Transcripts For SFGTV Government Access Programming 20240714

Director rahaim certain hoping that every day, my family and i can get around the city safely and benefit from all the services that you helped deliver. Maybe ill show up in Public Comment, and i can start grilling you guys in exchange, but i just want to thank you all for the partnership and the work and the High Expectations youve created for me and my colleagues, the rest of the Department Heads and for all that you do for all of us who work here and live here and visit here. So thank you very much. Its a great honor, and i appreciate it. [applause] president yee director peskin, would you come into the chambers . [applause] president yee that concludes our special commendation for today. Madam clerk, lets go to our First Special 3 00 p. M. Orders, item 46 through 49. Clerk item 46 through 49, this is the appeal for the tentative map for 2146 through 2150 union street. Item 46 is the decision for persons interested in the decision of public works to approve a tentative map for a three unit subdivision. Item 47 is the motion to approve the tentative map for the union street project, and item 48 is the motion to conditionally disapprove the departments decision and to approve the appropriate finding. President yee okay. Colleagues, we have before us an appeal to the determination of the public works approving the tentative map for the project at 21462150 union street. For this hearing, we will be considering the final decision made by public works and approving the tentative map. The appellant or appellants representative will have up to ten minutes for presentation, up to two minutes per speaker in support of the appeal, up to ten minutes for presentations from the public works and Planning Department. Up to ten minutes for the project sponsor which will be represented by barbara hertzig, and two minutes in opposition to the appeal and in support of the project; and finally, a total of three minutes for the appellant or appellant representative to provide a rebuttal. Colleagues, are there any objections to proceeding this way . Seeing no objection, the hearing is now open. Supervisor stefani, do you have any remarks you would like to share before we get going . Supervisor stefani not at this time. President yee okay. Seeing no names on the roster, i will ask the appellant or their representative to come forward and present their case. You have up to a total of ten minutes. Hi. Thank you very much for giving the time for me and my wife to speak. Im adam zagoria, and i appreciate the opportunity to appeal this approval, the tentative map. We live nearby, very close to this building, and we recently got a letter telling us about this tentative map, and i realize that this has been is well under construction, but our first recognition that there was construction going on at this project was this opportunity to appeal the tentative map. Im objecting to the scope of this project in effect that they are adding an additional entire story to the existing building, which we never had any opportunity to approve the initial complication for the permits to build this building, and we feel it will lead to deterioration of that street and the buildings of this neighborhood. Its a very nice street, and we love living there, but there is a dramatic addition to the existing building that we were never able to comment on, so thats why im hoping youll give us the opportunity right now to appeal the original permitting of this building. I have no opposition to the number of occupants in the building or the number of units. President yee is that it . Thats it. President yee okay. As you can see, this is not a dialogue unless we have questions. Okay. President yee i dont see any comments, so what id like to do is open this up to the board for supervisor peskin i do have one question. President yee supervisor peskin . Supervisor peskin so separate and apart what youre appe appealing today, which is a tentative subdivision map, if looking at 2146 union street, it appears that in 2018, the actual project which included vertical and hortizontal additions was approved by the Planning Department. I assume under the section of the planning code that you received a neighborhood notification if you are within 300 feet of that. Do you know if you did or did not . I know i did not, and none of our neighbors did, either. We are very close. We might be within 150 feet of that project, but this was the first notification that we received of this to appeal the map. I think this process was not handled correctly. Supervisor peskin i will ask these questions at the appropriate time of the appropriate departments. Although what is before us in this peappeal is a tangible ise of the subdivision map, not the project. I understand that, but this is a very important decision thats been made about this property, and im angry that we didnt get the opportunity to appeal this at the appropriate time, so im appealing it now, and i think its important that this be properly vetted by the people it affects, the neighbors to this property, and none of us along in our area were notified of this. Supervisor peskin i will ask the Planning Department at the appropriate time. Thank you. President yee okay. I dont see anybody else. I will hope it up for open it up for Public Comment for those who would like to support the appeal. Thank you. Im dr. George susans. I live in a property overlooking this project, and i have two issues i would like to bring to this board. Number one, when i submitted a letter my wife and i submitted a letter about this. The lawyer who represents the construction of this building said that, well, we ignored our notification of the construction. Well, to paraphrase what dr. Zagoria just said, we never received a letter that was supposed to come out two years ago from the Planning Department, and we did not receive it. We did receive one three weeks ago. And my second complaint is that the lawyer who represented that individual said that we had no grounds to stand on because we received a letter three years ago. Well, i want to reiterate that no one on green street received a letter about this construction. Thank you. President yee any other speakers . Seeing none, then this part of the Public Comment is now closed. [gavel]. President yee now, we have up to ten minutes for representatives from the departments who will split the time from public works and the Planning Department. Good afternoon, supervisors. Bruce stores, city and county surveyor. I wont take much time. We received this application. Its for a fourunit new construction project in january 2019, deemed the application submitable that same day, issued tenantable approval on may 13 i beg your pardon. Issued tenantable approval on june 6. We dont have any objection to this going forward, and i wanted to give my colleagues at planning all the time they need. President yee supervisor peskin, did you want to ask him a question . Okay. Go ahead, mr. Starr. Thank you. The issues that the appellant brought up in the appeal deal with the