Quality of life, and will increase over time. By the end of the century, a number of San Francisco households will be exposed to Sea Level Rise and flooding. This map was produced by the department of Public Health and actually shows the september 2017 heat wave, and the differential in ground temperatures. If you were in golden gate park, it was a balmy 75, but if you were in one of our inner neighborhoods, you were experiencing temperatures over 120. And of course, were currently facing many, many other crises in housing affordability, child care availability. The framework aims to help meet the mayors nearteam priorities in a way that ensures our longterm sustainability and resilience. In fall 2018, the United Nations synthesized 6,500 scientific works and decreed that we need to get to zero emissions by 2050 to meet the paris climate accord. This is over the 80 reduction that we had all been planning on. So San Franciscos goals are 0, 80, and 100. Whats important to note is those goals are actually by 2030. It is known that the next ten years are the utmost importance, we cannot wait until 2050. And in San Francisco, we are very rightly proud of all of our progressive Green Building requirements and weve exceeded our emission goals, but this was created to tee up the Climate Action strategy update and shows that our emissions will start to rise again in our current kind of regulatory framework, because of growth, because of the economy, and because weve already knocked off a lot of that lowerhanging fruit. So well provide a deeper dive on the Climate Action strategy later this year, but just to let you know, we have to reduce emissions another 89 in order to achieve these goals. So in this allhandsondeckcrisis, were in on supporting these goals. Were working with many other agencies and the Mayors Office and now the board. Yesterday, i represented us in the new building and Decarbonization Task force kicked off for the environment. So the next four slides are just quickly giving you the context of what were doing as a city and what planning is doing with the other agencies from the interagency level to the neighborhood level just so you can understand where this fits in all of this. So over the last 1. 5 years, planning has been partnering with several agencies to create a Climate Resilience program for the industry to strategically integrate all these different efforts that are going on originally spurred by individual departments. It also creates a think tanklike forum for core staff to innovate and align. We use this term Climate Resilience to encompass the citys work on mitigation as well as the climate adaptation. And were mainly focused in this green area of identifying the synergies between these two efforts. Like i said, weve kicked off the Climate Action strategy update, and that is due to be completed by the end of the year. Likewise, youve already heard about the Sea Level Rise work as well as the port resilience work, and weve been pushing sustainability, pushing for them to be resilient. Were focusing on four unique avenues that we have as an agency, so our early interface. A lot of the departments that are developing the regulations or doing the research, theyre not in touch with the developers or the projects. We do integrated partnerships and a lot of long range planning. That helps us tee up and do a lot of practice. We have the planning code, we have t. D. M. , the plant finder tool, better streets. The sustainability neighborhood framework aims to be another tool in our toolkit. And finally, Design Review gives us a lot of interface with projects. Andti and finally, in citywide itself, weve added sustainability in our core functions, and focusing on the sustainability work, the biodiversity, the climate work, the waterfront work, and how were working with transportation, environmental justice, etc. So hopefully, you are now sold on the need for this tool and its benefits, and appreciate your patience. So this is also not new. Youve heard about the Sustainable Systems framework from five years ago. Weve been working on sustainability district in soma and chinatown. We are looking to create something thats consistent. We want any Community Member or Commission Staff to use the same framework. But the word ecodistrict is already trademarked, so sustainable district is the term weve coined so far. I know its not johns favorite, but its one of our best ideas. One of the main, main points is how can we maximize benefits so all of these accesses to sustainability . Projects have to meet stormwater requirements. They can really do so in a way that encourages walking and sustainable trips, and they can use local plants that support our biodiversity. So weve created a vision framework, and theres three tools that support its use. A program summary, a work sheet and Program Guide thatll be much more dynamic than our current spreadsheets. And throughout this project, weve had five main driving principles of what we wanted to achieve. People centered and compelling, built on best practices, effective and efficient, not going to add process, compelling and easy to use, and flexible and scaleable. So weve been focused a lot on neighborhood and district scale, but its intended that even home renovation could pick it up and get some insights. So