactly what it is. Dont change anything. All right . Because it is just perfect for us, our people that are mostly come from the outer sunset and walk to the place. Its excellent every single way. But we also have this core value and this core value of our church and in my own life as well, comes from the bible where it says that as we have opportunity to do good to all people, that we should take that opportunity and even jesus himself, that he came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. And so for us, if i was going to be selfish, i could say, yeah, dont do it. Because this, this, this, this, this. But if our goal is to flourishing of our city, our goal is to flourishing of our neighborhood, then i could see no better way than to build this new center. I know it could be set for the flourishing of the sunset, where families can gather and celebrate Community Events together and celebrate birthday parties and weddings and just memorialize the death of loved ones where it can be a hub of laughter and joy in the outer sunset as well, but also good for the flourishing of our city, where people can come over from the other parts of the city to experience everything the west side has to offer and just enjoy all the events that they put on at the center as well as just for the flourishing of the broader community, Irish Community within california and the United States and even around the world. Will this will be just a beacon of hope to remember their history and the things that make them a cultural people and so, again, if i was being selfish, i would say leave it the way it is. But to think through the flourishing of our city, to think through the flourishing of our neighborhood, the sunset, and to think through the flourishing of the broader bay area, then i would say approve this because i think it will add so much good. So the people here in San Francisco, thank you so much. Commissioners. How are you . My name is jennifer chadwick. I currently serve as the vice consul general of ireland here on the western United States. Im here on behalf of mitchell smith, arkansas general. And we have a letter that wed like to enter into the record in order to express our support of this endeavor. And im happy to read some of it now. But in the interest of time, i may paraphrase some elements of the letter, if thats okay with you and dear commissioners, with San Francisco Planning Commission. My name is mitchell smith, and since august 2022, ive served as irelands consul general to the western United States and our consulate general based in San Francisco. The united irish Cultural Center was first established in the city in 1975, and since its construction, irish people and the diaspora have considered the center to be a second home, built entirely by volunteer labor and community contributions, the center opened its door to immigrants from across the island of ireland, and since its foundation, the center and its volunteers have worked tirelessly to create a welcoming, dynamic and positive environment with a calendar full of cultural and sporting opportunities to engage with. Importantly, these activities are not just for the enjoyment of irish citizens, but also for all San Francisco residents. And this has been clear to me since the moment i arrived in San Francisco. The united irish Cultural Center is undoubtedly one of our most important partners as a consulate in the western United States and its significance cannot be understated. The strength of the irish diaspora is visible across the region. There are approximately 750,000 people of irish descent in the bay area and 2. 3 million in the state of california. The Cultural Center is a consistent partner of the irish governments immigrant support program, an initiative that demonstrates art in support of commitment to and interest in the global Irish Community. We as a consulate regularly collaborate and work with the center on events and cultural projects as well as with many other irish organizations who use the Centers Facilities to conduct their work. The current leadership of the irish center have a vision to reconstruct and redesign the present space that will result in a new fit for purpose building that will provide not just to our community, but also to the entire San Francisco community as a whole. While the Center Serves the Community Well in its current format project 2025 endeavors to create a Sustainable Center that will provide for many generations into the future. The board made clear that the space at present is limiting the center from exploring and facilitating other cultural programing opportunities, as well as offering increased services to other organizations and Community Members. The committee have considered all possible options as to how remodeling or reconstruction would best serve the community and the city and have worked for many months and years with a number of stakeholders to bring project 2025 to where it is today. The enthusiasm of the community to support the original construction of the center with their own labor and talent still exists today for this initiative with many citizens recognizing the value that a new center could bring to the city of San Francisco, the city of San Francisco and its culture is evidently diverse in terms of the arts, music and theater, which all residents enjoy and appreciate. But importantly, this new flagship center, when completed, will increase the diversity of the centers outreach. I am confident that this building will serve as a flagship Cultural Center in the state of california, offering state of the art facilities for cultural programing, digital arts meeting spaces. Thank you. Thank you so much. Much appreciated. You can leave the letter if youd like to. That would be great. For the record, thank you again. Any additional speakers at city hall, please come forward. Seeing none, we will now move on to our remote callers. If you want to come forward, nows the time. One second. Remote callers, please line up on the screen side of the room if you intend to speak. Thank you. Good afternoon. Honorable commissioners. My name is mark conroe. Im here today to discuss the exciting pro prospects of Community Centers throughout San Francisco with a focus on enhancing the crucial and significant contribution they make to San Francisco. Ive lived and worked in San Francisco for over 20 years and ive run my own Small Business out of San Francisco during these two decades. During this time, ive served as a board member and volunteer at a number of San Francisco nonprofits, include sf jazz city team, homeless shelter, San Francisco Child Abuse Council and sarah preschool. First, id like to thank the staff for the professional, effective and efficient approach theyve taken to this project. Its really been a pleasure to work with them. Ive gone through the approval process on a number of projects in San Francisco and this was my best experience having volunteered at the irish center and being involved with other centers in the city, i can genuinely tell you about the crucial contribution they make to San Francisco social life. I was part of the small team that designed, financed and built sf jazz concert hall. The same thoughtful, methodical process that was used to create that wonderful space was used in conceiving and designing this new irish center like sf jazz. This center will invigorate its neighborhood and serve the local community and the greater bay area. Sending the message to everyone, everyone conveying what makes San Francisco great. One small example and then ill close the tech museum. Thats been designed there is tech infused. I think itll be unusual for not only the bay area but for the us. There will be exhibits that are truly unique in terms of the use of cutting edge technology. So were excited as one of the aspects of this new building, to bring that to San Francisco and the bay area. Ill close by just thanking you for your attention. I eagerly anticipate the possibilities that lie ahead with this Community Center and all of them. San francisco. Thank you. Good afternoon, supervisors. My name is ivor collins. Im a longtime resident of San Francisco. Im a Real Estate Agent here in the city. And i also live in the outer avenues. In addition to this, i am a musician who has performed at countless events out in the existing irish center and although these events have gone off very well and many other musicians have played out their i personally feel like the current ira center is not quite up to the standards of the modern day needs. And i think the community as a whole, not just the Irish Community, would be much better served by a new irish center in addition to this, the artists, musicians, members of the literary public over in ireland who traveled to the us, they generally at the moment seem to just stop at the east coast, be it boston, washington, new york and i dont personally feel like we have a beacon for these traveling irish artisans, musicians and whatnot. And i think this proposed development would serve as a fantastic beacon for them here in our wonderful city of San Francisco. I strongly urge you all to consider it again. I think it will serve the entire community as a whole very well, and im excited to see it move forward. And i know that i speak for a number of my peers when i say that. Thank you for your time. Uh, good evening, commissioners. I just make a brief. The outreach. Weve done a lot of outreach. We had a meeting in august 28, 2020, where we had the mayors mayor, the current mayor and ex mayors, and we had people from sacramento and. And local law, a local supervisor of the district. And we had two meetings after that on may the 7th, 2021. And also i just wanted to pause the time. Are you part of the project sponsor team . Im a volunteer. Well, i technically, i guess i am. But anyway, if theres questions for the outreach, you can please give me a heads up. Thank you. Thank you. Good afternoon, commissioners. I might follow up on some thoughts and ideas that part of the team may have had and didnt have time to finish. Im not going to say much. This has been excellent. Ive been sitting at a distance watching this play out. Its been phenomenal. Lee was going to mention the outreach. Theres talk here about the programs, the buildings, the architects are here. Im sure you guys are going to have a lot of questions. Im going to sit down and just say theres a ton of support for this. This was handled professionally and was executed very well by the team and it lies in front of you now. Thank you. Thank you. We will now move on to our remote callers. Eileen bogan with speak speak has a number of concerns regarding this proposed project. Many were included in written comments to the board of appeals for 2700 sloat versus the bulk determination which was upheld. The area is on sand dunes, not bedrock, and a tsunami zone. The San Andreas Fault is offshore. The ocean beach gets high wind velocity during extreme weather events. The site is in the fog belt in 2024, traffic from the great highway north of sloat will be directed onto this section of sloat before turning on to skyline boulevard and finally, it is directly across from the zoo. It speaks understanding that even before the pandemic, the uic went out of business. But now they are proposing a major expansion with many upscale amenities. This is despite the neighborhood experiencing a significant demographic shift at one time, district four was heavily irish. This is no longer the case either in district four or citywide. This district four is still heavily working class, which is inconsistent with the proposed project. This suv would only be the second study in district four with the terrible Street Restaurant subdistrict suv being the first. Both the bulk and sud request would set a precedent and a potential