Transcripts For SFGTV BOS Land Use And Transportation Commit

Chair peskin good afternoon and welcome to the land use and transportation meeting of august 10, 2020. I am chair aaron peskin, joined by supervisor dean preston. I dont believe that weve been joined by our vice chair, supervisor safai, but he will be joining us, but we have been joined by supervisor safai. Our clerk is miss erica major. Miss major, do you have any announcements. Clerk thank you, chair. Precautions are taken to a statewide stayathome order and all other state and local orders, resolutions, and directives. Members and the public will stay at home and participate in the meeting to the same extent as if they were present. Sfgovtv. Org and channel 26 are streaming the number across the screen. 4156550001. The number is is 1462472457. Then press pound, and pound again. When there are items of discussion, youll be muted. If you wish to enter Public Comment, press starthree to be entered into the queue. If you submit Public Comment via email, you may could do by submitting it to me, erica. Major sf. Org. Chair peskin thank you, miss major. [inaudible] clerk the system prompts will indicate that you have raised your hand. Please wait for the system to say youre unmuted to make your comments when we get to Public Comment. Chair peskin thank you, miss major. Colleagues, as you know, the voters of San Francisco passed proposition e for housing for educators. This is a slight tweak that would run concurrently, and if approved by this body, would be sent to the board of supervisors as a Committee Report. This legislation introduced by president yee relative to the mix of threebedroom units thats been reviewed by the Planning Commission that has unanimously recommended this to this body, and with that, i will turn it over to president yees chief of staff, general. Thank you, chair peskin, and supervisors safai and preston, for allowing me to make this presentation. This would allow us to create a mix three bedrooms in future proposition e educator housing buildings. As you know, affordable is an obstacle for many families to access housing stock, but we dont have opportunities for larger or Multigenerational Families to live in these housing stocks, and we want to make sure that we are establishing a principle to get a mix of two and threebedroom housing units. We want to be able to attract workers to San Francisco and retain them, so with that, we hope we can count on your support on this legislation. Chair peskin supervisor yee is creating a legacy around educators, Early Childhood development. Miss meloni, would you like to say anything . I would just like to say there were several Public Commenters which was heard at the Planning Commission earlier this week, including the united educators of San Francisco, who voiced their support for the ordinance, and im here to answer any questions. Chair peskin thank you, miss merlone. Are there any questions or comments, supervisor safai or preston . With that, is there any Public Comments . Clerk thank you. Michael michael from public works is going to let us know if there are any speakers in Public Comment. For those of you not in the queue, press starthree to enter the queue, and for those of you already in the queue, wait until you receive a system prompt telling you that you have been unmuted. Chair peskin do we have any speakers . There are zero callers in queue. Chair peskin okay. Seeing no members of the public for Public Comment, Public Comment is closed. And colleagues, if there is knox, i would like to make a motion to send this item to the full board of supervisors with recommendation as a Committee Report to be heard tomorrow, august 11. On that motion, madam clerk, a roll call, please. Clerk on that motion, as stated by chair peskin [roll call] clerk you have three ayes. Chair peskin all right. Next item, please. Clerk item 2 is an ordinance amending the planning code to reenact a provision permitting nonretail professional services above the fifrts sto first story in the Chinatown Community Business District zoning control table, which was inadvertently deleted in recent enacted legislation. To enter t to chair peskin thank you, miss major. As miss major just stated, this is indeed a technical correction to an item that was inadvertently deleted, and this will reinstate the nonretail professional services above the ground floor are permitted. Mr. Starr from the planning department, is there anything you would like to add to that nifty synopsis that i just gave, or ms. Merloni, or anybody from planning. Were fixing a mistake. I believe that we are satisfied with your description, chair peskin. Thank you. Chair peskin thank you, miss merloni. Are there any questions or comments from members . Seeing none, is there any Public Comment on item number 2 . Clerk thank you, mr. Ch r chair. Michael is letting us know if there are any public callers. If you have not done so already, please press starthree to be entered into the queue. If you have not done so. Please wait until you are unmuted to begin your comments. There appears to be no comments. Chair peskin thank you, michael. Public comment is closed, and i would like to send this forward with a positive recommendation in due process to the full board. Roll call on that item, please. Clerk on the motion as stated by chair peskin [roll call] clerk you have three eyes. Chair peskin could you please read the next item. Clerk yes. Item number three is a reenactment of emergency ordinance, ordinance number 8420 to establish protections for