proposed expansion of the building and not the subdivision of the new units, therefore, planning is compelled to respond. The subject is a mixed use building with ground floor retail and two units. It includes four new residential units at the rear of the building. The height of the building is increasing from 38 feet to 48 feet, including an additional three penthouses that will rise above the roof. As required by the planning code, a 30day neighborhood notice was sent out for the proposed building expansion on june 14, 2017 and expired on july 14, 2017. The poster describing the proposed addition was placed on the building during the 30day review period. There was no applications filed on this during the 30day notification period. The department understands that the appellant is not within 150 feet of the proposed site, therefore, Planning Department does not require they be included in the notice. The second is the proposed includes substantial height over the existing height of the building and that this height will diminish views. Discretionary review period is the time when those issues should be brought before the Planning Department. The time to appeal the permit based on impacts that the proposed project would have on adjacent properties has expired. Further, neither the planning code or the citys general plan protect private views. Even if the applicant filed a discretionary view, the Planning Department would not have taken discretionary view solely because of someones private view being obstructed. Finally, its keeping to the neighborhood context with regards to size, massing and scale, and that concludes my presentation and im happy to answer questions. President yee supervisor stefani . Supervisor stefani thank you for clearing that up and clearing up the issue of 150 feet. I think that is providing confusion here, and i do want you, if you can, explain the difference again between appealing the tentative man and appealing the project. What is the difference here . When someone is expanding a building in San Francisco in a neighborhood commercial district or a residential district, we do whats called a neighborhood notification. It requires us to send out a reduced side of the plans and project description to all residents and owners within 150 feet of the property. That goes out 30 days. Neighbors have 30 days to file whats called a investigationary review which takes the permit to the Planning Commission for their review, and if they find theres an exceptional extraordinary circumstance, they can then modify or deny the project. Once it has left planning, you can no longer file the discretionary review. However, prior to the Building Permit being issued, you can appeal the Building Permit to the board of appeals which then can review the permit to make sure that the city is issuing it properly. The applicant or the appellant could, if they wanted to, seek jurisdiction at the board of appeals now, but it would be up to the board of appeals whether or not they grant that jurisdiction and then hear the appeal. Supervisor stefani was there also notice on the building itself . Theres always a poster placed on the property itself for the 30day period. Its an 11by17 poster. Its usually bright orange, and it has the same information the mailed has. Supervisor stefani when did that go out . Same period as the mailed notice, so june 14 to july 14, 2017. Supervisor stefani that concludes my questioning at this point. President yee okay. Supervisor peskin . Supervisor peskin and i just wanted to apologize for confusing the 311 notice at 150 feet with the c. U. And tentative map notice at 300 feet. I believe that one of the speakers who lives on the 22 2100 block of green street, i just checked on the map is outside of that 150foot radius and therefore would not have gotten that, so i dont know where the appellant lives, but if they are on that same block of green street, would not have gotten a notice, so its not that it wasnt mailed as represented i mean, the Planning Department representative represented that the notice was timely mailed, but the appellants are outside of that radius. President yee okay. So seeing no other names on the roster from my colleagues at this time, id like to invite members of the public who wish to speak in opposition of the appeal to please come forward. Youll have two minutes. Thank you. Im david stone, 2100 green street. Yeah, besides the questionable notice situation here, i just want to say a few things. This project exceeds the height limit president yee sir, sir, so if you are supporting the appeal or against the project, that opportunity had already passed to speak. Well, what are you asking for now . President yee so these are speakers that are basically speak in opposition of the appeal. In other words, youre for the project. Oh, okay. We get another chance to say a few words . President yee no. Let me just say, you guys are ruining union street. President yee okay. Any other comments . Seeing none, Public Comment is now closed. [gavel]. President yee okay. I think we are where i didnt give the project sponsor a chance to speak yet, so can you please come up . You have ten minutes. Im sorry. You have to speak into the mic. My name is barbara hurzig. Im here on behalf of the project sponsor. I really dont have much to add. Ive sent all of you a letter explaining the legal position. Notice proper notices were given at the proper time. The grounds for the appeal are not matters related to the tentative map approval. San francisco has an unusual subdivision mapping process because you cannot file for a subdivision application until you actually have permission from the Planning Department that you can go ahead with the project from a planning standpoint, so really, the only issue that is left for discussion at the tentative map approval level has to do with whether or not the subdivision itself is consistent with the general and specific plans. And that finding was already made. Theres been no opposition from the appellants that the findings of compliance from these plans was erroneous. Thats the only consideration today. By the way, the height limit has not been changed at all. The front of the building is a historic facade. It has not been touched. I was over today, i have a photo if anyone would like to see it. The height of the facade is exactly the same. All of the development because this is on a grade, all of the development you can see from the street. So none of the neighbors that are here today will be affected by the development themselves unless theyre objecting to the addition of additional dwelling units that are legally permitted, then i dont think thats a real valid ground for appeal. Obviously, housing and the addition of housing in San Francisco is a critical issue at this time. So im happy to take any questions you may have, but i see no grounds for supporting t the appeal. President yee okay. I dont see any questions. Then lastly, id like to invite the appellant or their representatives to present a rebuttal argument. You have up to three minutes. Thanks very much. I