Ripple Effect onto adjacent sites. Therefore speak strongly urges the commission not to approve the study, as this seems to be a recent addition not to approve the lcp permit and not to approve the Floor Area Ratio and bulk exemptions of the sea. Thank you. Im a resident of the sunset district and its ironic that the street address for the irish Cultural Center is 2,745th avenue, but these amendments and authorizations are also aimed at. 2700 sloat boulevard, right across the street. And its not ironic that 2,745th avenue, the irish Cultural Center, also has the same law firm as 2700 sloat boulevard. And i hope this these changes that are being proposed are not a sneaky way to pave the way for 50 stories at 2700 slope boulevard. For that reason, i urge the commission to vote these amendments and authorizations down. Thank you. Hello, my name is tony booker. I was born in San Francisco and descended from irish immigrants who arrived here in 1880. For more than 20 years, i participated in and hosted numerous cultural events at the united irish Cultural Center, where i now serve on the board and also as president of the irish literary and historical society. I would like to speak in support of the new building project at the site of the current center. As has been described, the center was built with volunteer work by members of the community in the early 1970s, working class, i might add. Members of the community. Today it serves as the vital center of the thriving irish merican community in the larger bay area, a community with deep historic roots in almost every aspect cultural, economic, political and religious of life. In San Francisco, since before the gold rush. Although the beloved facility is aging, the center has enjoyed an amazing revival in activity since the pandemic. So it is not a Failing Organization at all. You go on any weekend, you can see dozens , if not hundreds of people there. A broad variety of events there have been packed with attendees in the past two years, everything from dance recitals to concerts and comedy nights to book readings, which have drawn hundreds of attendees. And the facility is in high demand for members of the broader sunset and west side communities, as there is a scarcity of meeting rooms and public gathering spaces in that part of the city. The new facility promises to provide really dramatically better spaces for these vital cultural gatherings and even more for the community at large. The new space will include a library and museum and event spaces, but we have a lot of community ephemera for our more than gathered from our more than 170 years in San Francisco and in the greater west. And so we have great ambitions for the museum and the cultural facilities, the library as well. So this museum and library will pay tribute and preserve the stories and material from a long and varied history here. Certainly maintaining and invigorating our own culture and presence is important to the Irish Community, but also outreach to the broader communities as well. I hope that you will grant your approval to this excellent new project. Thank you very much. Hi. Yes my name is Raymond Kwong and i have been renting buick for over a year and a half for our asian social dance events, and ive rented also many of the venues in during the last 15 years. But uic is the most professional and Wonderful Group of people i have ever worked with. We have used our events to celebrate peoples birthdays and it has been a ton of fun and i cannot imagine without such a venue. Ive also participated in a musical performance and competition events. There was over 200 people uic is indeed is a great resource for southwest part of the city. I fully support their project as it would benefit the entire community in more ways than one. I have called many venues the last 2 to 3 years. You know, trying to book more social events, and many have closed down. We need an expanded uic, we need a new floor because the floor they have now could use some new service. Lastly, we have not had any problems finding Parking Spaces there and im delighted to see that there will be underground parking. Well thank you very much. Good afternoon. My name is eileen mize and i wish to lend my support to the united irish Cultural Center. Plans for this new building as a Third Generation san franciscan and proud Irish American, ive been part of the Irish Community in various capacities over many years, and most significant involvement has been through irish step dancing. The irish center has long played host to local competitions and dance events that are vital to the success of our local Irish Dance Community and to the great benefit of thousands of young people annually. Though no longer a competitor myself, i enjoy watching my niece and supporting other young people carrying on this tradition. Currently, the irish center hosts about 4 to 5 different dance schools that hold regular classes at the irish center, plus, theres a Youth Summer Camp Program that includes dance and other irish arts. In fact, during the pandemic, it was the irish center that thought to make use of their back parking area to create an outdoor parking space. Im sorry, practice space that allowed for dancers to practice safely during the days of heightened pandemic restrictions. The irish center is very focused on building for the next generation of Irish Americans, and that is something i can definitely get behind. In addition, i direct a special project sponsored by the irish Cultural Center called keepers of the steps, which is a growing collection of San Francisco irish dance history stories and ephemera. And the irish center is fully supported this project and we are building a collection of rich history that dates back to the mid 1800s. The proposed new space calls for dedicated museum and digital arts area that would allow for our program to further flourish and be made more widely available to dance scholars around the world. We are working on a partnership currently with a National Archive project that would allow us to bring our dance history in San Francisco into the network with the New York Public Library Dance Division and having a dedicated space at the irish Cultural Center will allow us to move forward on such a such a project. We have so many ideas for programing and events that would include a Broad Spectrum of Community Members in the proposed new space would allow for this. So thank you for the opportunity to allow me to speak on behalf of this beloved cultural treasure. Good afternoon, commissioners. Im evan rosen, resident of the parkside Cultural Centers are important to the diversity and heritage of our city. Yet neighbors and residents of the sunset park side have some Major Concerns with the coastal zone. Permit the special use district and the cour for this huge expansion that is by the zoo and in the coastal zone. The project sponsor seeks exemptions from bulk requirements and a special use district and lets acknowledge that this project is right next door to 2700 sloat. The proposed 50 storey tower. According to plans and both projects are currently using the same law firm. And it certainly seems that this proposed upscale and torium of restaurants and nighttime entertainment and recreational facilities would certainly be dependent on the residents of the plan next Door Development at 2700 sloat to pay the bills. So from the point of view of the Planning Commission, it would be prudent and responsible to consider approval of this project as paving the way for 2700 slope. This project would set a precedent for development in the coastal zone and for a special use district in tended to remove zoning and planning guidelines for this little neighborhood. Lets make sure we dont set any sort of precedent here. I would encourage you to think about how your vote today will impact the zoo, the coast, the ocean, and the middle class neighborhood of homes and set the stage for the 2700 slope project. I certainly urge you to deny the cour the coastal zone permit and the other elements of this project. Thank you. Hi, my name is kate gunning. Im the executive director of sf irish film. We actually work with the center and have an opportunity to partner with them on a lot of projects. Unfortunately, the center right now is not currently able to show any type of film or even any type of Live Performance theater performance. Weve been in operation in San Francisco for over 20 years and we are always scrambling to find a location where we can screen irish film for two of our festivals. And if we had the opportunity, we would be able to show a lot more film over the course of the year. So this is a really important project. The opportunity here to enrich the local community, to expand access to irish arts through the whole of San Francisco and to have it all in one space where we can actually host irish cultural artists coming over to share their their talents with with the wider San Francisco community, the majority of people who actually come to our festivals are non irish folks who just love the opportunity to see irish film. We also partner with other organizations like mill valley film festival, United Nations film festival, and this will give us an opportunity to be able to do even more shared events with these organizations. So we highly, highly support this this program and this opportunity to have a central location, to share a wider range of irish arts with the wider San Francisco community. Thank you. Hi. Hi. My name is susan wolfe. I live a block away and there has been no Community Outreach that i know about. I have never gotten anything in the mail. I have never had anything slipped under my door about this project or the Community Outreach is probably the bare minimum of what was required for the People Living in the small apartment that are on the same block, whose lives will be pretty much miserable by this project. The casting of the shadow upon their buildings, their noise irish Cultural Center has not been a Good Neighbor. I can hear their noise a block away. They have no concern for the people in the neighborhood. I have had cars ticketed and towed from in front of my house more than once. Not one person from the irish Cultural Center was at the meeting where the mta decided to take away 10 of the parking by the zoo for another lane of entitled bicycle riders. Not one person, if theyre going to have this Community Center, i doubt highly that the people are going to be coming by muni because the muni out here sucks and it has sucked since forever pretty much. And there is not enough parking with 56 spots. And are those 56 spots for the members with the highest level of membership like it used to be when the parking lot that was turned into a music venue used to be for cars. And because i read something where the people at the highest level could park there so this 56 spaces of parking may only be for the highest level of members who have paid enough money to get the privilege. I cannot imagine retail exists and thriving in this neighborhood unless it is all retail from the members who have contributed to the building of this center who are going to be profiting from like little or no rent. I cannot imagine a public Small Business being able to afford the price and there is no foot traffic out here. Theres none. Theres people walking their dogs and theres people going to the beach. Its not a walking area for shopping. And also its going to make the whole area so congested with cars, cars. I am against this project 1,000 because of the experiences that i have had dealing with the irish Cultural Center, living a block away. Thank you. Last call for Public Comment. If youre in city hall, please come forward. Those calling in remotely press star three use the raise hand icon via webex. I see we have one additional speaker on