occupants of residential hoteling during the covid19 pandemic. Members of the public who wish to provide Public Comment during this period should call 4156550001. Enter the meeting i. D. And president pound, and pound again. To enter the queue, press starthree or raise your hand. Please wait until the system has indicated you have been unmuted to provide your comments during Public Comment period. Chair peskin colleagues, before you make a motion to continue this item and take Public Comment, i would like to first thank my colleague, supervisor katy tang, who is now the liaison between the department of Public Health and the board of supervisors for working to attempt to craft amendments to this emergency ordinance that we previously enacted which, candidly, the department of Public Health, due to any number of constraints on the Human Resource side and the relative side, testing equipment, swabs, whathaveyou, have not been able to fully implement. Dr. Stephanie cohen has agreed to reach out to the three s. R. O. Collaboratives in the intervening week to figure out what they actually can do. I dont want to impose legislation that is unrealistic, but i do want to continue to take every step and utilize all of our resources to make sure that covid19 does not spread in some of the most transmissive environments in congregate setting, that being the s. R. O. Hotels. With that, seeing no further comment, ill open this up for Public Comment and then, ill continue this for one week pending dr. Cohens outreach to the s. R. O. Communities. Madam clerk, there any Public Comment . Clerk mr. Chair, michael from public works is checking to see if there are any callers in queue. I believe theres one caller in queue. Michael, please let us know when the callers are ready, and go ahead and unmute them. Hi. This is theresa flanders, seniors and disability action, and i just want to declare my absolute support for this ordinance. It is so important, and i also want to thank the members of the board for supporting this. Thank you. Chair peskin thank you, miss flandrick. Thank you, please. Sorry. Zero callers remaining in the queue. Chair peskin okay. Public comment is closed, and i would here by make a motion to continue this item one week, to the meeting of august 17. On that motion, madam clerk, will you take a role call vote, please. Clerk on the motion as stated by chair peskin [roll call] clerk you have three ayes. Chair peskin thank you, madam clerk, could you please read the next item. Clerk yes. Item number 4 is an emergency ordinance to temporarily prohibit Construction Projects in buildings with any Residential Rental units that require the suspension of water or Electricity Service to residential tenants without providing alternative sources of water and power due to the covid19 pandemic. Call 4156550001. Enter the immediating i. D. , and press pound, and pound again. If you have not done so already, please press starthree to lineup to speak. Please wait until the system indicates you have been unmuted during Public Comment, and you may begin your comment. Chair peskin thank you, madam clerk. First, id like to start by thanking the cosponsors of this emergency ordinance supervisors walton, ronen, and preston, and i particularly want to thank my aide, lee hepner, as weve gotten call after call after call. As you will remember, on march 16, when shelter in place went into effect, there was a temporary prohibition on construction, and that has temporarily been eased and waived, but there are many people sheltering in place, but they are not sheltering in peace. Some of this construction is essential, some of it is nonessential. There have been a handful of band actors who may be harassing and intimidating tenants out by doing nonessential construction, whereby water and Electricity Service is disrupted for days at a time, and this is a common sense ordinance that will allow construction to continue on the one hand but treat tenants with dignity and respect on the other. I would like to offer a number of amendments, and i want to thank folks from the building industry and from the landlord industry for making some common sense suggestions. And let me go through these amendments. One of them the furtheirst s on page 2. Id like to insert an item online 14, relative to the exemption of Affordable Housing. Colleagues, this is in your hands, and as set forth in subsection e, which reads, Affordable Housing are less likely to be the subject of ongoing construction work. Tenants in Affordable Housing units, including lock term tenants in that housing are less likely to be recipients of harassment, therefore, high market rate rental units have been excluded from this exemption. Online 7, insert, after water shutoff, exceeding two hours in a single day, the Property Owner provides an alternative water source, including, but not limited to, bottled or gallons of water. Insert, after shutoff, the Property Owner provides an alternative wat alternative source of power. Line 13, strike caused by one weeks advance notice, and strike the last sentence in that subsection, so it would read the [inaudible] chair peskin the name and Contact Information of a liaison who can provide information and respond to tenant concerns. Subb1, in the event of an anticipated water or electricity shut off lasting more than two consecutive hours or four nonconsecutive hours in a single day, all impacted residents must be provided with 72 hours advance written notice. And sub2, in the event of an anticipated water or electricity shut off of more than two