The chamber, congratulations again and thank you for making San Francisco a beautiful place for everyone to enjoy. Thank you. Well, colleagues, that concludes our commendations for the day. Thank you to all the honorees and the people who join them in recognizing some amazing folks who not only take care of San Francisco, but make San Francisco a more beautiful place. Looking forward to next week commendations where we will im sure have some more amazing people. Thank you all so much for being here today. All right. With that, madam clerk, well go to our first 3 00 p. M. Special order. Please read the item. Items 2427, comprise the public hearing of persons interested in the determination of exemption from Environmental Review, under the California Environmental quality act or approved on november 30th, proposed project at 1526 wallace avenue to process and sell small lifestock in a pdrtwo processing distribution and zoning repair district. Item 25 is the motion to affirm that it is exempt. Item 26 is the motion to conditionally reverse the departments determination, and item 27 is the motion to direct the preparation of findings. President breed ok, colleagues. We have an appeal of the Planning Departments determination of exemption from Environmental Review for the project at 1526 wallace avenue in district 10. For this hearing, we already considering the Planning Department determination the proposed project at 1526 wallace avenue is exempt from environment review. Without objection, we will proceed as follows. Up to ten minutes for a presentation by the appellant or representative, up to two minutes for speaker in support of the appeal, ten minutes for the Planning Department, up to ten minutes for the project sponsor, or their represent, up to two minutes per speaker in opposition to the appeal, and finally, up to three minutes for rebuttal by the appellant or the appellant representative. Colleagues, if there are no objections to proceeding in this way, we will move forward and open up this hearing. And supervisor cohen. Supervisor cohen thank you ladies and gentlemen, president breed. Colleagues, today we will hear from the appellant, along with the Planning Department and members of the public about a halal poultry butcher. Brought forward by the animal Legal Defense fund, alds, expressed concerns with the Planning Commission concern to exempt in the approval of the conditional use application submitted last november. My office has spent the better part of the last month working to understand how this particular facility would impact the proposed area and city at large. And with that, madam president , i turn back the rest of the hearing over to you. Thank you. President breed thanks, supervisor cohen. And before we proceed, im going to ask members of the public, if you could please keep it down, we need to move forward with our agenda. Thank you very much. And with that, we will start with the presentation for the appellant, or appellant representative. Please come forward. You have up to ten minutes. Good afternoon, christina stella, here on behalf of the animal Legal Defense fund and the 2,000 individual members who reside in San Francisco. Aldf urges the board to remand it back to the Planning Commission to be adequately considered before it is granted a conditional use permit. Highlight three points from our alds written materials today. First, reiterate at the outset that the concerns raised in the comments are squarely in those addressed by seqa, and appeal based on the misuse or lack of process that took place here. Alds supports fostering stronger connections between consumers and their food. With respect to this project, the position is that a facility that seeks to transport, confine to indoor cages and slaughter more than 100,000 animals annually has environmental effects that must be considered under seqa, and particularly because slaughterhouses have contributed to the frustrating legacy of pollution that lingers in the bayview today. Inviting that industry into San Francisco anew, over the opposition of San Francisco residents, and without any meaningful consideration of its Environmental Impacts before permitting it. Continues the injustice of residents for decades. Second, the project sponsor has tried to distinguish itself with larger operations with more of an Environmental Impact, it has not introduced to directly address the contention. For example, aldf presented evidence that live transport can travel from animals to humans and increases salmonella. The response from the project sponsor, the amount of overall truck traffic will not increase. So nothing about the nature of live animal transport in the project sponsors response. Aldf presented evidence that confinement facilities are recognized as sources of air pollutants, such as ammonia, bacteria, yeast, mold, airborne dust and patrols from grains mice and fungus. Can cause problems. And severe irritation to the track. And cardiac arrest. Longterm exposure to decreased lung function. Poultry manure, collecting in the cages of the facilities before transported off site and contaminating the air pumped out of the building, contains nitrogen, phosphorus and heavy metals. 