mission street is first. second is not to ask for more than what codes are already allowed. the fact that there might need to be a small exception is minor in comparison to what i believe the project will deliver. the public comments about what it does to the hotel industry, which we are currently discussing relative to a reduction in hotel rooms. it is interesting to me to acknowledge that mission street was a strong anti door, but leave mission street intact. by that, minimizing shadow. minimizing unwanted intrusions. what i'm mostly interested in is seeing another element. the one comment i would like to ask staff is to see that we use a strong landscape design that already exists in the plaza. and that those ideas get integrated and further expand it in front of jesse street -- jessie straight. i would like to ask staff that we put that into position, that the main plaza landscape ideas be extended. those are material plant designs, and other details, including the environmental friendly nature. otherwise, i'm in full support. and while i'm interested in hearing other commissioner, it's, i would like to make a motion that we approve. >> second. commissioner olague: i do hope that in the language, your recommendations are included in that. is that correct? the ones about the landscaping? commissioner moore: providing the landscaping with the retailing, which is extraordinary. >> i support the project also. my only question is, i guess -- and i should have called the project sponsor, but i did not have time. i just want to ask the project sponsor -- did you contact the owners of the property adjacent to that site? i was just wondering, one of them, they actually own the property behind the site. i was curious about the sro's on either side of the building. obviously, it will be subject to the regular construction of rules and what not, but i'm just wondering if you were able to engage in any conversation with them. i know they are both residential hotels. i do not know if either have long-term residents. >> the building to the east owner was here and is now speaking for the project. we modified our structure somewhat and actually eliminated some small amount of square feet, and the building to the west we have had communication with, and they have not taken a position, but they are not opposing the project. as i understand it, that building is 100% full. no vacancies. we have communicated with everybody in the area. >> of the rooms that are the conditions of some of those hotels have been challenging in the past, i just wanted to make sure that it will not be uncomfortable for the individuals that live there. >> there are construction mitigation measures, and we will be following them. commissioner olague: great. ok. yes. >> if i may, we are concerned about disrupting the neighboring structures as well. the intent is that the demolition will not demolish the existing basement of the 942 mission street building. we will shore it up, and as was noted, we will drill for the foundations rather than pound them. while the construction is -- there are a lot of vagaries with construction, we're taking every precaution to be good neighbors to the adjacent structures. commissioner olague: ok. i just wanted to ask publicly that question. i have to work across the street, so i'm familiar with the area. i do think that because it is a project and a three-star hotel, as someone mentioned, there are not a lot of volunteer -- moderately priced hotels in the area. i think that will contribute to families or others that would come with their partners that happen to be attending a conference that might make it easier for people to also attend some of these conferences. i think it is a good project. we will see. commissioner antonini: i agree with the other commissioners. the set back off of mission street, i think it is very kind to mission the way it has been done. there have been times not in the recent past but in the more distant past where some hotels and others really did not address the street very well. of course, hotel capacity has been pointed out as a limiting factor that has been getting enough conventions. anything that we can do to build this capacity is really a good thing. i liked the fact that the tower aspect has articulation, which i think is very sensitive and also harkens back to an earlier architectural era when we had these sort of things. i just want to make sure that it is well appointed, which i think it would be as well as exterior aspects, and staff will continue to work with the architect on the part of it, but the rendering we see now is pretty good, and i think we can make it a nice addition to the skyline. >> i'm supportive of the project. there are tens of millions of dollars of work being done on mosconi north and south right now, so the expansion of that area and improvement in that area is vital. there is discussion about more possible expansion, and the success of mosconi west. i think it is going to be needed. again, reiterating the point of more variety and selections for san francisco, it is important, so i am supportive of the project. commissioner miguel: i'm also supportive of the project. at one time, i had some questions, which have been answered, regarding the aspects of jesse street -- aspects of jessie street. but my thoughts on that have been cleared up without question. i do appreciate the comments as to using the palette of meant plaza as far as the planting and the concern there. i think it will certainly improve that section, as well as the fact that san franciscans have come to an extent, long neglected mission street, and there was a lot of questions on the fact that bloomingdale's is actually going to have a frontage on mission street, and i think we are starting to prove those naysayers wrong. this is just another way of moving individual blocks that start to improve the area's to either side of them. certainly, if the financing ever comes together to actually open a san francisco museum at the old mint, the entire area will start to be transformed. so i'm very pleased with this project. commissioner moore: is it to promote -- appropriate to ask whether or not this is a realistic construction schedule? it would be great to see this happen. >> i'm not the one that signs the construction loan agreement, but i'm told that there is a lot of interest and that there is a construction schedule, and it will commence forthwith, soon. we have to go through a plan check process, but this hotel is going to be built. >> perhaps you could convey that message -- >> we will play the tape for the lender. [laughter] them the commissioners, the motion on the floor is for approval with the added condition that because a landscaping design be extended to this project. on that motion? and i'm assuming we are approving the conditional use. on that, [roll call] thank you, commissioners. commissioner miguel: can we just get through this one? >> it is going