The department of Public Health, its not quite like a restaurant, right . The potential impact could be potentially much more serious, depending on the use that it is. And so if i understand correctly, the discomfort is more about our process in reviewing the environmental consequences of permitting this and whether we have reviewed everything and we know that its okay. My only concern we dont have the expertise to understand whether a particular hood would work in a particular situation. We have to rely on the expertise of the other agencies for that, right . So i dont know its typically not a level of detail we would get into at this level of entitlement. But thats the challenge im suggesting. Thats why fairly routine for us to have, within a categorical exemption, rely on existing codes and policies, existing code language that invites and requires other agencies to be involved and their codes would kick in. I think we are getting into that level of the entitlement phase of a project. Did you want to add something . Yeah. Considering theres a Building Permit thats going to be attached to every tenant, we are happy to agree to a condition of approval that as part of the Building Permit review process, the department of Public Health reviews each tenant and makes sure they have all the necessary local, state and federal authorizations before a certificate of occupancy is issued for that tenant. I think that would go to addressing the concerns. Commissioner koppel. Sounds like a really Good Condition to add. With that, ill make a motion to approve with that condition. We have a motion to approve that you seconded. Happy to amend it. Very good. You need a second . There is a second. Ill second it if we dont. Not sure where we are in the process. [laughter] not sure if there was more deliberation. Seconded with that condition attached to it. Thank you. Seeing no further discussion, theres a motion that has been seconded to approve this matter with conditions as amended to include that the department of Public Health review all Building Permit applications for local, state and federal regulations prior to issuing a certificate of occupancy. On that motion wasnt that condition for each tenant . Yes. I want to make sure thats clear. With that, aye. [roll call vote] so moved. That motion passes 42 with fung and moore voting against. That will pace place us on item 14 for case 2019004451cua, 2075 Mission Street. This is a conditional use authorization. Please note on july 25, 2019 after hearing and closing Public Comment you continued this matter to october 17 and on october without hearing you continued it to todays date. Commissioners, on july 25, commissioner richards you were absent and commissioner diamond, you had not yet been seated so you both need to acknowledge you have reviewed the previous hearing and materials. I have. I have. Thank you. Good afternoon, president melgar and members of the Planning Commission. Department staff. Before you is a request for conditional use authorization pursuant to sections 202. 2, 303 and 754 to establish a Cannabis Retail use measuring 3,590 square feet on the first and mezzanine levels of an existing three story building. It is located at 2075 Mission Street. The alcoholic beverage special use district and bulk districts. The upper floors are occupied with subject tenant space last occupied by a Cosmetology School which vacated prior to this application. The project includes improvements. The existing sign will be preferred with a new face. The applicant is a qualified equity applicant who previously operated a medical cannabis dispensary prior to being shut down during the federal crackdown in the early 2000s. He prepared a presentation. In terms of sensitive uses, there were no schools or other Cannabis Retailers found within 600 feet of the proposed location. The primary potential sensitive use identified were listed in the executive summary of the project. As such, the project was found to meet the 600foot rule. The project included an request for authorization of onsite consumption. The floor plans include a consumption lounge. Department staff requested on the cases that have come before the Planning Commission to develop criteria for when the department may recommend allowing or disallowing onsite consumption. Whether similar onsite consumption uses are allowed in similar businesses. Controls have been added within the district to limit uses in the corridor. The second question was whether there are public spaces that could be impacted by smoking that may otherwise occur onsite. Theres a small park sid zone around the block from the site and the plazas one block north of the site. But there were no spaces immediately adjacent to the project site. The final criteria is Community Feedback on the subject. At the initial hearing for the project, we received opposition to the request for onsite consumption from some key neighborhood groups. Those groups have issued a recently issued a new letter of support for the application, and i believe they are silent on that issue. However, given the existing zoning controls for the district and the policy that the department has set for onsite consumption, the department continues to recommend a conditional of approval to disallow onsite consumption which would require plans to be revised prior to approval. In terms of Public Comment, prior to the initial hearing, the department received