2 to 4 times more nutrients than the manure of other livestock. Also parasites, bacteria and pathogens that are with humans, and nothing with regard to filtration system or evidence the ventilation system will address these problems. Aldf presented evidence that cages prevented chickens in cages from being mentally or physically healthy. Physical stress, more susceptible to infectious dies, and bacteria colonization. Overcrowding, overheating, withholding of food and water, excessive lighting, incorrect flock sizes, different ages and colors and abrupt changes in management environment, all of which are concerns that relate specifically to the type of operation proposed here. Can all precipitate feather pecking and can ballism. Caged birds cannot escape this behavior. These impacts on animals are directly related to food safety and Public Health. And the response from the project sponsor, that seqa does not apply to livestock. So the factual matter, the sponsor has not contradicted the evidence submitted or addressed the concerns raised by aldf, denying any harm will take place, not supported by the evidence. Finally, in regard to the legal standards that apply here, the class one exemption does not apply. The California Court of appeal has made clear a class one exemption for existing facilities does not apply where there is a major change in focus, its a quote, of the facilities operations. Change from an auto towing shop or vacant space to a slaughterhouse is a change making the exemption inappropriate. The board should reject this attempt to shoe horn this into an exemption that is meant to and does only apply to minor physical alterations to a building. Even if class one or class three were to seem applicable, 146,000 animal slaughterhouse is unusual for San Francisco. Whether unusual circumstances make an otherwise appropriate exemption, depends whether the circumstances of a particular project differ from the general circumstances of the projects covered by a particular exemption. The sponsor makes much of the fact the facility will be the first and only life slaughterhouse of its kind in San Francisco, that there are no projects of comparable size and location in the city means that the project itself presents an unusual circumstance that makes the categorical exclusion inappropriate. The air quality of the proposed site is also an unusual circumstance. Case law in california shows that environmental sensitivity can constitute unusual circumstances that make an seqa exemption inappropriate. Aldf has shown the bayview is an environmental sensitive neighborhood. Makes the exclusion all more appropriate here. Lastly, that it does not apply to animals and agriculture is not correct. Seqa does contemplate livestock, and that the mitigation measures can have impacts on livestock. To the extent the project sponsor claims the Animal Welfare commission is charged with making recommendations to the board to protect Animal Welfare in San Francisco. On january 26th, the commission did in fact advise the board to support aldf appeal by letter. So, aldf agrees with the sponsor statements, that the recommendations of the Animal Welfare commission should be followed here. In sum, aldf is glad to see the environmental effects are seeing action now, but prior to granting the conditional use permit so adequate conditions can be put in place to mitigate any potential environmental effects. It is not enough under seqa for this conversation to take place, only as a post hoc or ad hoc afterthought that cannot bind the business to mitigation measures. To the degree the board still has questions about or uncertain about the effects of the facility at this stage, aldf submits this is exactly what seqa is designed to address. The proper course to remand to the Planning Commission for a study to evaluate environmental effects and mitigation measures. Thank you for your time. President breed thank you. All right. Now, we will open it up to Public Comments for those who are here to speak in support of the appeal. For those of you who would like to speak in support of the appeal, you will have up to two minutes per person, so please line up to your right. If you are opposed to the appeal, there will be a time to speak at a later time in the agenda. First speaker, please. Good afternoon, brian butler, Community Organizer and policy advocate for green action for health and environmental justice. Im here not to clarify some of the recent comments i read in an article about this appeal being based on vegetarians, just not wanting a slaughterhouse, this this appeal, frankly, is based on decades and decades of systemic neglect for the community of bayview Hunters Point. Bayview Hunters Point shoulders the majority of the commercial industry in the city of San Francisco. That in and of itself i think warrants additional safeguards to the community. You may have heard it, i know supervisor cohen is familiar with this, but a child born in bayview today is expected to live 14 years less than a child born in russian hill. When you think about the sewer plant, the radioactive super fund site, all the concrete batch plants, the two freeways, the maritime traffic in the bay. And railroad traffic. Youve got air pollution, soil pollution and Water Pollution. [bell rings] we have to do everything we possibly can, im on overtime, do everything we possibly can to ensure we are protecting the health of this vulnerable community. One last thing, we have to consider the cumulative impacts when we look at things so narrowly we miss the bigger picture. Thank you. President breed thank you. Next speaker, please. Hello, hi, everyone. I lived in bayview, Hunters Point all my years. I have watched company after company move into the community and add more pollution into the already heavily polluted community. For years i have called on my elected officials to reduce my exposure to harmful pollution, not increase it. Today i ask