think you heard the crux of the issue with us is that the people on green street who are very close to this property feel that we should have been notified of the original permit. Im sorry that we were not aware of that and would have appealed that. They are in effect changing the height of that building with a roof deck at the original line, and then theyre adding a large deck for people to live on, to be present, with two eightfoot high stairwells that is adding an additional level of living to the existing building. I find it hard to believe were not in the 150 foot of that property line, if you go from the back of our property to the front of that property or other properties on our street are not closer. We have a neighbor three doors down that has a property that extends very close to union street. What at a minimum id like is it to be reexamined, go back in the process and appeal the original permits. We have absolutely no problem with the number of dwellings there. Its the height of the dwelling which will change the character of union street and set a precedent for additional buildings to add another level above the 40foot mark. Thats all i have to say. Are there any questions . President yee okay. Thank you. Okay. Then this this public hearing, item number 46, has been held and is now filed. [gavel]. President yee okay. We will now reconvene as the board of supervisors. Colleagues, we now have items 47, 48, and 49 before us. Supervisor stefani, you do have any final remarks . Supervisor stefani thank you, president yee. I want to start by saying when i moved into the cow hollow neighborhood 18 years ago, i immediately joined the cow hollow neighborhood association, was on the housing committee, was an activist. These are things that i went to the Planning Commission about, and i really feel its unfortunate that its gone this far and you havent been heard. And for that, im really sorry. For that, dr. Zagoria and peggy zagoria for coming out, and those who have, as well. I have reached out to some of my colleagues to see if we can fix some of the noticing issues so that neighbors do not receive a notice for the map change neighbors receive a notice for the map change and not for the project itself. We have to act on the merits of this actual appeal and the tentative map. With that said as we heard from public works and the Planning Department, the appeal before us today im not saying that the concerns arent valid at all, but the appeal before us on the tentative map approval does not rise to the standards to disapprove of the determination made by the public works on the map itself, and again. Im not saying that your concerns arent valid in a way, but what we have before us, were not able to act on it in that way. So in this case, i do believe the proper course of action would have been to appeal the permit rather than the tentative map, and i will be looking into consolidating those noticing requirements. So with that, president yee, i would like to make a motion to move item 47 forward and to table items 48 and 49. President yee okay. Is there a second . Supervisor peskin . Can we take these items same house same call . Without objection, item 47 is approved and items 48 and 49 are tabled. [gavel]. President yee colleagues, the tentative map is finally approved. Okay. Madam clerk, can you go to our next 3 00, item 50 and 51 . Clerk item 50 is the public hearing to consider item 51 which is the resolution to establish the property based Improvement District known as the Downtown Community benefit district to order the levy and collection of assessments against property located in that district for 15 years commencing with fiscal year 2019 through 2020 subject to conditions as specified and to affirm the ceqa determination. President yee okay. We are now sitting as a committee of the whole again. Colleagues, the purpose of this hearing is to take testimony on the opposed levy of assessments of the propertybased Improvement District named the Downtown Community business Public Comment<\/a>, and i can start grilling you guys in exchange, but i just want to thank you all for the partnership and the work and the High Expectations<\/a> youve created for me and my colleagues, the rest of the Department Heads<\/a> and for all that you do for all of us who work here and live here and visit here. So thank you very much. Its a great honor, and i appreciate it. [applause] president yee director peskin, would you come into the chambers . [applause] president yee that concludes our special commendation for today. Madam clerk, lets go to our First Special<\/a> 3 00 p. M. Orders, item 46 through 49. Clerk item 46 through 49, this is the appeal for the tentative map for 2146 through 2150 union street. Item 46 is the decision for persons interested in the decision of public works to approve a tentative map for a three unit subdivision. Item 47 is the motion to approve the tentative map for the union street project, and item 48 is the motion to conditionally disapprove the departments decision and to approve the appropriate finding. President yee okay. Colleagues, we have before us an appeal to the determination of the public works approving the tentative map for the project at 21462150 union street. For this hearing, we will be considering the final decision made by public works and approving the tentative map. The appellant or appellants representative will have up to ten minutes for presentation, up to two minutes per speaker in support of the appeal, up to ten minutes for presentations from the public works and Planning Department<\/a>. Up to ten minutes for the project sponsor which will be represented by barbara hertzig, and two minutes in opposition to the appeal and in support of the project; and finally, a total of three minutes for the appellant or appellant representative to provide a rebuttal. Colleagues, are there any objections to proceeding this way . Seeing no objection, the hearing is now open. Supervisor stefani, do you have any remarks you would like to share before we get going . Supervisor stefani not at this time. President yee okay. Seeing no names on the roster, i will ask the appellant or their representative to come forward and present their case. You have up to a total of ten minutes. Hi. Thank you very much for giving the time for me and my wife to speak. Im adam zagoria, and i appreciate the opportunity to appeal this approval, the tentative map. We live nearby, very close to this building, and we recently got a letter telling us about this tentative map, and i realize that this has been is well under construction, but our first recognition that there was construction going on at this project was this opportunity to appeal the tentative map. Im objecting to the scope of this project in effect that they are adding an additional entire story to the existing building, which we never had any opportunity to approve the initial complication for the permits to build this building, and we feel it will lead to deterioration of that street and the buildings of this neighborhood. Its a very nice street, and we love