to be a long one. co >> [inaudible] >> the project before you is a conditional use authorization request to establish a new self service specialty food use dba place with a non-residential use size in excess of 3000 square feet. the department is recommending approval of conditions. the existing site is occupied by three-story over basement mixed use building with approximately 2000 square foot ground-floor retail space that is currently occupied as a specialty retail use. we are proposing to occupy the subject ground-floor commercial space and basement area as well. the proposed sandwich shop will have 10 seats internally and outdoor trees. all users are proposed to be connected with the commercial space. no expansion of the commercial space is proposed. it currently operates three locations, including one in san francisco on market street that will be transitioning to the proposed location if approved. in addition to the comments and positions that were included as part of the packet, the department has received two additional phone calls and nine letters and e-mails in opposition and 14 e-mails and additional signatures in support of the proposal. the comments in support and in opposition to the project are similar to the comments already summarized in the packet, and there are copies for the commission if you wish to review them. the project is found to be consistent with the city's general plan policies in that it will create employment opportunities and contribute to the vitality of the subject. therefore, the department finds the project to be desirable. i believe the business owner as well as his representatives are here to further present on the operation and logistics of the business. also, they will be able to answer any questions. this concludes my presentation, and i will be happy to answer any questions. thank you. commissioner miguel: thank you. project sponsor. >> thank you, ladies and gentlemen, thank you for giving me this opportunity to speak. i wanted to go over a few of -- tidbits about our business, and i assume you guys have a lot of questions, so i will lead time to answer those. i first opened up the shop in 2007, started as a one-man, 1- employee show and quickly turned into a business that now has three stores with over seven -- 70 employees, 37 of which worked in the san francisco location. the san francisco store was a flagship restaurant. we are planning to have this new location. the new store is about 10 times their original size of the first restaurant. do not really see any much problem with efficiency, space, electrical, all the kind of upgrades that we need in our improved equipment fit perfectly. and they are available at the new location where they were not in other location -- the other location. we also do not sell the alcoholic beverages. we are a strict food and soft- drink restaurant. we previously anchored the block there, allowing other businesses to fill comfortable doing business on the block well before we got there. people said the bloc was cursed. people said the space was cursed. another sandwich shop opened up down the street. they felt that they would be able to run their businesses there as well. our customers come from all over the bay area, all over california, as far as australia and siberia. we have had people come in saying that they have come in -- we are bringing in additional foot traffic to the castro area. when they come in, they do come and buy chocolate from the chocolate shop we will be in having or one of the coffee shops close by. currently, the space is now on market, now, he gets the benefit of all the additional coffee sales instead of the local coffee shops that are just down the street from where i guess was and where the proposed new place hopefully will be. we have done a lot of things. learned a lot from our previous space and from opening up in redwood shores and also stanford. we found out if we start taking phone orders that now the phone orders become 35% to 40% of our business on a daily basis. these are people that call in and have the option to pay before they even show up. a walk in, get their food, and lead. they are there for a total of about 60 seconds, maximum. they have already ordered and paid. we installed recently and iphone application where they can order, they can pay, and the phone will let them know when their order is ready, so they can just walk up, find their name, grab their food, and lead. it has been working great in redwood shores and stanford. we will do the same thing at this location. we also adopted a food and sanitation program, which is not required, but we wanted to make sure that with all the concerns that people may have, that we were in full compliance with the department of health. if you look at our last seven held scores within the last year-and-a-half, the lowest score we had was a 91. our last score was a 98 at our last location. 92's, 94's, 96's mixed up in between. we will also install a new ventilation system. we will attach our own hook to help with any smell or older concerns. also, the ceilings are very high. do not really see that the voice is going to be an issue there. the next available residential tenants upstairs, and at the old location, we had -- we sent out a couple people to clean up the block to find any trash, the king of the neighborhood trash. also, we find starbucks and 7- eleven trash, too. we will continue to do that in our new location. we currently sleep our streets of the market, where we are operating right now, and there is no reason why we will stop doing that. we started with a community liaison out of an old location. people were yelling their concerns, any issues that they have. she would set up meetings with them. she would address their concerns to come to some reasonable -- sometimes, things that maybe were a little bit in common, but we were happy to do them. we will continue to do those things for the neighborhood. we look forward to anchoring the neighborhood again, bringing more traffic down there to the businesses that seem to be suffering a little bit right now. just want to be a great neighbor. i live in the building right next door. been living there for over a year, born and raised in san francisco. absolutely love to do business out here. do business in the city i was born in, be an asset to the community, to the city, to the state. i'm happy to answer any questions. i'm sure you guys have some. commissioner miguel: thank you. >> welcome. commissioner miguel: i have a number of speaker cards. >> i'm john bell, on the board of the glbt historic society. i'm here to speak on behalf of ike and ike's place, who has been a huge supporter. he has been a major sponsor to our largest fund-raising event of the year held at the green room across the street, and he has also drummed up quite a lot of interest in our event. when we started marketing the events, and they heard ike's was going to be served, people got