webex. Hi, this is mark dowie. Im an sf resident. Im asking to support the project. Yeah, the Cultural Center hosts a pretty regular irish traditional music session where you can learn irish traditional music. I havent had much connection to my Irish Heritage in my life and so its just been a really nice place to learn. Traditional irish violin music. Yeah ive enjoyed their programing and i think they could provide a having them a larger space could help them provide even Better Services to the community. Yeah, theres the building is just not that that crazy. Its only six stories two blocks down. Theres a, theres a condo building thats five stories. I mean, its just not that that crazy a project. So i think its a bit wild to think its going to turn into 50 stories by approving this anyway. Yeah, i hope you support the project. Thank you. That concludes Public Comment. And the item is now before you. Thank you and thank staff and thank the project sponsor for bringing this forward. Im very excited about this project and ill be happy to support it today. I think we need more spaces like this. As we heard the scarcity of Community Gathering space and we have a number of Cultural Heritage halls across the city that i hope they can take inspiration from this and also be revitalized and have their next 5100 years of service, not just for their communities. But as we know, this Center Serves more than just the Irish American community. So thank you for being here, for bringing this project forward. We did hear a few questions i want to ask maybe the project sponsor. I dont know if the architect is the right person. Just i would imagine that there would be better sound attenuation in a newer building thats updated. So maybe if you could speak a little bit to how noise might be more mitigated in a new facility than it might be in the current facility. Sure so were doing a couple of things to mitigate sound. One is putting the entry off of the residential corridor off of ona. Itll be on 45th. Thatll include the restaurant entry. Thats currently in its place at the irish center. Were also setting back on the upper levels from that residential corridor to mitigate sound. Weve also designed the program to be designed so that some of the more quieter programs, for example, the stage back of house is facing the residential corridor and not the more loud potential loud things like a theater or big gathering spaces. Great. And then as far as parking, could you just walk us through it . Is going to be a very popular even more popular location, i imagine. And have more capacity. Just what were the conversations as you design the project about whats the right amount of parking or where like guests or patrons would park and bike and transit . Just tell us a little bit about that. Yeah, well be keeping the parking location from wawona where it currently is right now, that that space has turned into the one two gates outdoor, basically an event center. So another issue of noises. Were taking all of that inside with this new proposal. So in terms of parking, we have 54 Parking Spaces. Theres going to be a number of bike spaces that are added to the sidewalk. And then we have loading and unloading zones on both 45th and great. Thank you very much. Im going to call in some other commissioners. I see their hands are up. Commissioner imperial yeah. Thank you, president tanner. Just like you, i enthusiastically support this Cultural Center and the creation of sud around this. I think it is fitting in this neighborhood to have this Cultural Center, given the history of the Irish Community in San Francisco as well. And i think i also would like to inform the public that Cultural Centers or cultural districts are not a place of segregation, but a place of celebrating culture and celebrating history as well. And the reason that Cultural Centers or cultural districts exist is to coexist with other communities as well, and at the same time educate also the importance of the history in its place and also the importance of the history of the diaspora itself. I, as an immigrant, see the importance of Cultural Centers when there are like music entertainers coming from ireland or in my case, from the philippines, would come to San Francisco. That that is a Good Opportunity for myself to feel belonged as well or reconnected with my heritage. So i do support and understand the need for the Cultural Center and im glad to see that this is also going to be open, public in some of the open. So i see this a Good Opportunity to actually learn the history of Irish Heritage, heritage and for other publics as well. Thank you. Thank you, commissioner koppel. Yeah, more than confident this group did their Due Diligence with all their outreach. Theyre very established being in their location. So theyve already been a part of this community. Im not going to hesitate to make some motions here. Im going to move to adopt the shadow findings on 15 a approve , 15, b and c, and then recommend approval to the boss on 15 d second, thank you. Commissioner dimond. So i am also an enthusiast supporter of this project, and well tell you why in a moment. But i want to address one or at least hear from staff on one question that was raised by several commenters, and thats whether our approval of this project in any way has an impact on deliberations we may or may not have in the future. On 2700 sloat just creating the sud here in any way create a precedent or move us in a direction that is more likely to result in an approval for that project and issue raised by two of the commenters . Yeah, good question. Commissioner diamond, gabriella pacheco, Department Staff. So the sud is crafted only for the subject lot, so there are no impacts and theres not an Overlay District that will impact, say, the adjacent property, 2700 slope boulevard. So the sud and its creation is very much limited to the subject law. Okay. Thank you very much for clarifying that for the record, i am a huge supporter of Community Centers in general in our city. I agree with the commenter who talked about how important they are to the functioning of our city. For people of all ages, ive had the fortunate experience of being deeply involved with the jewish Community Center, which is on the north side of the park, which similar to the irish Cultural Center, went through a period of re building its Community Center. It is open and welcoming to everybody, as will be this Community Center. Its a place filled with life learning and laughter. It serves people of all ages and it is absolutely critical to the functioning of our city to have places where people can gather, to celebrate, to learn, to exercise. And i think that it is a joyous occasion to have a project in front of us thats like this one so that we can exercise our votes and creating something so wonderful for the city. I also want to acknowledge that i assume this project involves a Capital Campaign of some sort and thats a Huge Investment of time. And i want to thank you for making that effort to help improve our city. Thank you. Commissioner diamond thank you, commissioners. If there is no further deliberation, there was a motion that has been seconded to adopt shadow findings, approve the coastal zone permit approved with conditions. The conditional use authorization and recommend approval to the board of supervisors of the planning code text amendment and zoning map amendment for item 15 a, b. C and d on that motion. Commissioner braun, i, commissioner ruiz, i, commissioner imperial i. Commissioner diamond i, commissioner koppell i and Commission President tanner i thank you, commissioners. That motion passes unanimously. I would like to note the item number 16 has been continued to november 2nd and that will now place us on item number 17. Record number 2019. Hyphen 004772 at 3250 to 72. 18th street. This is a request for conditional use authorization. Were going to take a break and well now call item number 17, Record Number 2019. Hyphen 004772qa at 3250 to 72 18th street. Commissioner diamond needs to make a disclosure. Yes, i wanted to let the commission know, as i have on several prior occasions, that mr. Joel rose is associated with the project Management Team for this project and in the past he and i have been affiliated with many of the same projects where i was the attorney for the project, and he was either the board, these were all nonprofit projects where he was either the board member or the project manager for the project that ended in 2019. When i joined the Planning Commission. However he and i are both still on the board of Temple Emanuel and hes become a friend through all of these projects where weve worked together. However none of that will in any way affect my ability to be impartial and neutral in judging the merits of this particular project. Thank you. Commissioner diamond. Thank you. We will now have staff presentation. Thank you, commissioners. Good afternoon, monica. Jack moochie Planning Department staff. The item before you is a request for a conditional use authorization of a planned Unit Development pursuit to planning code sections 209. 2 303 and 304 to expand an existing school use in an rh three Zoning District to modify the rear yard requirements of planning code section 134 and to modify the bicycle parking requirements of section 150 5. 2 for internal National School on a site in excess of one half acre and located within an rh three Zoning District. A 55 x height and bulk district. The project site consists of two lots at 32, 50 and 3270 18th street respectively, which will be merged as part of the project. This item was continued one week from last weeks hearing to allow for further coordination with Community Groups. Pardon me. And on july 19th, our Historic Preservation commission unanimously approved a certificate of appropriateness for this same scope of work. And thats because one of the proper one of the buildings on the site is landmark 139, the Saint Charles school. The property is improved with a two story wood frame School Building constructed in 1888 and used as a school since 1895. Its believed to be one of the only wood frame School Buildings remaining in San Francisco and was built as part of the larger Saint Charles borromeo complex. Generally clustered around 18th street and south van ness avenue, la la scala was established in 2002 and has occupied the project site since 2019. At that time, la scala interNational School began leasing this and one other property located at 741 south. Van ness that was associated with the church complex to serve as a campus for kindergarten through eighth grade. Students represent lives from la scala are here today and all, of course, allow them to speak to on their history. The history of this project and the Overall Development of the campus. Around 18th and south venice. The proposal before you today would not substantially alter the landmark Saint Charles School Building, but would merge the two lots, as i mentioned, demolish three existing portable classrooms on the site and construct a new four story 20,370 square foot School Building and rehabilitate and expand the play yard. The new building would reserve space for a mural on its west wall and Saint Charles would be improved with new safety lighting, but otherwise would remain largely untouched. As i mentioned, the project is requesting approval as a planned Unit Development or pwd, to allow expansion of a school use and to modify bicycle parking and rear yard requirements. The project site is located in an rh three Zoning District where Institutional Uses such as schools or conditionally permitted. So therefore their expansion requires approval by this commission. As for bicycle parking, the project will include 15 classrooms and therefore strict application of the planning code would require 60 class one