living there, but there is a dramatic addition to the existing building that we were never able to comment on, so thats why im hoping youll give us the opportunity right now to appeal the original permitting of this building. I have no opposition to the number of occupants in the building or the number of units. President yee is that it . Thats it. President yee okay. As you can see, this is not a dialogue unless we have questions. Okay. President yee i dont see any comments, so what id like to do is open this up to the board for supervisor peskin i do have one question. President yee supervisor peskin . Supervisor peskin so separate and apart what youre appe appealing today, which is a tentative subdivision map, if looking at 2146 union street, it appears that in 2018, the actual project which included vertical and hortizontal additions was approved by the Planning Department<\/a>. I assume under the section of the planning code that you received a neighborhood notification if you are within 300 feet of that. Do you know if you did or did not . I know i did not, and none of our neighbors did, either. We are very close. We might be within 150 feet of that project, but this was the first notification that we received of this to appeal the map. I think this process was not handled correctly. Supervisor peskin i will ask these questions at the appropriate time of the appropriate departments. Although what is before us in this peappeal is a tangible ise of the subdivision map, not the project. I understand that, but this is a very important decision thats been made about this property, and im angry that we didnt get the opportunity to appeal this at the appropriate time, so im appealing it now, and i think its important that this be properly vetted by the people it affects, the neighbors to this property, and none of us along in our area were notified of this. Supervisor peskin i will ask the Planning Department<\/a> at the appropriate time. Thank you. President yee okay. I dont see anybody else. I will hope it up for open it up for Public Comment<\/a> for those who would like to support the appeal. Thank you. Im dr. George susans. I live in a property overlooking this project, and i have two issues i would like to bring to this board. Number one, when i submitted a letter my wife and i submitted a letter about this. The lawyer who represents the construction of this building said that, well, we ignored our notification of the construction. Well, to paraphrase what dr. Zagoria just said, we never received a letter that was supposed to come out two years ago from the Planning Department<\/a>, and we did not receive it. We did receive one three weeks ago. And my second complaint is that the lawyer who represented that individual said that we had no grounds to stand on because we received a letter three years ago. Well, i want to reiterate that no one on green street received a letter about this construction. Thank you. President yee any other speakers . Seeing none, then this part of the Public Comment<\/a> is now closed. [gavel]. President yee now, we have up to ten minutes for representatives from the departments who will split the time from public works and the Planning Department<\/a>. Good afternoon, supervisors. Bruce stores, city and county surveyor. I wont take much time. We received this application. Its for a fourunit new construction project in january 2019, deemed the application submitable that same day, issued tenantable approval on may 13 i beg your pardon. Issued tenantable approval on june 6. We dont have any objection to this going forward, and i wanted to give my colleagues at planning all the time they need. President yee supervisor peskin, did you want to ask him a question . Okay. Go ahead, mr. Starr. Thank you. The issues that the appellant brought up in the appeal deal with the proposed expansion of the building and not the subdivision of the new units, therefore, planning is compelled to respond. The subject is a mixed use building with ground floor retail and two units. It includes four new residential units at the rear of the building. The height of the building is increasing from 38 feet to 48 feet, including an additional three penthouses that will rise above the roof. As required by the planning code, a 30day neighborhood notice was sent out for the proposed building expansion on june 14, 2017 and expired on july 14, 2017. The poster describing the proposed addition was placed on the building during the 30day review period. There was no applications filed on this during the 30day notification period. The department understands that the appellant is not within 150 feet of the proposed site, therefore, Planning Department<\/a> does not require they be included in the notice. The second is the proposed includes substantial height over the existing height of the building and that this height will diminish views. Discretionary review period is the time when those issues should be brought before the Planning Department<\/a>. The time to appeal the permit based on impacts that the proposed project would have on adjacent properties has expired. Further, neither the planning code or the citys general plan protect private views. Even if the applicant filed a discretionary view, the Planning Department<\/a> would not have taken discretionary view solely because of someones private view being obstructed. Finally, its keeping to the neighborhood context with regards to size, massing and scale, and that concludes my presentation and im happy to answer questions. President yee supervisor stefani . Supervisor stefani thank you for clearing that up and clearing up the issue of 150 feet. I think that is providing confusion here, and i do want you, if you can, explain the difference again between appealing the tentative man and appealing the project. What is the difference here . When someone is expanding a building in San Francisco<\/a> in a neighborhood commercial district or a residential district, we do whats called a neighborhood notification. It requires us to send out a reduced side of the plans and project description to all residents and owners within 150 feet of the property. That goes out 30 days. Neighbors have 30 days to file whats called a investigationary review which takes the permit to the Planning Commission<\/a> for their review, and if they find theres an exceptional extraordinary circumstance, they can then modify or deny the project. Once it has left planning, you can no longer file the discretionary review. However, prior to the Building Permit<\/a> being issued, you can appeal the Building Permit<\/a> to the board of appeals which then can review the permit to make sure that the city is issuing it properly. The applicant or the appellant could, if they wanted to, seek jurisdiction at the board of appeals now, but it would be up to the board of appeals whether or not they grant that jurisdiction and then hear the appeal. Supervisor stefani was there also notice on the building itself . Theres always a poster placed on the property itself for the 30day period. Its an 11by17 poster. Its usually