one letter of support of the application and none in opposition. Since the original publication, the department received 87 additional letters of support and one letter in opposition. Letters in support express support for the business, confidence in his ability to manage a business based on his Prior Experience managing a cannabis out let within the same district and strong support for authorization of a consumption lounge as part of the request. The letter of opposition was received which is opening a new School Campus at 18th street. The letter expressed concern the compatibility of the proposed use with the opening of the elementary School Campus and concerned the school is not shown on the Cannabis Retail map which the department makes available to the public for information. School is not yet in operation but it will be added once the School Begins operation. However staff also did verify that the distance between the proposed School Campus and proposed retail location is 763 feet, which follows the 600foot rule. This application has been continued twice to allow additional time for discussion with neighborhood groups, specifically united to save the mission. The applicant did reach an agreement for a memorandum of understanding with u. S. M. This week. I believe you were just provided a letter to that regard. U. S. M. Indicated to staff it is in support of the authorization to specific members of indicated concern with onsite consumption. Planning code 303w directs the Planning Commission to consider the geographic distribution of Cannabis Retail uses within the city. The city controls office is including a report including an analysis of this geographic distribution. The department recognizes that most Cannabis Retail uses are already located on the eastern neighborhoods including the mission. It is not prescriptive on how the commission should consider the uses in the city. But when it comes into an overconcentrated district that directs applicants to conduct extentive Community Outreach and expects Community Support as a precursor to the project. The applicant has a prior history of operation within the Mission District and a finalized m. O. U. With united to save the mission. While the Department Remains concern, our pipeline remains focused on the eastern neighborhoods, at issue is a lack of applications being received on the west side and lack of commercially zoned properties in comparison to eastern neighborhoods. Given this applicant has neighborhood support, staff finds the project consistent with this finding. As the use activates the vacant storefront, complies with the general planning code requirements for Cannabis Retail, supports the citys equity cannabis programming and provides Economic Opportunity for those in the district, the Department Recommends approval of the application. Thank you. Thank you. We will now hear from the project sponsor. Again, this is the second hearing. You are limited to three minutes. Public commenters, you are limited to one. Okay. I thought we had ten minutes because we werent heard. You were heard. We didnt present the case. We just requested a continuance because we were working with u. S. M. Yeah. I think thats right. We didnt hear it. All right. You want to give him ten, five . Well give him ten. I think well not well probably only get five, ten minutes. I think you have overwhelming support, which is great. But we dont necessarily need 50 people. Thank you. [off mic] good evening, president melgar, commissioners. My name is brendan. Im the attorney, i represent mr. Hunt and the united Union Station project. I asked if i could provide him introduction tonight for personal and professional reasons. I first met mr. Hunt around 2006 when i began practicing law in the cannabis regulatory space. My father who was a staunch advocate for cannabis and drug law reform. At that time it was compassionate use providers and also served medical patients and the compassionate act. I see commissioners tonight that i remember from that first era of or that first wave of cannabis applications for businesses. A medical cannabis collective operated successfully for years before the Justice Department crackdown of 2011. His landlord was threatened. Although we fought hard to save the business, the power of the federal government proved too great and the business was forced to abruptly close, taking with it the jobs, the Community Support, the legacy and mr. Hunts life work. Since that time, mr. Hunt and i have remained good friends and stayed in touch. He opened a Small Business, a gym and ran that successfully for years. All the while continuing to look for the opportunity to reopen a retail store and continue working in the field that hes most passionate about, which is cannabis. Fortunately, prop 54 passed in california and the city of San Francisco adopted an ordinance which allowed him the opportunity to get back to pursuing his lifes dream. Mr. Hunt is an experienced Cannabis Retailer. He understands the neighborhood issues and dynamics and the importance of building positive relationships with his employees, workers and the community as evidenced by his approach to this project. Working with the u. S. M. Diligently to agree to enter into an m. O. U. And also enter into a labor Peace Agreement with local 665, the teamsters. Mr. Hunt has run a Small Business before and im confident this project under his leadership will