and 15 class two spaces instead, the project proposes 36 class one and 15 im sorry, 14 class two spaces which will be located adjacent to Saint Charles school and serve both buildings. And finally the existing School Building is non complying with respect to rear yard requirements, and the proposed new School Building would likewise encroach into the required rear yard area. So all of these collectively mean that the project is pursuing a for modification of requirements. Since the staff report was published last week, the department has received letters of support from. 127 individuals and one letter in opposition was sent to you last night from local Community Advocacy group united to save the mission. The la scala team has undertaken Community Outreach efforts to inform neighbors in the Broader Mission community about the project and its changes since 2019. Local has hosted multiple meetings within the community, including in february and august of 2019 and again in march 2023. Likewise the project sponsor team has hosted meetings and communicated with representatives from local Community Groups in addition to meetings. They are in regular voluntary communication with adjacent residential neighbors to notify them of School Events, maintenance and repairs, daily operations and any other School Events relevant to adjacent properties. Of course, allow their team to elaborate further on their Community Outreach approach during their presentation time. On balance, the Department Finds that the project is consistent with the intent of the objectives and policies of the general plan and the mission area plan. The purpose of the project is to protect and upgrade the existing 140 year old Saint Charles School Building, while providing modern, safe and innovative learning spaces in the new School Building and the Department Recommends approval with conditions as provided in your staff report and speaking of your staff report, i wanted to read some revisions into the record. These were sent to you via email last week and the red line draft motion was included in the packet that was posted online for this weeks hearing and that you would have received. But i will just quickly reiterate those for the record. First, on page seven, we stated that the project will be subject to the transfer station sustainability fee or tsf. However, staff was notified that the project sponsor will seek an exemption from the tsf as a certified 500 and 1c3 Nonprofit Organization after the staff report had already been published. So findings have been corrected to reflect that the project sponsor will provide the standard required documentation related to our process for tsf exemptions and secondly, a condition of approval has been added on page 21 related to pick up and drop off queue Management Strategies and monitoring. Specifically, the sponsor has agreed to ensure that adjacent intersection and end driveways are not blocked by pickup and drop off activity. And additionally, if the Planning Department suspects that vehicle queues persist or if the school reaches an enrollment of 350 students, whichever of those occurs first, the sponsor agrees to hire a qualified transportation consultant to prepare a report evaluating conditions at the site. Such report will then be submitted to Planning Department staff for review. And if the department determines a queuing issue does exist, the Property Owner will have 90 days to implement measures described in the la scala Traffic Management plan, which was included in your packets from the beginning. I will not be reading the full text of either of those changes, but i do have a copy of the draft motion. If we need that read into the record or if youd like me to. And this concludes my presentation. The sponsor team is here and they have a presentation prepared as well and were all happy to answer any questions you may have. Thank you. Thank you. Project sponsor through the chair. You will have five minutes. Thank you. My name is valentina and im the founding head of la scala. La scala was founded 20 years ago as a group of italian language lovers and Italian American parents who wanted to reconnect with the italian language and culture is now grown into millions pre k8. I school with over 300 students at the very heart of the original pedagogy lies a focus on building relationships, Community Democracy and a beautiful learning environment. We consider the School Environment to be the third teacher architecture and design are deeply connected to our pedagogy, specifically when spaces are built with children in mind. We have grown intentionally to be a diverse, multicultural and multilingual community with over 30 languages spoken in the homes of our families. We offer italian English Immersion Program and are one of the First Independent schools to offer a spanish track differentiated for native speakers. We also offer the International Education to the ib curriculum framework. Some of our founding principles are equity and accessibility, and we are committed to sliding scale tuition, which supports currently 30 of our families. We are active in the community both locally and globally, and collaborate with other schools in the mission, both public and independent. And we enable them. Community organizations. We view this new School Building not only as a home for our students, but as a resource for the neighborhood. We found our home in the mission in 2018 and specifically chose this neighborhood for its vibrant culture diverse city and history, and to be able to offer a high quality education to children of all backgrounds. We are very excited to bring life back to the Historic Central School site that unfortunately closed after over a century of educating Mission Neighborhood children. We moved quickly with design and planning until the pandemic forced us to freeze these efforts for years later, we are here and very excited to be moving forward with momentum. And with that i introduce you to emily gottschalk, the principal of jensen architects, to share many more details about the project. And i thank you for your time. Good afternoon, commissioners. Emily gothic principal at jensen architects. And we are the local architect of record for the project working, leading the local team and working in collaboration with la scala, of course, and also xrps architects who are in italy and who bring expertise in the reggio approach to architecture. So the project will allow the school, of course, to expand its enrollment with nine new classrooms expanded building area, expanded play yard, some of which was on top of the new building. We are adding zero car Parking Spaces, but 50 bike Parking Spaces as monica mentioned. So in general, the project will allow the school to continue to be a safe, welcoming and active presence in the mission, both now on 18th as well as shotwell as they have been. This is the project site in the Mission Neighborhood. This is the existing area of the site. And youll see there the Saint Charles building on the lower right hand corner, southeast corner of the site. And the play yard extending from 18th up all the way through to shotwell. Three existing portable classrooms are located on the site and they will all be removed as part of the project. The new renovated play yard creates a gap between the two buildings and you see the new building balancing the Saint Charles building on the Southwest Corner of the site. The renovated play art again, extending from 18th all the way up through to shotwell. And you see the existing white zones, which are in use today and will continue to be used in the future. So this is just to say that the original project, as proposed in 2019, did include substantial changes to Saint Charles, but those are no longer part of the project. And then a few slides to show just how the 18th street facade has evolved in response to planning comments to develop these three zones that respond to the character of the Saint Charles facade, as well as the fenestration pattern on the east facade, which faces directly onto Saint Charles. Those window sizes and patterns were derived directly from Saint Charles, which the next slide shows in a bit more detail. And then the next slide is the palette. So the palette consists of a variety of stucco colors, which are derived from the Saint Charles colors. Some accent colors which are very important to the schools curriculum and bring a sense of joy and play into the building as well as some accent planting. So these are just a few details to show. Those security components that monica mentioned. We are the school has experienced Security Issues in the play yard in the past. And in order to protect the safety of the children and the player, a few components are added. The lighting on Saint Charles. Next slide, the fences will be replaced. Bolster the security, but with a very similar fence type. And then this is showing that the building is within the 50 foot height limit. Next slide. And some floor plans showing you that the entry is on 18th. You move down through the building with a ramp to the play yard and then up onto the roof. You can see the added play yard and teaching spaces. There a few last slides just to talk about how our design that is your time. They may have questions and ask you updates. Absolutely. Happy to answer questions. Thanks thank you. At this time we will have Public Comment. Members of the public who are here, please come forward and line up on the screen side of the room. Those calling in remotely, please press star three or use the raised hand function via webex and you will have three minutes. Hello my name is kim okada. I am with odc, a 52 year old Dance Organization that includes a professional company, a theater presenting theater and a school. We have been on the shotwell street side of between seven and 18th for 43 years and have seen a lot happen in that neighborhood. I am a Founding Member of odyssey, the director of the school and the associate choreographer for the company. Since moving across the street from us in 2019, la scala has been a great neighbor and a real asset to our street and immediate neighborhood. Theyve brought much needed families to our community and we have shared dance classes, space and mutually attended public events. They have facilitated connection between our neighbors and businesses to improve the quality of the cleanliness and the safety of the whole street and the neighborhood and their staff and faculty has been incredibly open and receptive to the needs of the neighborhood. We totally support this expansion and knowing knowing full well that school will only further enhance and vitalize our street and neighborhood. Thank you for your time. Good afternoon. My name is Enrique Espinosa and i represent robins cafe inside the odc building on the corner of 17th and shotwell and i just wanted to say that we support la escuela and the kids that go there and i just see it as enhancing our community. So thank you for your time and have a good afternoon. Good afternoon, madam president. Commissioners, my name is Mauricio Chavez and im an organizer for the norcal Carpenters Union. I was chosen to represent over 37,000 members that we represent here in the northern 46 counties of the state. In addition to the 3000 plus members, more particular here in San Francisco, i come before you today as a leader in todays Labor Movement. The name Labor Movement conjures thoughts and images of yelling in the streets, picketing and striking and sometimes destroyed property and all out riots. However this is it. This is the Labor Movement. The Labor Movement lives in rooms like this. And this one all across america. This is where both you and i can literally create jobs and put americans back to work. This is where we maintain labor standards and help jumpstart the economy. I did not