bright orange, and it has the same information the mailed has. Supervisor stefani when did that go out . Same period as the mailed notice, so june 14 to july 14, 2017. Supervisor stefani that concludes my questioning at this point. President yee okay. Supervisor peskin . Supervisor peskin and i just wanted to apologize for confusing the 311 notice at 150 feet with the c. U. And tentative map notice at 300 feet. I believe that one of the speakers who lives on the 22 2100 block of green street, i just checked on the map is outside of that 150foot radius and therefore would not have gotten that, so i dont know where the appellant lives, but if they are on that same block of green street, would not have gotten a notice, so its not that it wasnt mailed as represented i mean, the Planning Department<\/a> representative represented that the notice was timely mailed, but the appellants are outside of that radius. President yee okay. So seeing no other names on the roster from my colleagues at this time, id like to invite members of the public who wish to speak in opposition of the appeal to please come forward. Youll have two minutes. Thank you. Im david stone, 2100 green street. Yeah, besides the questionable notice situation here, i just want to say a few things. This project exceeds the height limit president yee sir, sir, so if you are supporting the appeal or against the project, that opportunity had already passed to speak. Well, what are you asking for now . President yee so these are speakers that are basically speak in opposition of the appeal. In other words, youre for the project. Oh, okay. We get another chance to say a few words . President yee no. Let me just say, you guys are ruining union street. President yee okay. Any other comments . Seeing none, Public Comment<\/a> is now closed. [gavel]. President yee okay. I think we are where i didnt give the project sponsor a chance to speak yet, so can you please come up . You have ten minutes. Im sorry. You have to speak into the mic. My name is barbara hurzig. Im here on behalf of the project sponsor. I really dont have much to add. Ive sent all of you a letter explaining the legal position. Notice proper notices were given at the proper time. The grounds for the appeal are not matters related to the tentative map approval. San francisco has an unusual subdivision mapping process because you cannot file for a subdivision application until you actually have permission from the Planning Department<\/a> that you can go ahead with the project from a planning standpoint, so really, the only issue that is left for discussion at the tentative map approval level has to do with whether or not the subdivision itself is consistent with the general and specific plans. And that finding was already made. Theres been no opposition from the appellants that the findings of compliance from these plans was erroneous. Thats the only consideration today. By the way, the height limit has not been changed at all. The front of the building is a historic facade. It has not been touched. I was over today, i have a photo if anyone would like to see it. The height of the facade is exactly the same. All of the development because this is on a grade, all of the development you can see from the street. So none of the neighbors that are here today will be affected by the development themselves unless theyre objecting to the addition of additional dwelling units that are legally permitted, then i dont think thats a real valid ground for appeal. Obviously, housing and the addition of housing in San Francisco<\/a> is a critical issue at this time. So im happy to take any questions you may have, but i see no grounds for supporting t the appeal. President yee okay. I dont see any questions. Then lastly, id like to invite the appellant or their representatives to present a rebuttal argument. You have up to three minutes. Thanks very much. I think you heard the crux of the issue with us is that the people on green street who are very close to this property feel that we should have been notified of the original permit. Im sorry that we were not aware of that and would have appealed that. They are in effect changing the height of that building with a roof deck at the original line, and then theyre adding a large deck for people to live on, to be present, with two eightfoot high stairwells that is adding an additional level of living to the existing building. I find it hard to believe were not in the 150 foot of that property line, if you go from the back of our property to the front of that property or other properties on our street are not closer. We have a neighbor three doors down that has a property that extends very close to union street. What at a minimum id like is it to be reexamined, go back in the process and appeal the original permits. We have absolutely no problem with the number of dwellings there. Its the height of the dwelling which will change the character of union street and set a precedent for additional buildings to add another level above the 40foot mark. Thats all i have to say. Are there any questions . President yee okay. Thank you. Okay. Then this this public hearing, item number 46, has been held and is now filed. [gavel]. President yee okay. We will now reconvene as the board of supervisors. Colleagues, we now have items 47, 48, and 49 before us. Supervisor stefani, you do have any final remarks . Supervisor stefani thank you, president yee. I want to start by saying when i moved into the cow hollow neighborhood 18 years ago, i immediately joined the cow hollow neighborhood association, was on the housing committee, was an activist. These are things that i went to the Planning Commission<\/a> about, and i really feel its unfortunate that its gone this far and you havent been heard. And for that, im really sorry. For that, dr. Zagoria and peggy zagoria for coming out, and those who have, as well. I have reached out to some of my colleagues to see if we can fix some of the noticing issues so that neighbors do not receive a notice for the map change neighbors receive a notice for the map change and not for the project itself. We have to act on the merits of this actual appeal and the tentative map. With that said as we heard from public works and the Planning Department<\/a>, the appeal before us today im not saying that the concerns arent valid at all, but the appeal before us on the tentative map approval does not rise to the standards to disapprove of the determination made by the public works on the map itself, and again. Im not saying that your concerns arent valid in a way, but what we have before us, were not able to act on it in that way. So in this case, i do believe the proper course of action would have been to appeal the permit rather than the tentative map, and i will be looking into consolidating those noticing requirements. So with that, president yee, i would like to make a motion to move item 47 forward and to table items 48 and 49. President yee okay. Is there a second . Supervisor peskin . Can we take these items same house same call . Without objection, item 47 is