the board of supervisors take every step possible to protect hunters view, Hunters Point residents from any potential harm caused by yet another facility, claiming to only have a small impact on our community air, water and soil. Would you please make sure this project is thoroughly checked for another, for any possible negativity, Environmental Impact on us and the community. Thank you. I appreciate it. President breed thank you for your comments. Next speaker, please. Hello, my name is deandra, a resident of bayview over 40 years, Business Owner with el over ten years. Submitting comments this afternoon, the same i submitted when i was at the meeting earlier late last year. My commitment as a Business Owner and long time resident of the bayview Hunters Point has made it possible to raise my children and now grandchild in the family home, three blocks away from 1526 wallace. Say again, three blocks from 1526 wallace. I can actually see it from my living room. Ill be able to smell 1526 wallace from my living room. Which is a proposed site of the slaughtering and livestock facility. Disappointing once again my community, folks like myself that live blocks away from an intrusive and hazardous establishment, we were not notified in a clear and concise way, nor was the testing the aldf has been asking for has been done, has it been analyzed and shared with the community. Again, i live three blocks away. I know there are rules in place and establishments in which at the last meeting we were told that we were reached out to the community was told about this. Im going to say again, i live three blocks away, i got nothing in my mailbox, i got no one knocking on my door. [bell rings] so again, im going to say, time is up, i am opposed to 1526 wallace business going into place. Adamantly. I am asking that the clear and True Research review that aldf is asking for is done and shared with the residents of the bayview Hunters Point community. Thank you. President breed thank for your comments. Next speaker, please. Good afternoon, mary beth, resident of the engelside district. I strongly oppose a slaughterhouse in San Francisco. Requiring Environmental Review to understand how the bayview would be impacted is a modest request. Allowing a slaughterhouse without so much as a consideration of the environmental effects on the bayview flies in the face of San Franciscos progressive nature. Opposed to a slaughterhouse anywhere, but i would like the city to acknowledge a slaughterhouse does in fact affect the environment, our residents, and the animals. Thank you. President breed next speaker, please. Good afternoon, ina, and my wife and i live in the bayview with our four children and also run a doggy daycare, im a native San Francisco resident. We look small here, those of us in line, i want you to know the bayview is full of working class citizens and many people wanted to be here but could not afford to take a day off from work. I understand the reasons why the Planning Commission okayed the permits. Also believe it was based on a false narrative that has been created. Repeatedly stated that it was important for San Francisco to be culturally inclusive. They would feel this way after hearing system that people had to travel to oakland to put protein on the table. They say its opposed by fascist vegetarians opposed to eating meat. Im not, i like eating chicken. My grandfather was a butcher in hawaii. Im not antibutcher. There is a difference between butcher and slaughterhouse. More than 75 excellent restaurants serving halal food in San Francisco and 35 groceries to buy fresh meat. Only 7 of the customers are actually muslim. According to the law of halal, no requirement that the chickens must be freshly slaughtered in full view. This is a business choice. [bell rings] i am here because i care about the bayview and the 37,000 residents of the bayview. Give us a running starts to move away from the environmental racism and classism that continue under the guise that there its zoned that way or diesel and emitting businesses in the neighborhood. Not allow a dairy farm based on an old legacy or walk along heron point youll know the legacy of toxicity in the bayview is one we need to [bell rings] president breed thank for your comments. Next speaker, please. Hi, i was born and raised in San Francisco, and i am a resident of the bayview. I have chronic asthma myself. I was also an after School Teacher at one Purpose School in the bayview. I know firsthand the children of bayview suffer from health issues, and even at the young age of five they are impacted by the iniquity of society. Please choose them over the money. Choose the children and families over the money and make sure the business does not add to the pollution in the bayview. Thank you for your comments. Next speaker, please. Jane tobin. Im hear in support of adlf and a letter we sent to you earlier. We want to stress that ignoring the seqa requirements would continue this trend of environmental injustice for the residents. And also an area of public concern, or Public Safety for the commissioners, too. So we ask for the process to be followed as required by seqa and also in support of the animal Legal Defense fund. Thank you. President breed thank you for your comments. Next speaker, please. My name is paul denning, here on behalf of lori green who lives at 1500 revere avenue in the bayview. She was not able to be here today, because she cannot afford to take off work, and she just had one short comment for you which is that people need in the neighborhood need more Fresh P