we are here, the framework itself. We are centered on five goals. Healthy air, Renewable Energy, clean ecosystems and renewable waste. These five goals as well as the 15 targets are all synonymous with existing city goals and commitments. So the Planning Department cannot creating this in a vacuum. Were using this in a way that allows us to connect these projects with larger city goals. Were under pinning this with climate equity, resilience, and climate. So as youre picking your priorities, how can you make sure that what youre doing to make your project resilient to extreme heat isnt actually creating additional emissions . And then, the lines are just illustrative to point out that all of these things are connected in a modern world so we end up with cost neutral solutions. This is just a fourpage summary that illustrates the when, the where, the why, the how. There is five pages, one for each goal. At the top, we have the buckets for equity, resilience, and climate that point out to you things to consider and things to adivide divide as you go thd contemplate your strategies. So you can look at the materials youre using, you can look at the Building Systems that youre using. Theres a lot of different approaches or pathways. Then, the third is a summary of really important existing requirements. This is not meant to replicate the Green Building code and the health code where all these complicated codes live, but to pull out the most salient ones where we can pull them out and make progress. The next one, were calling enhancements, and its building on existing city policies and initiatives. So this is where the main team gets together for Major Projects and we put together or wish list or please can you try to achieve this in your project, but this becomes the kind of dynamic part of the work sheet, and then, the strategy compendium is making this descriptive. We want engineers and designers to tell us the best solutions for achieving these targets . So after we hand this over, we, you know, based on the projects that we are currently in, we have an iterative process with the project team to kind of turn that column of cityfamily requests into the specific goals for that project. So that column four in the final product, this is actually a snapshot from potrero power station becomes the potrero power station goals, lives as a fivepage compendium in their document. And then, the list of strategies actually becomes a directory of where you find all these different strategies and standards and guidelines in their document itself. And then, because spreadsheets can kind of make your head pop off, we have a onepage version, and this is what you might have already seen for the marketoctavia plan where we summarize heres all the ways that were pushing the envelope and what were proposing in that plan. So lastly, were creating an online guide that we will be excited to bring back to you that will make all of this much more dynamic. And then just really quickly, the five next steps. So were excited to hear your feedback. Were going to be conducting some Stakeholder Engagement over the next few months, getting together with community groups, developers, and technical experts. Well be refining that, and then wed love to come back with a resolution hopefully early summer. President melgar thank you, miss fisher. Should i quickly read these support statements or did you want to ask questions first . President melgar can we hear Public Comment on this item. Do we have any speaker cards . Yeah no . Okay. Come on up. Thank you, commission. My names christopher peterson. I think much of this framework is terrific. I do have one recommendation, which is that the framework be much more explicit and prominent in its discussion of housing. From a climate perspective, because of San Franciscos extensive transit network, its walkability, it is appropriate climate, this is one of the most appropriate places in the state to be producing more housing. So i think that this framework should really call out the need and be recommending the provision of additional housing, especially in areas that are close to major transit corridors, commercial centers, and Employment Centers and commercial districts. Thank you. President melgar thank you, mr. Peterson. Next speaker, please. Greetings, Planning Commissioners. Peter brasto from department of environment. Couple other colleagues submitted a written statement, but was able to make it. Just got off of yerba buena island, speaking of diversity. Thats my role at the department of environment. Im thrilled with this framework that lisa has been leading and everyone at our interdepartment agency has been working on. When do you see a department with robust ecosystems right smack dab in the middle im remembering that slide there. We can live in San Francisco and berkeley and oakland and mill valley or whatever. We could have 100 Renewable Energy, and no waste, but do we want to live in a place with no plants or animals or do we want to continue to thrive . Its critical that we do that, and i want to give huge shout out to lisa whos been huge in implementing our work with the biodiversity agency, working with us from the department of environment. So just thrilled a, and thank u so much. President melgar next speaker, please. I have a