approved and items 48 and 49 are tabled. [gavel]. President yee colleagues, the tentative map is finally approved. Okay. Madam clerk, can you go to our next 3 00, item 50 and 51 . Clerk item 50 is the public hearing to consider item 51 which is the resolution to establish the property based Improvement District<\/a> known as the Downtown Community<\/a> benefit district to order the levy and collection of assessments against property located in that district for 15 years commencing with fiscal year 2019 through 2020 subject to conditions as specified and to affirm the ceqa determination. President yee okay. We are now sitting as a committee of the whole again. Colleagues, the purpose of this hearing is to take testimony on the opposed levy of assessments of the propertybased Improvement District<\/a> named the Downtown Community<\/a> business Improvement District<\/a> pursuant to the resolution of intention we adopted on may 14, 2019. As described in the management district plan, the proposed district would be approximately 669 parcels. Details of the covered area are on are in the file. At the conclusion of the public hearing, the department of public elections will tabulate the votes and report to the board of supervisors. Voters can review the tabulation in the basement of city hall, room 59. The board of supervisors will neither levy assessments nora prove status of the districts without approval. We will first here from all in support of the assessment district. They will have two minutes, then, we will hear from all speakers in opposition to the assessment district. Each speaker will have two minutes. During the hearing, a Property Owner<\/a> who has not voted yet or who wishes to change their vote may speak with Election Department<\/a> staff. After the hearing closes, the ballots will be counted. Before i begin, i think i have supervisor peskin, would you like to make some remarks . Supervisor peskin thank you, president yee. Im going to reiterate the words that i said last week when we had the union square v. I. P. Renewal, which is to thank mr. Corgis, but also to thank individuals in the community who are willing to improve the safety and betterment of our downtown area. Thank you for your efforts. I hope there is a majority support for this and we will see that later today. This is democracy in action, so thank you one and all. President yee did you want to invite staff from oewd . Would you like to present . Thank you, president yee, board of supervisors. Chris corgis, office of economic and workforce development. As stated, this is the formation of the Downtown Community<\/a> benefit district. This process started back in 2007. Id like to thank everyone who worked on this, particularly lee hefner and sonny angulo. Also would like to thank marco lemandry of new city america. I would like to thank the staff of oewd, the Clerks Office<\/a> and the department of elections and city attorney. Marco from new city america will present on this new c. B. D. And its assessment rate. Thank you, mr. Corgis, and thank you for the kind words, supervisor peskin. So as supervisor peskin mentioned, we started this effort in 2007, and we had the recession in 2008 which really put a quick stop to our efforts to form at that time what was the financial benefits Community Benefit<\/a> district. The effort picked up in 2015 when a lot of downtown and property Jackson Square<\/a> owners needed more services than what the city was providing. So we gradually developed a great strong steering committee. So the why establish the c. B. D. In downtown . This is probably the longest attempt at a c. B. D. In the history of the city, but the need is great because this is one of the most significant districts if not in the city of San Francisco<\/a>, on the west coast. The architecture, the history of the financial district in Jackson Square<\/a> is uncomparable, really, anywhere, and we thought that it was deserving of the special benefits that would be funded by this benefit district. The purpose of the district would be to Fund Marketing<\/a> promotion for the area, providing daily maintenance and Janitorial Services<\/a> in the public rights of way, responding to homelessness and vagrants in the community, restoring the historic nature of the district to remain competitive with new and massive projects south of market, retaining staff to oversee the new services, ensure that the most efficient and effective practices are being implemented. The timeline, as i stated, in 2007, and it culminated with our mission in 2018 and ended in the early part of 2019. You can see before you the map of the district. In many ways, it reflects the districts that are currently in existence to the south, which is east cut to the west, which is union square, and to the north, which is the small top of broadway district. On the upper corner to the left, those parcels were included or were considered chinatown, and we wanted to ensure that chinatown would decide its own fate and not be included within the downtown c. B. D. The budget has brokendown where theres approximately 3 million or almost 77 of the budget is what we consider to be sidewalks. Ironically, the oldest Business District<\/a> in the city of San Francisco<\/a>, which is the Business District<\/a> on jackson, does not have an active website, and its something we plan to deal with, to. The assessment formula is one of the most simple in the city. Its a flat fee on building square footage. Its 10 cents per square foot. It has two benefit zones. One benefit zone is for unimproved areas, empty lots, and theyre set at 8 cents per square foot, and then, Everything Else<\/a> because its basically built out, and theres not a lot of room for additional height in the financial district and Jackson Square<\/a> because of how many historic buildings. Those are all set at 10 cents per square foot. And 77 of the budget are related to sidewalks. When people are talking down the sidewalk, most people dont walk down the middle of the street. The city takes care of the street, and people take care of the sidewalk. We want to make the sidewalks dynamic, clean, orderly, and make sure that people work within the area, live within the area as well as Property Owner<\/a>s, Business Owners<\/a>, and visitors have a pleasant experience in those public rights of way. The district will provide the special benefits on a daytoday basis provided by the Nonprofit Corporation<\/a> made up of profit owners and Business Owners<\/a> in the proposed district. Itll probably be a very large governing board as anticipated because we add 30 to 40 people participating in an ongoing basis in our district steering committee. How about the services be provided in the first task is cleaning beautification and maintaining order in the rightofway. Some of the most beautiful streets of the city are to be found in Jackson Square<\/a>. We hope to be underway by 2020. So thats the presentation. Its long in coming, about 12 years in the making, and i think youll see substantial support from all the Property Owner<\/a>s who have returned their ballots