know it when i was hired, but being an organizer for the Carpenters Union means i am directly responsible for the survival of the members in which i was chosen to represent. As well as working to get the unrepresented carpenter organized, this has quickly become a passion for me and look forward to helping people feed their families and be doing the lords work for the next 20 years. In addition, the best part about it all is knowing that when my time comes , i will be able to retire with dignity. My members will be able to retire with dignity. I dont know about you, commissioners, but i for 1 a. M. Not keen on working until im 80 because i cant afford to retire. La scala has chosen to do the right thing by the people who are going to build the building in which San Franciscos youngest and brightest are learning. They have no doubt in their mind that it will be built right the first time with the local workforce who is trained on the most up to date and newest technologies. La scala knows that the contractor theyve chosen will not be trafficking in the workforce from across country lines. The contractor will not be using coyotes to get them into this country. La scala knows that the contractor theyve chosen does the right thing and can therefore be at ease and feel comfort with being a great partner in this neighborhood. A school that if i can afford to live here where i work, i would send my son to. And with that, i will say i support this project. We as an organization and Regional Council support this project and look forward to working with you and many on many more in the future. Thank you. Hi, good afternoon or good evening. My name is tamika johnson. Im from local 22 and i was part of the first womens Apprentice Program and i graduated and i have yet to be dispatched. So i think that this would be a wonderful opportunity for me to display and show the everything that ive learned. And i am i am i am a San Francisco resident. I live on 16th and mission. So thats not too far from my house. And it would just be a pleasure to work on this program. This project, i support it to the fullest and im just thank you. Good afternoon, commissioner. My name is marcin weiss. I am a board member of one year of la scala and im also a parent. My daughter has gone to law school for nine years. We started at dogpatch fell street and we were so excited when we got the mission campus. Being a latina mother, it was great because we got the diversity of mission and one of the things that you that la scala supports shows with regards to children from the time they start is community, community and the Classroom Community with your family. Community with your school. And they proceed to teach at every level, community and one of the things is i remember my daughter coming home and saying, mom, theres more than the us mom. Theres the world, theres a solar system. And this was, by the way, when she was in preschool. So now when we got to the mission, they were excited about the mission. We live in the bayview and my kids go, both daughters go to dance class right next to the mission. They are often found at robbins cafe, along with a number of law school kids and parents. And in fact, i joked with robbins cafe, youre going to lose a lot of money during the summer, but dont worry, well make up in september. We also go to boba, which is up the street. Youll often see many middle schoolers walking their. We also go to odc. My kids have done a number of classes there and actually a lot of parents do classes at odc as well. And there is a salon and im just talking for personal experience work salon off mission. My kids go there. I actually got other family members to go there and theyve started to expand the community beyond the school. Like lastly, there was an incident that occurred a couple of years ago, a serious violent incident next to the park and la scala, one of the grades, witnessed a homicide. Well, you would think that that would cause a dent in the community. But in fact, with law school as administration, it brought them together. We worked with the parents. We worked with the local police department. We worked with residents. We worked with robbins cafe, odc, and we developed a community. When theres something thats happening, everyone responds together for also Mission Bowling as well. And theres a number of others that im forgetting, but but what my daughter who witnessed the homicide actually embraced the mission more, more so thank you so much. Thank you. Will. Now move on to our remote callers. You may begin speaking. Eric. Lets try to go to harlan and see if eric can maybe adjust his device. Hi. Hello. Can you hear me . Yes. You may begin speaking. Thank you. Hello. Im my name is harlan crystal. Two of my children are students at law school. One of them is four and one of them is two. And i have a third child coming soon. I just wanted to state my support for this project. Just because you, as a resident of district six, i feel like a lot, you know, the way weve done this city recently, a lot of the Housing Stock has been added to like the southeast part of the city, and we need to also invest in expansion of our schools similarly so that people can attend schools close to their home. And i support, like the specific like architecture and that theyve made, i think its like a very good like match of like respecting whats there with like, you know, the feel of the school, the way they talk about architecture and the classroom and the environment like its something that they say to us. They dont just say it in the context of planning meetings. They like, say, the teachers and my students like regularly. So yeah, thats more or less what i want to say. Thank you. Lets try eric one more time. Hi i guess you didnt hear me the first time. We can hear. We can hear you now. My name is eric. Can you hear me now . Yes great. Im speaking in support of the new building. Im a parent of two children who have attended this since 2014. I serve on the board of directors of the school and i work on the Facilities Committee and the fundraising committee. So im very involved in the building. Im a native san franciscan and practicing architect, and im a homeowner in the mission nearby. Since 1990, this new building carefully incorporates architectural elements that show respect to the existing neighboring Saint Charles building, and its also a response to the greater Mission Neighborhood fabric with its very modern and very vibrant facade that is open and transparent to the community, which is a symbolic message. The school is a pedagogy is open to the world, and weve created the three dimensions of that with the facade. This development will create a momentum to revitalize the presence of a vibrant school as the scholar grows that previously existed for decades before. While Saint Charles was opened, before it closed and closed the new building will act as a symbol of progress and innovation in that the school is an internationally recognized leader in education combined the Ib International baccalaureate program, the language immersion and the Reggio Emilia pedagogy. It supports this supporting this project significant signifies our commitment to honoring the past and embracing the future. And it will be a beacon for the community. The mission and the bay area. And thank you for very much. Thank you. Last call for Public Comment. If you are here in the chambers, please come forward. Calling in remotely, press star three or use the raise hand function. Seeing no additional requests to speak Public Comment is now closed and commissioners, the item is before you. Thank you. I just want to thank all the speakers for coming out or calling in and being here to support the project. Certainly school has a lot of support. Its really great and heartwarming to hear some of the stories from the families and from the neighboring community and really just i think its an interesting day with the irish Cultural Center and the school, which in many ways, as we know, are Cultural Centers in their own right. And certainly the kind of new life that is coming to this historic property, both with a new proposed building as well as kind of the use in life thats been given to the existing and historic building. I i just want to note, i know we did have a letter from the united state of the mission that there had been some negotiations that have broken down. And im just curious if the school is interested in continuing those or kind of where things stand. I think that was the only letter of opposition that we received that i noted. And just want to understand a little bit more about whats happening there. Thank you. Thank you, president tanner. So we have weve been in negotiation well, in conversation, i should say, with usm and kaya 24 for since the beginning of this project. And i think we were trying to work on a memorandum of understanding that would be one of a kind. The first they ever did with the school and we were surprised by their opposition because we, we really have with very good faith, try very hard to be in support of their request because we want to be a Good Neighbor and a good member of the community. And i think many of their the things that they propose are things we already were doing and want to do. I think there were a few things we could not agree on, and this was on the recommendation from our attorney is because being 501. C organization, it was against our nonprofit status and would potentially be the discrimination versus certain individuals, whether they were children or employees. And so we i think we tried to get the direct feedback on this, but it didnt come until like last week. And we did not we actually i know that they stated that we were hiding things from them, but we actually remind them, reminded them of this hearing in good faith because we had not heard a response to our mou. We are still committed to working with them. Whatever the result today, because we know its the right thing to do and we want to be Good Neighbor and good residents of the mission. Okay. Thank you. Thank you for that. I also wanted to hear, is it miss goss like the architect . I know you had some more slides you were going to go through. I wonder if you could give us a few minutes of some of the additional Design Review that you were going to give us. Sure absolutely. Gov, can we have the tv, the projector . Thank you so i just have three slides at the end of the presentation and theyre really just trying to focus in on how the building responds to the urban Design Guidelines specifically. So this one focuses on the measure of the urban Design Guidelines that has to do with responding to the context. And i mentioned some of the things that weve done to respond to Saint Charles specifically, both in color and in proportion and in the sort of zoning of the building in response to the cornice lines. The other one talks about rendering the buildings with material depth and texture. And so i think the building does this very well, both on the street facade and on what could be kind of an otherwise quite monolithic facade facing Saint Charles. Its broken down into this more penalized type of expression of the stucco as well as the fenestration pattern. And then the last slide really just talks about how the transparency of the street is providing a sense of activation, transparency and security. Eyes on the street, which i think will be a really beneficial addition to the 18th street experience. Great thank you very much for that. Im certainly looking forward to hearing from other commissioners. I i wanted to say i very much supportive of this project, but i am concerned that the cultural district we mentioned, kevin de cuatro has not been able to reach an agreement yet. And i know thats a third party, but we support the cultural districts here as a