succeed and will be a positive benefit to the Mission Street commercial corridor and Mission District community as a whole. He is now going to present the details of the project. Good afternoon, commissioners. My name is joseph hunt. Let me first thank all those who came in support of me and this project. Many of them are behind me here, a Gorgeous Group of san franciscans. I would also like to acknowledge everybody who developed the program. We feel extremely blessed to have this opportunity. Since our last hearing, we continued to give our group more time to meet with the community and particularly united to save the mission. We have made some great progress. We have hosted four open houses, and we are pleased with the turnout and all the positive feedback we have received. All the Community Support we have been receiving has really given our group a tremendous amount of strength and taught our group so much. Our negotiations with united to save the mission have been very productive and we have signed an m. O. U. And also been attending San Francisco equity Group Meetings weekly. Working alongside rudy, shawn, john, mitchell, kim, shelly and glen has been one of the ultimate blessings in education and awareness this project has received. This Equity Program was created to help those who are most negatively affected by the war on drugs. I understand and all of us at Union Station understand that we are very fortunate to have gotten this far in this process of permitting our equity project. We have a number of qualified equity applicants in this project and look forward to giving preference to those hiring those who are equity qualified. My staff and i previously operated a dispensary on valencia street and hope to serve the same demographic we served from 2005 to 2011. When designing and overseeing a cannabis business, security is very important. A top priority will be the safety of the customers, patients, vendors, employees, our neighbors and members of the local community as well as our relationship with law enforcement. There will be a zero tolerance policy for any consumption anywhere outside or any of the vicinity of the dispensary. And thats very important to us. Our proposed consumption lounge will be an asset to the neighborhood, providing a safe and discreet place to legally consume cannabis. The ventilation systems, our room will filter and remove all smoke and keep the upstairs neighbors from unnecessary odors. Many members of our team are proud Mission District natives and have experience with community work. Contributing to our community is whats driving us and motivating us. We aim to support and sponsor organizations that are protecting the Mission District and its rich culture. So as we build our business at Union Station, we also plan to further build our relationships within our community. Our team is honored to have a chance to become an Even Stronger asset to the city of San Francisco. We plan on having a Substance Abuse cannabis education as well as providing a class twice a month at Union Station. Since Legal Cannabis is what new, we want to help educate everyone who comes into Union Station about the benefits and safety and Public Health issues regarding cannabis use. This is truly a momentous opportunity for us. The opportunity to use this plant and industry to bring people together in peace and harmony is a great opportunity for this city. We led the medical Cannabis Movement over 20 years ago, so lets again set the standard in responsible cannabis use. Thank you, commissioners. And at this time i would like to introduce our art director and head of design at Union Station. If you have any questions for him about the physical design of the place. Thank you. Thank you. Good evening, esteemed panel, commission, thank you. I appreciate everybody coming out and supporting. Once again, my name is luis. Cofounders of the art center in Mission District. And potentially i was brought in on the project, say, about a year or so ago as someone who could lead, given the space and where it is situated there in the mission as someone who can initiate and facilitate the decoration of the space with murals. Also i was took notice to i believe it was the ninth panel today, around facadism. Which was kind of interesting to kind of take note of, actually. I think it was a highlighted picture in that slide. And given the history of the building itself being union, i believe it was the Union Furniture store at one point. The facade, if you have ever taken notice of it, that it is in need of repair. And theres, being a mosaic artist, theres a glass mosaic in the front. Tiling that could use a little shoring up. Its basically just, given where, you know, here as equity stakeholders, it definitely takes sweat equity to channel or to essentially meet our goals. So a big part of just the overall upkeep and the look of the space from the facade itself to the inside and out, that will be kind of my one of my responsibilities, being a part of the group. And, yeah. Much appreciative of the opportunity to take this on. And, yeah. I mean, essentially make it a success, essentially. So, yeah. Partnering along with my other comrades and associates and as well as the architect working hand in hand with her, with rachael, i look forward to doing that. Thank you for your time. Thank you very much. We have our architect here as well if theres any questions that can be forwarded t