consecutive hours or four consecutive hours on two or more consecutive days or on more than three days in a single week, all impacted residents must be provided with written notice at least one week in advance sorry. Im not dieing of covid19 of the first weekly shut off and prolonged Construction Projects. Subsection c. If over the course of construction, the need emerges to shut off water or power for more than two hours, construction must pause and may only resume pursuant to the notice and alternative accommodations provisions of subsections a and b of this emergency ordinance, provided, however, the department of Emergency Management may allow the project to continue if it will cause a great emergency hazard. In other words, if theres an emergency, construction will continue. Subsection d, if theres use of loud tools or instruments for any prolonged period of time [inaudible] chair peskin if, one, a Property Owner and all impacted residential tenants agree to terms other than those set forth in subsections a through c, and the Property Owner submits an email to an address established by d. B. I. Reflecting the terms and duration of that agreement. Or, sub 2, all impacted residents reside in the building where all of the units have a 100 affordable Purchase Price or rent set at 120 of the adjusted median Family Income ad determined by the Mayors Office of Community Housing or the Fair Market Rent area that contains San Francisco, b, that does n fo life of the project for a minimum of 55 years, whichever is longer, by recorded regulatory agreement and consistent with any applicable federal, state, or local regulatory requirements. That is the exemption for Affordable Housing. And finally, on page 5, subsection 4, insert at line five, upon finding a first violation, d. B. I. Shall issue a warning of Property Owner, along with a copy of this ordinance. After receiving the order, Property Owner shall be required to send a notice to d. B. I. Along with a copy to any residents impacted by this ordinance. Failure to do so will constitute another violation of this ordinance, and subsequent violations, d. B. I. Shall issue a notice of violation and or other citation pursuant to its authority under the building code. So those are the changes that i would like to propose and would like to, again, thank folks in the construction and tenantlandlord industry or those suggestions. Are there any questions or comments from members . Supervisor safai . Supervisor safai thank you. Can we make a motion to accept these now or should we wait . Chair peskin ill do that after Public Comment. Supervisor safai okay. So thank you, supervisor, for these i got these from your staff as soon as you have them. Really appreciate them. I just wanted to talk to a couple of things just for my own experience as a tenant right now and some of my experiences in the past, one of the things that gives me a little bit of reservation. And again, i think this is a really important piece of legislation. I understand that a lot of people are sheltering at home, and it makes sense that we should be doing this to ensure that, you know, that people arent having to experience undue stress during these times, for sure. My question is i just think about routine maintenance. We just had a we had a leak in our bathroom about a week and a half ago, and they had to come shut the water off for a little more than a couple hours. So what i wouldnt want is this to be an impediment for routine maintenance, and i just wonder if there couldnt be some kind of reference language. I see the language if d. B. I. Believes this could be a health and safety issue, but it seems that some of these could be avoided with having d. B. I. In the conversation if its just the property manager and the tenant using, you know, the kind of allowable time frame. So i just wanted to put that out there, see what you thought. I would hate to think that this would then become an impediment for routine maintenance. As i said, we had to shut our water off for a couple hours. And then, what happened again, you said construction inbuilding. So if theres not sewer work or Electrical Work related to pg e or p. U. C. Because again, last week, just by chance, pg e came, and they had to shut the power off for eight hours on our streets. This is Construction Projects in buildings with any residential units. So i just wanted to put those two things out there to see what your response was and see how you think it would play out in practice. So relative chair peskine to the former question, let me make a couple of statements. Routine maintenance is something that is foreseen supervisor safai im sorry. Let me clarify. If theres something that arises, an emergency, a leak or something, you have to come in and shut off the water. Not the routine, scheduled maintenance. Thats easy, but if youre responding to an immediate hazard, how do we deal with that in this legislation . Chair peskin so let me just say as a small landlord in San Francisco, that has happened to me. I have had emergencies where pipes have burst. I dont think ive had any electrical emergencies, but i definitely have had water emergencies, and theyve all been dealt with in relatively short periods of time. The reality is, this is going to be complaint driven. This is really directed at a number of bad actors, some of them with thousands of units, some of them with a handful of united. When we did the press conference, we did it in front of a building in my district by a woman whos clearly being harassed by a small landlord who is trying to