The second is the use are w the surrounding context and the concern over the proximity to the use of the San Francisco city academy and the adjacent religious institution at 4 450 ofarrell. And located more than 600 and project site verified and the school is an intermittent activity and does not provide k12 and is likely used while children are accompanied by guardians to the site. Additionally, the current plans for reconduction would place the sunday school on the third floor of the site raised away from the subject application. The third principle concern raised is of the tenderloin is lacking access to daily needs retail uses such as Corner Markets and that the proposed use would displace an existing market at the site while other large format markets such as trader joes and whole foods are establishing in the larger area, the loss of the Corner Market is impactful on the local population. However t project sponsor is a member of the family which has owned and operated the market for decades and indicated to staff that this is a change that was envisioned as an evolution of the business and response to a changing retail environment. I will defer to the applicant to elaborate on that further. Copies are available for staff for review and part of the request for discretionary review, the department does not find an exceptional or extraordinary circumstance with the proposed scope of the permit. The presence of black market cannabis sales necessitate support for a regulated market and in a dense, mixed use neighborhood such as the tenderloin. While the department is concerned as a market, it is not clear that the market would continue to exist if the application is denied. We recommend you not take d. R. And approve the permit as proposed. Thank you. Thank you. Do we have project sponsor . Presentation . This is a d. R. , commissioner melgar, so we should hear from the d. R. Requester first. President melgar, commissioners, my name is ella strong. I am the board president for church of christ scientist. And this site directly adjacent to the cannabis proposed cannabis dispensary. I will speak first and we also have a statement from our developer for 450 ofarrell who will bring new workforce in conjunction with providing the church and new Christian Science reading room open to the public in tenderloin community. The applicant has asked to change the use of their current site from convenience market to Cannabis Retail store. The notice we received said that the planning has determined that the site meets their rules. But if we the neighbors believe that theyre exceptional and extraordinary circumstances which exist, that we can present them at this hearing. We strongly believe that such exceptional and extraordinary circumstances do exist. In location. And in this case. Tenderloin Community District benefit on november 13 and the tenderloin has the highest crime rate in San Francisco. 90 of the population is in the fixed income. It is also overcrowded. In addition to there being 37,000 residents in just 35 square blocks, it houses an extra 6,000 Homeless Individuals making it 300 times more dense than any other area of the city. Reportedly also over 4,000 tenderloin residents are children. Homelessness, drug use, open air drug dealing are endemic. Violent crimes and property crimes and we have been experiencing both are common, persistent problems. All the conditions are exceptional and extraordinary circumstances. And in an area with such overwhelming, unhandled problem, a lack of consistent Public Services or law enforcement, in combination with especially vulnerable population, it does not make logical sense to add a recreational drug dispensary. It is contrary to the communitys needs. Secondly, there is a degradation of Community Resources. Express market has been a Neighborhood Convenience store for decades. It provides a variety of items for sale including food and drinks, daily supplies to local residents. Displacing a multiproduct store with one product, a recreational drug, will have a major impact on the residents in the area. It will eliminate yet another Community Resource and service and create hardship to those that need it most. This one product, a drug, is highly controversial and not desirable in an area awash with drugs and drugrelated problem. The Tenderloin Police has difficulties dealing with current problems. In fact, they are already spread so thin that they cant handle all the call. We know. We call them. Sometimes we receive their assistance only sometimes. The logistics of running such a business on the corner of jones would be a nightmare for us as next door neighbors. With armed guards at the entrance when deliveries are made, when cash is removed, when customers come and go with pockets full of money or pockets full of drugs, it is a recipe for disaster. Not only our church, reading room and sunday school will be impacted but also the Senior Center across the street and all businesses around. All other locations allow cannabis december penceries in the Light Industrial areas where they can easily be accessed and not create such a negative impact. 