to improve this great Community Benefit<\/a> district. Thank you. President yee thank you. Okay. We will now open public testimony. If youre here to in support of the assessment district, please come up. You have two minutes. Hello. My name is frank collins. Im here representing clint mark landmark properties. This has been a long time coming, as marco said, but nothing worth doing comes easy. We urge you to support the formation of this district. This is both an opportunity and responsibility of all the Business Owners<\/a> in the district, and were very excited to get going. Thank you very much. Supervisor rodney fong with the San Francisco<\/a> chamber of commerce. I seek your support here. You see this graed crowd before me. Had the pleasure of forming the Fishermans Wharf<\/a> Community Benefit<\/a> district ten years ago, and that was hugely successful. People speak about clean and safe, but the truth is c. B. D. S build community, c. B. D. S build support, and i urge you to support. Thank you. Good afternoon. My names glen good. I live at 4400 hate 19 stre19. Im also representing 1 bush street, which is owned by the tischman spire in this district. Were in support of this. Thank you for the opportunity to speak. President yee thank you. Next speaker. Good afternoon. My name is shayna eskew. I manage two of the buildings in the district. I just want to urge my support and hope that you will adopt this. Thank you. Thank you. My names christie robela. I represent cbre, and i manage a property, and i just wanted to urge my support, as well. My name is crissy harris, and i am a property manager in the area, and i just wanted to also register my support for the downtown c. B. D. Thank you. Hi. My names marty smith, and im one of the owners of all house real estate, which is a Real Estate Company<\/a> managing properties in downtown. Several of our buildings are in current Improvement District<\/a>s, and the difference between having one and not having one is dramatic for tenants, for Property Owner<\/a>s, and for the safety of the people walking those streets, so were in full support of the downtown Improvement District<\/a>s. Thanks. President yee next speaker. Good afternoon, supervisors. Deedee workman with the San Francisco<\/a> chamber of commerce. Really delighted that this is coming before you today. I want to thank supervisor peskin and his staff for ushering this after all these years through to you. We know that c. B. D. S are a very successful approach to keeping neighborhoods thriving. The Downtown Core<\/a> is no different than any other San Francisco<\/a> neighborhood and needs this additional help to stay clean and to be a thriving, attractive neighborhood that appeals to our businesses, to our residents, to our employees, to our visitors. This particular c. B. D. Will fill the gap in terms of where other c. B. D. S exist and the services there. So were glad this is coming there, and we urge you to support it. Thank you. President yee next speaker. Good afternoon. My names diana rosenblatt. I manage 515 california, 533, and 535, an entire city block. We look forward to the support moving forward. Thank you very much. President yee thank you. Next speaker. Hello, supervisors. My name is jay cheng from the chamber of commerce. Im here to register my support for the c. B. D. It is a tenyearplus project that has been given a lot of attention by supervisor peskin and oewd on this issue. C. B. D. S are a great examples of individuals coming together to build community, strengthening neighborhoods, and take responsibility for the city around us, so thank you. President yee next speaker. Good afternoon, supervisors. My name is lynn fazeroli, i am from the San Francisco<\/a> Sales Organization<\/a>. We are the travel and Sales Organization<\/a> throughout the city. This has been a long time coming. The c. B. D. Will provide services for our visitors and residents alike. It will provide safety and berment of the community. Some of the key services betterment of the community. Some of the key services are graffiti abatement and traffic control. And this will make for a better San Francisco<\/a>, and for that reason, we support the creation of the Downtown Community<\/a> benefits district. President yee thank you. Next speaker. Good afternoon, supervisors. My name is david fewette. On behalf of the sway company, we would like to support this. Thank you. President yee thank you. Next speaker. My name is jackie robinson. Im with madison marquette, and i fully support the downtown c. B. D. Good afternoon, supervisors. My name is david harrison. Im a long time San Francisco<\/a> resident, long time San Francisco<\/a> Business Owner<\/a> and Property Owner<\/a>, and ive had the pleasure of serving on the board of directors of three different Community Benefit<\/a> districts Fishermans Wharf<\/a>, civic center, and the Community Benefit<\/a> district. I know these things work, and i wont go on, but i strongly urge that you support it. President yee thank you. Thank you. President yee next speaker. Example here of this section of San Francisco<\/a> where Property Owner<\/a>s and tenants get together and willing to tax themselves in order to keep their neighborhoods clean. If you used their type of philosophies in the area thats not clean, where you have to go out and pay employees that work for the department of public works 184,000 a year and their name is the poop squad cleanup detail, its a big difference. But yet, were still located in the same jurisdiction as far as the city and county of San Francisco<\/a> is concerned. The most you want to do is cleanup behind the people that are not wanting to use their own rest room because youre not providing them rest room. Each and every one of these tenants and supporters have their own residents in which they live, and theyre willing to tax themselves cleaner than what their neighborhoods already are. The tenderloin, other areas of the city, areas around city hall are nowhere as near as clean as their area before they even start taxing themselves to cleanup their own god damn area. Its disgusting. Youve got a supervisor thats arguing over plastic bags. You want to charge 25 cents more when you go to the store and get a bag. You spend more time on a god damn plastic bag than providing permanent housing for people that are out on the streets. Youve got people that are recovering from the ethnic cleansing. I dont appreciate you talking like that, brown. Im talking about you. President yee okay. Seei seeing no other persons, are there any other comments in support of the Community Benefit<\/a> district . Okay. Seeing none, Public Comment<\/a> is now closed. [gavel]. President yee okay, colleagues, do we have any other comments on this . Okay. Seeing none, the hearing is now filed. The department of elections will count the ballots cast and will return with the final tabulation later in the meeting and come back to item number 51. Madam clerk, please call items 52 and 53. Clerk items 52 and 53 require the board of supervisors to convene as a special committee of the whole. Item 52 