very excited. we were able to open a museum in the castro this year, so we are very excited. very blessed to have his support, and we hope you will still be in the community. thank you. >> crime charles norman. i live on sanchez street, half a block away from where ike was located and about half a block diagonally from where it proposes to be located. i strongly oppose this application and i urge the commission not to approve it. i have lived there for 15 years, and for 15 years, we have no problem on the street until ike's moved in. we had everything going on. the block between 16th and market completely blocked and congested. hours of time with crowds milling about. you could not walk up and down that street. i had to start crossing to the other side of the street going the long way around the block just to get where i was going. we had people loitering in doorways, people sitting on people's front steps eating lunch, throwing things around, leaning up against my garage. forgive me if for being blunt, but a few times we have people vomit before my front door, and we had to clean it up. this is not what is being advertised to you. this is not a self-contained operation. in terms of anchoring a neighborhood, tangerine has been in operation there for 10 years. there has been continuous operation westar belly as. this is not about ike's. what he does is terrorized the neighborhood, and i strongly urge you not to approve the resolution. thank you. commissioner miguel: thank you. >> jack detail. i'm here as a private citizen on my own time. i'm here as a neighbor with the same concern that most neighbors would have. also to point out that this is not a community organization, that this is a sandwich shop tried to make money. we appreciate that they feel in order to get a conditional use permit, they need to appear that they are responsive to the neighborhood, but so far, i have not really seen it. i think people go to ike's because they like being seen in line there. it is a cool and hip place to go, and i have nothing against that, but i think that the line benefits ike's. i do not see how he could do as much business without it. he has 10 places to sit inside, maybe 10 places to stand inside. it is a successful business. i have often counted 30 to 50 people in line, so those people are going to come across the street and said on my stoop, and am interested to know that he sends out people twice a day to clean out my stoop, but i have not really seen it. it says that by monthly, he is supposed to wash the sidewalk, but i never saw back. in fact, i meant to be a nice neighbor and leave him a note to say that he really ought to clean the sidewalks. >> commissioners, good afternoon. i'm the steering committee chair of steeringbuena vista neighborhood association -- share of the bu -- chair of the buena vista neighborhood association. we urge you to approve the project. it is a very successful business that we think has learned hard lessons from the early days of its phenomenal and probably initially unexpected success. it is not ready to go forward, and as a valued business in the upper market area, which is used by many of my neighbors. this new location will continue its contributions to sales tax and other city revenues, provides jobs, and will contribute to a positive business synergy, which is so important to keeping that area vital. the internal chocoholic in maine has had a bit of a struggle because the current occupant of the space has been one of my favorite destinations, but we resolve it in favor of urging you to approve the ike's place project for that location, as it is before you today, and we urge you to consider the comments. thank you. commissioner miguel: thank you. >> i'm david goldman. good afternoon, commissioners. i live at 246 sanchez street. i'm the president of the home owners association. i'm just around the corner from either location. you walk down sanchez street and turn right from where i live, you would find the old location. you turn left, you would be where ike's used to be. i'm speaking today to express my strong disapproval. i was able to follow how ike ran his business. his original location was on the north side of 16th street. in the proposed location was on the south side between sanchez and church. both locations are within 300 feet of my residence. i live on the west side between 16th and 15th. the problem the business created for us is neighbors began immediately. with a high volume of patrons all day long, long lines of people waiting as long as two hours to pick up their sandwiches would end up completely blocking access to the north side of 16th street. ike's provided no seizing all for its customers, and they ended up sprawling on the stoops and driveways of my home and my neighbors. it was a task to keep our driveway clear of the people sitting in the driveway while they ate their neighbors. patrons were hostile to my polite request to refrain from sitting in my driveway while eating. my neighbors reported similar problems. disrespectful patrons. despite my complaints to his stock pick, they and their staff did nothing to alleviate the problem. he seemed totally indifferent to our concern. while many patrons stroll in and created a problem with their cars double park, often blocking my dread wight, and those of our neighbors while they waited to pick up their sandwiches. again, no help was given to update these problems. the new proposal, likely to be more of the same set of problems. the proposal does not include seeking for more than 10 of his patrons. he no other eatery allows a high volume of customers with only 10 places for them to eat. the patrons look continue to block the sidewalk, sit on the sidewalk, steps, and drivers of members in order to keep their some witches. this will create the nightmare we had when he was down the street. i exposed new hours -- ike's proposed new hours -- the problems mentioned above lasted three hours after closing. within 11:00 p.m. closing on friday and saturday, problems will likely occur until 2 in the morning. i know no other restaurant in the area which has allowed to run a restaurant without adequate seating and to be operated so late in the evening seven days a week. please support the quality of life in the upper market area of sanchez street by denying this conditional use permit. thank you. president miguel: paul quinn -- >> i live in the neighborhood. it prints a lot of traffic and noise. it is not much of a residential neighborhood anymore. you cannot live in your house without listening to the commotion of people all over the place. it seems to be a hot spot for all kinds of things in this town. when we have holidays, our neighborhood becomes a real circus. i am just here to say that to make it any worse is not fair to the people who live in this residential area. i know because i have a residential sticker on my car. i do not think it is a i do not think it is a commercial area.