city and theyre kind of a creature established by the city. And so i do wonder if the commissioners are interested in having more time for this project. And no, unfortunately, this is our last hearing until september. And so i know thats quite a long break. Usually we would have a week or two or intervenor meetings, but if folks are interested in continuance to see if and any more progress can be made or if we can even hear directly as a commissioner from the culture district, i certainly would be interested in staff reaching out to and to quatre and understanding if they are aware of this project and if they have, you know, and not just getting something directly from them. I know they work closely with usm, but i would be interested in the cultural district specifically giving us some feedback on this. With that, im going to call on commissioner imperial and then commissioner diamond. Thank you, president turner, for mentioning that. I think ill be more interested in putting it as a condition of approval for the city to facilitate conversation between the quatre and las kuala. And yeah, that that will be my part of the condition. Thank you, commissioner diamond. Uh, im very supportive of this project. I did have a concern about the traffic issues, but now that they have agreed to the condition that was imposed in the draft last thursday, which takes sort of a semi informal approach and making it a condition that allows the city to monitor the traffic issues. I am in support of the project. I i am not sure based upon what was said that more time is going to allow them to get to an agreement. I heard a general commitment to working on the issues that were raised and you know, they cultural district show chose not to show up at this hearing. And so im not inclined to want to continue it , especially to september at this point in time. Thank you, commissioner reece yeah. Um, i, i agree with commissioner damon. I dont think im inclined to continue the project, but i would have loved to have heard the cultural district or united to save the mission call in today to speak in more detail about some of the issues that theyve had. But i just want to say how sentimental i got with the testimony from the mom, because i dont think we often think about the positive impact schools have on our neighborhoods, especially to our neighboring businesses. And to neighboring organizations like odc. So that was definitely an eye opening test for myself. And now that im a mom, i just was so much more emotional about some of the things that the mom said about how the school came together with some of the incidents that theyve seen in the neighborhood, because i used to live on 17th and folsom and there are for sure challenges in that area and how can we come together as a community and how can our institutions in the neighborhood really educate our young people because theyre so , so susceptible to all of the Different Things that happen around them . How can we educate them and instill compassion so i think thats thats really wonderful. But can we i think this is a question for staff. Can we include a condition of approval that la scala has conversations with the. I think the way to frame it is to basically require the Planning Department to basically facilitate a meeting between the cultural district or surrounding Community Groups and the project sponsor. And we can do it in the operation condition of the motion and basically add it on as a as an item here. So if the commission is so inclined, you could approve it with with that condition in mind, would that be a one time meeting . How would we structure that like that . There would be a meeting sometime in 2023 or. Yeah i think i think you can set a time frame on it. So that way then i think we ill say the staff understand the general intent of where the commission is going with this. And so well work with the sponsor. And it sounds like theyve been pretty open towards meeting with their community group. So even if it needs to go beyond the one meeting, im sure the sponsor is willing to do that. Okay im also not sure im understanding what the issues were, and i dont know if the project sponsor is comfortable sort of detailing some of the things that the community wanted to see that were not able to be agreed upon. I dont know if its appropriate for the projects sponsor to detail, but i would love to have a better understanding. I think we have a slide that describes a little bit more at the end. If we can pull it up, can we have the tv . Thank you. I think i think actually this describes more of our relationship and outreach and the number of times we have met with the kiowa 24. So we met with both usm and kaya. 24 maybe. Sorry i wasnt specific about that. So weve met with eric as well. It was always at the meetings and really the as i mentioned, the mou, they sent us, we, i feel that we pretty much agreed to everything except those things that our attorney said. We could not agree to. So it was not really the will of the school. Again, some of them were related to allocating Financial Aid only to students from that neighborhood and we obviously have a lot of students in the neighborhood that are on our Financial Aid package. But we couldnt exclude other students of other parts of the city of different ethnicities because that is in violation of discrimination laws. And the same the other point was theyre making their Space Available to neighborhood organizations. And because we are a nonprofit and were also renting from the archdiocese is a nonprofit, we can only give that to Nonprofit Organizations. And they wanted that to be like a larger, broader, you know, statement. So these were some of the things we know it was difficult for us to agree to. And there was also a an idea of allowing unhoused individuals on around like on the school property, which, you know, we really are committed to be kind and we have been extremely i think weve done our very best to not be unkind to the unhoused neighbors that we have. But sometimes were, you know, drug use is involved or things happen are really upsetting to children. We had to resort to help. And so it was unfortunate. So, again, you know, this highlights meetings we have had and, you know, we have been in conversation. Were very happy to have another meeting with them with your help, if you feel thats necessary. And you know, we are committed to working with them. Some of their i think some also some of their goals from the attorneys have told us is now part of our mission as a nonprofit. And so we cannot make that our goal as an organization. We are a school. You know, we educate young children. We want them to be open to the world and kind. And we do a lot of Community Work so that we know our children are out in the street. We encourage them to take the bus home, to be in the neighborhood. And even our what our parents had earlier after the incident. You can imagine, and most of our parents asked that we basically build a wall and we still kept our you know, fence on 18th street open, you know, with some plans because we dont want to shut the community out. And i dont believe the building walls is the solution to solve our problems. Thank you. I hope that helps. Yes, thanks. I would just say, commissioner, reason myself hearing that im comfortable with asking for the meeting, in part because i want our staff to be aware of, even if its not agreement. But among cultural district and other community partners, so that we are not hearing things second hand. Not that its second hand, but just we can be there. And if agreement cant be made, you know, thats fine. I think this project is really great and happy to support it. Did you have any further questions or comments . Do you want to add . Nope. That i am supportive. So as long as we include the conditions that planning staff help facilitate a meeting with the project sponsor in the community and hopefully that a Good Neighbor agreement can be established. Did you want to add something . Yeah. Thank you, monica Department Staff. Somebody mentioned earlier sort of tying a timeline to that condition. So i just before a motion is made, i thought perhaps we could revisit that. So if theres any sort of timing aspect you want to tie to that meeting, whether it would be some time before the end of 2023, that meeting would occur. So the next what is that, five months we got left . Okay great. Thanks, commissioner brown. Uh uh, im also a supporter of the project, but i also support adding the condition about the Planning Department, facilitating the meeting by the end of the year. And, you know, our, our approvals can be appealed. So i think it is in the, the interest of the project sponsor to continue to work very closely with the cultural district and other neighborhood organizations. But having said that, i will make a motion to approve the conditional use authorization in adding the condition that the Planning Department facilitates meeting between the project sponsor and the cultural district or the community and or and other Community Organizations means we can finesse that language and have a separate set up before the end of 2023. Does it also include the changes that staff read into the record today . Your motion . So that actually was included in your packet last week. So we need to read that into the record. Okay, great. I do want to check just point about staff. Have any concerns about that or any need for clarification . Okay. Nope. Sounds right. Thank you, commissioners. Im going to read this back and please let me know if i missed anything approved. Theres been a motion that has been seconded to approve with conditions with the additional condition requiring the Planning Department to facilitate a meeting between the community and cultural and the cultural district with the project sponsor in hopes of a Good Neighbor policy to be made. This meeting shall be made prior to the end of 2023. Sorry monica. Again, just want to clarify, theres a cultural district, but then united to save the mission is not cultural district and theyre involved in this conversation as well. So oh, you did. I can specify ties between the Community Groups and the cultural district with the project sponsor. Okay. Yes okay. So on that motion, commissioner brown, commissioner damon has a comment or question. Could the project sponsor indicate if they have any concerns with that condition as read into the record . Do you have any concerns with the condition of meeting with the cultural district, with a meeting in this case will be facilitated by the planning. Maybe excuse my ignorance. If i dont know the timing of this could only worry that i have is we were hoping to Start Construction in january because for two reasons. We are also engaged with the builder. Thats why the Union Representatives are here. So theyre hoping to start. You still have your approval of our entitlements. So thats what the condition is that you would before the end of the year. The Planning Department would facilitate a meeting between yourself and then the Everything Else can go ahead because we can, as fast as the Building Department can get you your Building Permit. No, no , of course. So that was my only concern to make sure that, you know, the people that are expecting to work can work and that we dont run out of space for children. Absolutely. So yeah, my no concern otherwise. Thank you. This is just a condition to meet. There is no obligation for any result out of the meeting. Thats okay. And you could meet tomorrow if you wanted to. And satisfy the. We would. But i dont. You know, we come for the other party to come to the meeting. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you, commissioners. Im going to read it one more time. Theres been a motion that has been seconded to approve with conditions with the additional condition requiring the Planning Department to facilitate a meeting between the Community Groups, the cultural district and the project sponsor in hopes of a Good Neighbor policy to be made. This meeting shall be made prior to the end of 2023. Yes on that motion, commissioner ron i. Commissioner ruiz, i. Commissioner diamond i commissioner imperial i, commissioner coppell and Commission President tanner. I thank you. Commissioners that motion passes unanimously and will now take us to your discretionary review calendar. Thank you. Well. Well, folks are leaving and were getting to the 615. Sanchez i just want to say , i know we had heard kind of out of order request concern about continuance. I understand staff may have had a request for continuance from miss hester. Were not clear if she is or isnt representing somebody. And so my inclination will be to hear the item with the folks who are present here. There are two requesters, and then if at the end of that, the commission is inclined to continue it because one requester is not present or their attorneys and present, we could consider it. After hearing from those who are present, because i do see a number of people like one request, for example, is on the phone line. I know we have people in the chamber so unless theres any objections from the commission to that, thats how i like to proceed. May i update about ms. Hester . Sorry hold on. Were not ready. We will. Okay thank you. I will now call the item. Item number 18 for a Record Number 20. 22 hyphen 009006 grp hyphen zero two at 615. Sanchez street and staff. We will now hear from you. Good afternoon, president. Members of the commission. Trent green and staff architect. The item before you is a public initiated request for discretion to review of Building Permit application number. 2022 0908. 2052 to construct a 553 square foot third story vertical edition and a 204 square foot addition to an existing adu of a Single Family dwelling on the existing building as a category c with no Historic Resource presence built in 2002. There are two drt requesters. The first sammy, host of j. W. Sanchez, llc of 617 sanchez street, which is the adjacent property to the south, is concerned that the proposed project is not consistent with the neighborhood pattern of rear Building Heights, offsets and setbacks. His proposed alternatives are to look at the opportunity to expand within the existing building volume to eliminate the need for vertical expansion. The second hugo gantry of 619, sanchez street, the neighbor to the south, is concerned that the project represents Major Construction that would have noise, dust and congestion impacts to the neighborhood. To date, the department has received no letters in opposition and five letters in support of the project. Staff supports the proposed addition as it complies with the residential Design Guidelines and is within the buildable area of the lime. The additional massing of the proposal above the existing roof parapet is minimal and modulates the Building Height to step with the topography. D. R. Requests for number one at 617, sanchez has an approved permit to demolish the existing detached garage and the non complying two storey Single Family dwelling at the rear of the lot and its construct a new four story Single Family house with an adu. The size and scale of the subject building at 615. Sanchez with its addition is similar to the proposed new construction at 617 sanchez the brewery wall. The proposed addition aligns with the corresponding level of the approved plan for the four Story Building on the adjacent uphill neighbor. At 617, sanchez is the subject building also has a voluntary four foot side setback. Further buffering the property from its neighbor, a variance granted in 1998 to allow construction and front and rear setbacks stipulated through a notice of special restriction that any future additions to this property would need need to seek and justify variance. As the variance was heard on april 26, 2023, and a decision is pending. The determination from the Zoning Administrator. None of the issues related to construction rise to the threshold of exceptional or extraordinary, nor are they within the Planning Departments purview to monitor or regulate. Therefore staff deems there are no exceptional and extraordinary circumstances and recommends not taking discretionary review and approving the project. Thank you. Im available for questions. Thank you. Thank you. We will now now hear from dr. Requester number. One hi, good afternoon, commissioners. Im my name is amy hose. Please speak into the microphone. Thank you. Just so we can all hear. Okay im sammy hose. Im directly jason neighbor at 617 sanchez i opposed this variance application on the basis that there are no exceptional or extraordinary circumstances. Furthermore, the proposed project violates the intent of the original variance from 1999 and is not consistent with the surrounding neighborhood pattern of real Building Heights, offsets and setbacks. While im sympathetic to the project, sponsors need to increase the number of bedrooms for their family. I believe there are other ways that have not been explored that would be more consistent with the prevailing pattern of adjacent homes. For example, when developing my own home next door at 617 sanchez, i work very hard with the neighbors and the planning staff to incorporate a series of rear setbacks at the upper floors. The proposed project, before you completely ignores these established setbacks and the proposed vertical addition creates a hulking four storey mass at the expense of the neighborhood. When i approached the project sponsor to request a modest rear setback on the upper floor, my concerns were ignored and i was told that the resulting primary bedroom would be too small. I should note that the fourth floor primary bedroom as proposed, would be almost 20ft long. By 15ft wide, which is massive by established residential standards. I would suggest the projects sponsor consider a far less impactful approach, which would be to expand over their double height living room. This would be a far more economical, economical solution and would provide the additional bedroom they are seeking. It would also be completely contained within the existing envelope without need for the vertical addition of a variance or further impact to their neighborhood when granting references and approving projects. Its important that these buildings be considered for the next 5000 years, not just the next 5 to 10 years. Thank you for your time and hearing my concerns. Thank you. Dr. Requester number two. I see that you are on webex. We will unmute you now and you will have five minutes. Can you hear me . Well, yes. Thank you. Good afternoon, commissioners. My name is actually, im the resident at 619 sanchez where i live with my wife. First, let me also acknowledge that dave and gina, the owners of six, 615 sanchez, are Good Neighbors and we are glad they moved in last year. And we are genuinely happy. Their family is growing. Nevertheless, we have some Major Concerns about the extension project. We believe the vertical addition at the top of the existing structure will cause significant privacy concern. The new space will look directly down upon our living room, our bedroom downstairs, as well as in our backyard. This will considerably reduce the privacy of our own. We are also puzzled regarding the motivation of this extension as mentioned it, the Commission Brief states that the extension is necessary to accommodate their growing family. This house is already one of the largest homes on the block, if not the largest. The house stands at 4000ft s with lots of wasted space that could be repurposed. Rather than extending this giant gray bunker which already stands out in the neighborhood. And to conclude, after listening to these hearings today, its clear to me that the need for housing in San Francisco is critical. I believe this city needs more new multifamily constructions and more density. So everyone has a chance to live in the city and not just millionaires on site in our street and in the surrounding blocks. There have been about half a dozen house extensions and never ending construction disturbance since we moved in two years ago. Yet none of these new constructions have added any new housing to this neighborhood. And like the other ones, we dont understand how this extension to the already largest home on the block will help the city of San Francisco achieve its housing goals. Thank you for listening to me today, commissioners. Thank you. We will now hear from the project sponsor. Good afternoon, commissioners. Brett gladstone id like to introduce my clients. I hi commissioners, thanks for your time this evening. Its a long day. My name is dave. This is my wife, jenna. We are the homeowners. At 615. Sanchez and long time residents of the neighborhood. We have a growing family. We have a two year old and a six month old. And we are very excited about raising them in this amazing city today, were trying to expand our home to fit our family. So now ill hand it over to our attorney, brett, thank you. Thank you. Earlier during the continuance, i said i hadnt heard from ms. Hester and i hadnt. But later today, she did call me and she told me that she was out of the hospital and shes recovering at home. And shes feeling better. But she wont be representing either of the doctor requesters. Id like to introduce glenda fine. Fine. Excuse me. Whos also italian and is the architect of this project. First, i want to thank the neighbors for their support. I wanted to mention back in february 20th of 2020. Sorry yeah. 2022 your your projector, please. February 20th, 22. Your Commission Approved the request for next door for project of 4200. Excuse me. 4028ft s are or project. Top floor, by the way, is a little smaller than her top floor next door. The property is owned by an llc. And i know you heard that Derek Webster plans to live there a little confusing to me because shes told my clients and my clients have told me that she created an llc to develop it and sell it. The non adjacent owner, of course, has only stated a concern tonight and in the paperwork about construction noise. In an email dated september 22, the adjacent request asked my clients to quote, share the beautiful view with me, unquote, and you see that on the overhead, referring to the more than 200 degree view that future occupants of her place will have in the unbuilt four Story Building. Even if views were protected, which, as you know, theyre not the adjacent dr. Or its future occupants will have a great view of at least 180 degrees in many directions other than the north to preserve the view, the adjacent requester made two requests. First, ask my client to create a setback at the fourth floor. Youll see here. So that the views are improved. And when my clients didnt agree to that because it would shorten their bedrooms so much, she asked that the floor be eliminated and that an interior interstitial floor be created in the double height living room. My clients looked into that. They had their engineers write a letter, which is before you and in your exhibits talking about the difficult and expense of doing that. Also the five foot deck would introduce direct views from the adjacent or dr. Requesters, fourth floor into my clients bedroom and vice versa. Also the fourth floor of the request is approved. Building has a deck which would allow significant views back into project sponsors bedroom. Lastly, having an open deck would create noise that i think the requester or the occupants would not be comfortable with. Despite dr. Requesters statement that the project is not consistent with the existing pattern of rear building setbacks, this drawing overhead will show the proposed new fourth floor is allowed is