ais a hearing to consider item 53 which is a hearing to review and expand the Community Benefit<\/a> district known as the civic center Community Benefit<\/a> district, collecting taxes levied in that district for is a years. President yee colleagues, the purpose of this hearing is to take taxes of the proposed district named the civic center Community Business<\/a> Improvement District<\/a>. Pursuant to the board of supervisors resolution of intention we adopted on may 21, 2019. As described in the management district plan, the proposed district would be approximately 771 parcels. Details of the covered area are in the file. At the conclusion of the public hearing, the department of elections will tabulate the ballots and report to the board of supervisors. Members of the public may view the ballot tabulation by the department of elections on the basement level of city hall in room 59. The board of supervisors will neither levy the assessments nor approve the establishment of the district if there is a majority protest. If public testimony the public testimony will be as follows. We will first hear from all speakers in support of the assessment district, then we will hear from all speakers in opposition of the assessment districts. During the hearing, a Property Owner<\/a> who has not voted yet or who wishes to change their vote may speak with the department of elections staff. They are just outside the Board Chamber<\/a> and will provide you with affidavit and ballot. After hearing closes, the ballots will be counted. Before we begin, supervisor haney or brown, would you like to make any opening remarks . Supervisor haney . Supervisor haney sure. Thank you, president yee. Just very briefly. Im very strongly in support of this. I want to thank you, chris, for your work as well as the staff at c. B. D. I think theres great things that are happening at civic center and many positive things that you have been helping to lead. I think this plan and you are going to take us in the right direction, and also public activation. I also want to realize that there were some issues that we worked on very closely, and we are working to resolve some of those issues, as well, and i hope that these are improved, and we can continue to work together. President yee supervisor brown, do you have any comments . Okay. Then chris from oewd. Thank you, president yee, oewd. I promise this is the last time youll hear of a c. B. D. Election for a few months. This is the renewal and expansion of the civic center Community Benefit<\/a> district. There will be an amendment to this item after the votes are counted in line of procedure which will remove two buildings or 51 parcels from the northernmost section of the district. Now, tracey everline from the civic center c. B. D. Is here to present on the renewal and expansion of the c. B. D. Good afternoon, supervisors. Tracey everline, executive director for the civic center c. B. D. , and im very honored to be representing our field personnel who helped take care of the district we sit in today day in and day out. Our administrative staff, who have gone above and beyond in their jobs this past year, making civic center a better place for everyone in it, and weve also increased the capacity for our organizations so we can do more for the community. Id like to thank the board members, all members of the community who volunteer their time, and especially our district members who want to be part of solutions and the power of working together. This has reminded everyone what an Important Role<\/a> that civic center c. B. D. Plays. It should be the example of what a safe and healthy neighborhood looks like. So before you is our proposed district map. The district includes 771 parcels. Notable things are that we are going from two from three zones to two, and have a slightly eastern expansion to include u. N. Plaza which is currently without a c. B. D. We have a 3. 2 million proposed budget, with 1. 6 million to be spent in zone 1, 1. 7 million to be spent in zone two, and as you can see, 77 of the budget is spent towards cleaning services of safety, cleaning, and activation. As snapshot of our services, cleaning, safety, maintenance, Public Health<\/a> and safety, with a lot of issues that remain on our sidewalks, and they are the responsibility of the Property Owner<\/a>s. We are removing a lot of graffiti every day on notsoeasy to clean surfaces. We are still struggling with discarded syringes and human and animal feces in our rightofway, but our Pilot Project<\/a> is very successful, so we will be adding more of these in the years to come. Couple of more current statistics. Were currently only able to appreciate wash 46,000 square feet of sidewalk. If successfully renewed, we will go over to 300,000 square feet. We are still collecting 100,000 needles a year, and we hope that will go down. We are providing playground monitors for safety in the civic center plaza, and we make sure that all the rental income from that facility is reinvested in civic center plaza. The people are feeling much better about coming to civic center. [please stand by] we stand to benefit the most from this partnership. I fully support this item and i hope that you do, as well. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker. Good afternoon, supervisors. My name is miles gordon. I am here to voice support for this measure. I represent the ownership of 1355 Market Street<\/a> and support the civic centre c. B. D. Our building houses approximately 2,500 employees in addition to 300 visitors per day we greatly benefit from the cleaning and safety ambassador Services Provided<\/a> by the c. B. D. We want the services to continue and appreciate the value of the c. B. D. To the neighborhood. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker. Good afternoon, supervisors. I am with emerald fund. We are the developer and Property Owner<\/a>s are and property manager and owner of three different buildings. It comprises 1,000 apartments which totals close to 2,000 residents. We are huge supporters of the c. B. D. The positive changes that the c. B. D. Has brought over the last nine years have been great. We cant imagine operating without the c. B. D. And we would like to express our huge support for it. Thank you. Next speaker. I work for i work with properties that are in the civic centre c. B. D. I have been involved with that c. B. D. Since its inception and i feel that we have learned a lot and we are really looking forward to renewing it. Therefore i support the renewal. Thank you. Next speaker. Hello, my name isut","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"archive.org","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","width":"800","height":"600","url":"\/\/ia601005.us.archive.org\/22\/items\/SFGTV_20190716_220000_Government_Access_Programming\/SFGTV_20190716_220000_Government_Access_Programming.thumbs\/SFGTV_20190716_220000_Government_Access_Programming_000001.jpg"}},"autauthor":{"@type":"Organization"},"author":{"sameAs":"archive.org","name":"archive.org"}}],"coverageEndTime":"20240716T12:35:10+00:00"}