500 jones is just not the right location for this business. Please look beyond the zoning laws to the lives of tenderloin residents and that negative impact that their lives will experience. Please deny this change of use and let the applicants find a more suitable location for their business. A different, better suited location would benefit them also. In addition to 99 signature, we have 330 signatures and we will speak to that. Also, we have here principal from a nearby school that was referred to. That location 302 eddie street from k8 children is just a few more feet than 600. Thank you, maam. Your time is thank you, maam. Your time is up, but you will have a two minute rebuttal. Do we have any Public Comment in support of the d. R. Requester . If you want to support the d. R. Requester, come on up. If you are here in support of the project sponsor, you will get a chance to speak later. The project sponsor is the person who is asking a correct. Are you in support of the d. R. Requester . Yes. I am reading a statement on behalf of the Forge Development partners who are building 300 units of Work Force Housing on the adjacent site also. What they would like to convey is to add their voice to the concerns about the bringing of the facility to the area that already has the problems outlined by ms. Strong. Forges main question is how can we be sure and what i an insurance can we receive that the laws around such a facility will be maintained and enforced . An any other Public Comment support of the d. R. Requester . I am the assistant administrator at San Francisco academy and are a k12 school and we have not been accredited at this point, but the process is started earlier this year. I am not against dispensaries but how close it is to our 100 students and 302 eddie has 18 kindergarten students in it currently. And we have children all around who are walking back and forth between the park and their classroom at 230 jones and there are a number of children who are in the area with some frequency quite often. We just have concern in regard to the location and number of children that we have around there as well. That is our concern. Thank you very much. Any other Public Comment in support of the d. R. Requester . Okay. My name is michael nolte, a Community Organizer and i am in both positions, because i am neutral, but i have reached out to many aspects of the community to be here today to bring the voices to the meeting. So the green page talks about that report in 213 and the tenderloin has 57. That is a loss of 14 Corner Stores that already exists. The pink paper will talk about we are not sure if this will maintain the cigarette sales and are they doing and just eliminating boat or going to be well, i dont know that. And then other concerns to surrender the licenses and the Community Quality of life is improving the area and another is the high injury corridor and the other concern is people who are hurt on jones street as the cars go quickly down the street and the other is that the residing in subsidized housing and h. U. D. , the land lord can evict for Illegal Drugs which includes medical marijuana. There is a lot of development that received a subsidy, so they cannot purchase from this dispensary without being evicted. Thank you. Next speaker please. Good evening. I we sent an email request 377 and i am not sure if it was received or not. I am sorry about that and we have 377 opposing it. And basically like the voice of the moms and the children and obviously everyone here is an adult and they can talk about hems. And they cant talk about children and youth which is our role as a moms and in community and the tenderloin is different and has the amen is the and groceries amenities and Grocery Stores. We dont need Liquor Stores and i work in tenderloin. We have more than 4,000 children in the area. Most of the families are very really hardworking families with a lot of kids. And it is like too much for them with the cannabis in the area. And i am sorry to say i got this study about the unintentional marijuana exposure to children in colorado after the marijuana was legalized and tremendous exposure to e. R. Visits and unintentional exposure to marijuana and this led to something other than vomiting and all this and one case had a problem that resulted in death. So this is that a large portion will be the product that is attractive to children and are concerned that this will con consumer marijuana and safer the same effects. A hinext speaker. I work with tenderloin housing and i am concerned that the store will have a negative impact on the community to encourage drug use in an area with an especially Large Youth Population compared to other area of the city and also an area where the issue of drug use poses a major problem. Our efforts tell others of other parts of the city such as chinatown and the sunset where permits have been denied or entirely outlawed. The children that i work with regularly find themselves in the presence of open air drug use and going to school or walking in the neighborhoods and many dont feel safe and even in large groups with adult supervision. When new businesses are introduced, they should not be ones that will make a Community Issue already known even worse. Next speaker. I lived and worked in the tenderloin for 12 years and work with a nonprofit in the 300 block of ellis. I dont want to take the time to repeat what everyone said. I want to express my opposition and i dont think we need a cannabis december pencery in the tenderloin dispensary and there is enough on the edges that people with use and urban farm and different ones on the edges of the tenderloin. I want to express opposition we dont need another Cannabis Store in the tenderloin. Thank you. Next speaker. Good evening. I live in the tenderloin and opposed to another Cannabis Store coming from me raising three children and i am also a Youth Coordinator and i have seen kids that grow from watch them fwrou from year old to 15 and we miss them after that going to starting with using marijuana and using drugs and sell drugs and going to the the juvenile home and going through this route and having another Cannabis Store that is legal to raise more problem and to legalize and be in the store doesnt mean that will lose illegal sales on the street. That is cheaper. It is not the solution. The solution is to see the drug dealers and that business is not going to go away by adding more cannabis or legalize. And the store over there is more valuable to our community as