aligned with the fourth floor setback that you approved next door for dr. Requester. It also shows that floors one through three of my clients existing building are also aligned with dr. Requesters for the floor and are three first floors are a full 11ft less deep in the lot then the requesters floors. One through three. The attached aerial photograph overhead shows that my clients building protrudes less deeply into its lot than all the neighborhood houses to the south protrude into their respective lots, including requesters, own approved building to minimize the proposed vertical addition, my clients proposed to place the addition of the existing roof deck, which already has tall parapet walls, some as tall as five feet, which youll see there. So the buildings profile for many angles already appears to have at least half of a fourth floor addition. Dr. Requester has stated that creating the infill floor would be less expensive than putting up a fourth floor. But she hasnt indicated that in any way. How that works to the contrary, the letter i showed you from our engineer indicates all the structural problems and how costly it would be. And of course, creating an interstitial floor would be so disruptive to the building. My clients would not be able to live there during construction in any portion of the building. My clients lot is 75 larger than the dr. Requesters lot, yet my clients proposed building has a Square Footage thats only 24 larger and keep in mind, i think contrary to what one of the drew requester said, the clients have a two unit building the requester at 619 mentioned there will be views into the side windows and i dont know if we show that, but we dont understand where those windows are. And maybe you can point out here those are our side windows that would look into this. One is one. This one is one. The only south facing window that is a is not even above the neighbor. So thats one south facing window. The only one that could potentially look into the requester at six one nines home. As you can see from our exhibits, the size meets the mandela special use district ordinance that many of the neighbors proposed and with the feeling that it this neighborhood and those around it buildings were too massive. Of course it complies with that and the adu complies with the adu restrictions of the code and thats shown here in the chart which is also in your exhibit. Excuse me a minute. So. I think i just want to end with a couple of comments. First of all, the adjacent neighbor to the north would be concerned about an interstitial floor that would reduce his privacy. You may be hearing from him just in some. We feel that the request proposed rear setback would protect a small portion of her future occupants. North easterly views and none of its expansive easterly and southern views would be expensive, would be would be reduced, and it would preserve the northeastern views at the expense of the privacy of both homes. And we do reject the idea of a setback as a result. And thank you very much for your time. We have two minutes. And the architect is here. If you have any questions. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Well waive the rest of our time. Thank you. We will now open this up for Public Comment. Members of the public who are here today, please come forward. Those calling in remotely, please press star three or use the raise hand function via webex. Hi, my name is scott goldman. Im davids neighbor just across the street to the west. So like when i walk out my front door, im looking directly at his home. Just the first thing i wanted to say was theres like a big tree in front of the house. So his roof decks not really visible from the street and any kind of like addition he would build above it at least the amount hes talking about really wouldnt be visible. Theres a really eclectic mix of housing styles on that street. Theres i know one right, a couple houses down. They always call it the iphone house that has like a bunch of like weird porthole windows. Dont really feel like davids house is like that strange in the neighborhood. I also dont really feel like building it. The couple extra feet hes talking about is really changing anything in terms of like the neighborhood character. It definitely wouldnt affect my. Me living in my house at all. Also, it seems funny to complain about the construction because theres at least 3 or 4 houses on the block under construction. So theres just always construction. I dont know. You live in a city. Isnt that how its supposed . I dont know. But anyway, all that to say davids a great neighbor. Hes kind of made it his personal mission to, like, clean up the sanchez steps, which are just perpetually full of random detritus. I would love for him to have a house where his family can have separate bedrooms and yeah, i mean, it seems reasonable to me. Its kind of this is one of my first experiences with like public hearing processes around building it. Im sure you hear this a lot. It is kind of upsetting, like how much anyone can just step in and tell someone they cant change something in their house. But i guess thats how it works. But all that to say i support davids construction and yeah, thats ill see the rest of my time. Thank you. Last call for Public Comment. Seeing no additional requests to speak. Oh please come forward and line up on the screen side of the room if you plan to speak, please start. Hi. So my name is david leeson. I live at 601 sanchez, which is the property directly bordering on the north side of 615. Ive lived there since 1994 with my wife, joanne. We were there originally for the original variance that was required for the construction in 2002. I have to say i agree with some of the sentiments that have been expressed around and large size of properties developed in this area, but i am in support of this particular development. I think its a step in the right direction, adding more bedrooms to this large property. Therefore kind of justifying the large larger size of the property. But i have a two bedroom lounge property about a four bedroom lounge, probably then a two bedroom, large property. So i can only support it in that respect. I am a an opposition to the alternate proposal that has been put ahead , put forward to build the property, build more bedrooms within the property, particularly on the northern side as i said, it was present during the original variance hearings and the intent of the original variance. Well, the original variance was mostly required because of the setback on the northern side of the property. So to say that the setback was was an exception there. And then to add additional rooms overlooking my property on the northern side is not really within the spirit of the original variance. And this is why we have these variance hearings, is to make sure that the original, the terms and the spirit of the original variance are observed. So i think building additional bedrooms on the Northern Property would be against that that intent. And such bedrooms would be directly overlooking my bedroom and my and my kitchen directly into my yard. So so id be against that. So overall, im supporting the original proposal and im against the alternative. Thats been proposed by the developers at 615. Thank you. Last call for Public Comment. If youre calling in remotely, press star three or use the raised hand function via webex. See no additional requests to speak. We will now have a rebuttal from dr. Requester number one. You have two minutes. Okay thank you. We will now move on to dr. Questar. Number two, do you wish to have your rebuttal for two minutes. Though . I waive my time. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. And project sponsor, do you wish to use your rebuttal time . If its. Sorry. Thank you. My client asked me to clarify something. Dr. Request your number. Was it 1 or 2 . The one who lives at the non adjacent property has told you that there will be a privacy issue. But we just looked at the plans again, and theres only one south facing window that he would look at. And thats a bathroom window. A small window at, i think, above high level. And my client just wanted me to clarify that. By the way, ive talked to tina tam, the acting Zoning Administrator, and shell take under advisement and well hear back from her about issuing the variance. But if you have any questions about the variance, im happy to answer them. The important thing to know is why are we requesting a variance today . Its not because were doing something, not meeting the code. Its simply because the original variance, the one that allowed the building to be what it is today, says that if theres any future changes to the building envelope, there must be another variance. But were not doing anything today thats not complying with the code. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. And now the public hearing portion of the item is closed and the item is now before you commissioners. Great. Im glad to see its a two unit building adding space to the adu and to the main building. Again, four bedrooms makes more sense into in a building of this size and really is a more modest increase in the scale. It doesnt really material i think change the size of the primary home sub attentively so i dont see any unusual and extraordinary circumstances and would support a motion to not take and approve the project. Commissioner coppell so moved. Second, thank you, commissioner is on that motion to not take discretionary review and approve the project. On that motion, commissioner braun. Hi, commissioner ruiz. Hi, commissioner. Imperial high commissioner diamond i, commissioner coppell and Commission President tanner, i thank you. Commissioners that motion passes unanimously and concludes your calendars. Great thank you, commissioners. We will be back here next september 7th, if you can believe it. Something to noodle. We had two hearings that started at noon this week and last week. If that is something folks are interested in Going Forward, i understand historically prior commissions did start their hearings at noon. Obviously i think it was actually changed because commissioners wanted to start after they had lunch at the classic noon hour of lunch. So if folks like getting out earlier and starting earlier, im amenable. If folks liked what we had at 1 00, im also amenable. So please share with me any comments or if youre agnostic, you know, take that into consideration as we head into the last, last few quarters of the year. So with that, we are adjourned to our summer recess. Thank you. The San Francisco music hall of fame is a living breathing world thats all encompassing about music. [music playing] it tries to do everything to create a music theme. Music themes dont really exist anymore. It is 7, the tour is two floors, inaudible so, each one of these frames that you see here, you canyou are and look into the story of that act, band, entertainment and their contributions to music. Affordability is what we are all about. Creative support. We are dedicated to the working musician. We are also dedicated to breaking some big big acts. We like to make the stories around here. Ultimately legends. Thank you for today for the budget signing. I know supervisor chan, there were a lot of challenging time and doubt and frustration. When i am surprised throughout this entire process no are matter what you kept a smile on your face. Thank you very much for your heard work and for working with your colleagues and you know getting us through, i know we had to make hard decision in light of 780 million dollars, two year deficit. Fact we got through it, and almost record time is pretty surprising. And add moirable. Congratulations and thank you to each and every one of your colleagues for the work you put in the budget as well. [applause] the