it is as a grocery and convenience for everyone to buy milk or buy bread. And repeated again that we are a community of lot of families and with kids. And so that is my comment. And i still oppose 100 of this. Thanks. Thank you. Any other Public Comment in support of the d. R. Requester . Okay. We will now hear from the project sponsor. President melgar and members of the planning commission, i am teaming up with the equity applicant for the proposed project on 50 o jones. And a little background on myself is in order. My father hash running the store since the late 1970s shortly after he came to america. He worked 14, 15, sometimes 16 hours a day to afford my sister and i a better life. Our neighbors know me by name and are quick to say how much i look like my dad. Due to my fathers hard work, i was the first person in nigh family to graduate college, u. C. Davis, class of 2006. And the project has something has been something that we are very passionate about. The good that the Marijuana Dispensary can do far exceeds that of a liquor store. To date they have a dispensary to call their own and the tax rate far exceeds anything i will be playing and i have linked up with the antihomeless campaign with the mural project and hope to combat homelessness and i have the physical hard copies to reference and emailed them to mr. Christianson. And all i can say is that i have called, emailed, sent out Community Letters and i still to this day have not received any single attempt of communication via any medium. No one from the church reached out email, text, or phone to receive any information given at the meeting. A copy of the community leter is also here in the hard copy as well as the signin sheet. I spoke with a representative of the church on september 16, 2019 at 4 30 p. M. For roughly 20 minutes and the only response i got during that conversation is lets see how the d. R. Plays out. Should you i a prove this corner project, we will have 24 hour Video Surveillance monitoring as well as flood lighting that will illuminate both corners of the store, a Security Guard unharmed will be placed outside to check i. D. S and maintain the surrounding area. A p. O. S. System that links the customers toid the purchase will also be placed to eliminate underage use and as well as comply with state mandated metric laws and daily limits. Despite the references about potential on site consumption, we did not apply for a permit and i will never do that out of respect for my neighbors. Thank you for your time. Good evening, members of the commission. I was going to say afternoon, but we have gone a little far. I am justin gray, born and raised native of the city. I am the cannabis equity applicant for infinty wellness. First i would like to say that i believe this is our last hurdle to overcome to pursue a dream. Cannabis until recently has been seen in a negative light, but we believe wholeheartedly this is a medicine with many uses and we would like to educate the community about them. There will be no onsite consumption and we will brighten the neighborhood with lighting and provide 24hour video monitoring. And we want to give the neighbors an affordable accessible medicine as well as give back to the community, the community we all know can use improvement. And the last two years have been a roller coaster ride but we have followed the citys rules to the letter and are ready to cross that line. In closing, i would like to thank the commission for their time and consideration, the people that showed up to support us and the surrounding people and businesses that have written letters of recommendation. Again, there will over in be any onsite consumption. Thank you for your time. You still have 57 more seconds. So okay. That is fine. And we will now take any Public Comment in support of the project sponsor. If you are here to support the project sponsor, come on up. Hello, commissioners. I am amos and i am the founder and director of the veterans alley mural project incorporated. Organizations created in 2011 buy myself and a fellow veteran who was unhoused at the time. The project was created to allow veterans to paint the stories of the murals on the wall running geary to ofarrell and our project is half a block away from the dispensary and as a reference 25 feet from the church. Our work focuses on providing the therapeutic outlets that those in the military and past have experienced trauma and some of the most vulnerable residents. Over the years we have grown the organization to become a valuable resource for much of the entire community both housed, unhosed, veteran and nonveteran. We have transformed shannon to into a communitybased art gallery. It tells the story of the neighborhood and serves as a safe space. This is a safe space right next to the church for young people, senior, housed and unhoused residents. We run a Community Flea market in shannon alley and hold three block parties. The organization believes that this dispensary would be a beneficial addition to the tenderloin with its own unique identity. And with the passing of prop 64 in 2018, dispensaries 2016, dispensaries have become readily accessible with many parts of San Francisco. There are dispensaries within the mission, south of market, sunset, and castro districts which are well out of the reach for many tenderloin residents who treat symptoms and residents many of whom are physically challenged are forced to commute to other communities for the vital and basic resource to alleviate pain. Having a resource which is within reasonable distance would eliminate this frustration faced by community members. As an organization we have always advocated for the medicinal use for disabled u. S. Military veterans. As a community, we veteran face the challenges of high suicide rates, overprescription of antisigh t coic, o