speaker card from helen brekke. Im with the climate reality bay area, and i want a second dose of the speakers that have already talked regarding housing and biodiversity. I also want to reemphasize what was in the report that city departments need to Work Together and find more interconnections and networking so that we can achieve the Climate Emergency goals. Everybody working in a silo is not going to succeed, so i wanted to second that. And then, the only thing i wanted to say is i was happy to hear the speaker from the Planning Department talk about meeting with community as part of this project . I wanted to underscore the importance of that, as well, that its on the little blush i had, this it said that the stakeholder meetings were for designers, developers, and environmental groups. And i think meeting with community, whether or not they have previous interest in the environment, is going to be really key to meeting the Climate Emergency goals. Thank you. President melgar thank you. Next speaker, please. Hello, good afternoon. My name is julia, and i work at Natural Resources defense council. I work in Renewable Energy . I dont work in sustainable projects, but i am a member of the lower haight homeowners association. The city working with the communities across the sevenbyseven area and really having more of a coordinated effort, protecting the housing, protecting the environment, working on transit, all of this is really important moving this forward. I also wanted to say that theres a lot of work thats gone into this . And i wanted to say thank you for letting me speak, and thank you for all the work youve done on this. Thank you so much. President melgar commissioner koppel . Vice president koppel thank you. Were working on installing solar on the as much of the p. U. C. Properties as we have been. Its refreshing to see us working with the downtown buildings and whatnot. Just one question i like the coverage of the report. Are we looking at potential underground transit tunnels . Thats just one thing i havent heard about, and i know theyre very vital to how we operate as a city, whether its muni or the b. A. R. T. Tunnels. Are we looking at them and protecting them from some potential disasters . Youre talking about the sort of on our resilience aspect . Vice president koppel yeah. So that citywide division, acting director, we came here, and i presented last year about our Sea Level Rise and vulnerability assessment. That does include the existing underground train tunnels, such as the b. A. R. T. And muni Market Street tunnel, of which the embarcadero station is a vital component. The next stage is to come up to develop adaptation strategies to come up with that. Weve been working with the port of San Francisco and others on how to make the waterfront more resilient so that our waterfront is protected. Were also looking at future potential tunnels such as the downtown rail extension or future b. A. R. T. Tunnels. Vice president koppel thank you. President melgar commissioner fung. Commissioner fung couple of questions for staff. The can we expect a sustainability overlay for the hub plan . Yes. Actually, this was the highlight of that so far, and what weve been doing is going using, actually, the five work sheets to go through the entire plan and look at where we have any gaps, where we might want to tweak words of the existing policies, and then, weve actually added a new subset of policies specifically around sustainability and resilient where they didnt actually fit within the existing policies. Commissioner fung okay. In terms of the, then, specific goals, is that being projected by staff or how are you determining those goals for the hub plan . Weve been working on that together with the staff and also as it relates to these existing city commitments and definitely leveraging all the work that we did in the central soma plan, which was also an interagency effort. Commissioner fung so those goals are also the citywide type of goals. Right. So the idea is the sustainable neighborhood framework can kind of cement the city ideas and commitments, and then throughout the hub, we can see policies that will support them. We dont envision that the hub itself would have a list of its own goals and targets. The idea is, you know, how can our major Planning Areas and things going in there Work Together to kind of realize these types of environments for the people that are living and working there. And the goal is for you guys so that, you know, when these big projects come, they all show you the same table. They can kind of quickly talk about what theyre specifically doing. Because of course depending on your context, depending on what youre up against with your site, youre going to be able to prioritize things in different buckets. Commissioner fung or be able to expand. Yes. Commissioner fung last question, with the potrero power station project, it was suggested they look at an example given the history of the uses on that site and the contamination that occurred, that they consider an example of a netzero building, which would have been the power plant itself. Is that being considered, too . Yes, and youll be hearing from them at the end of the month, and weve been working really closely with the Mayors Office and oewd and the department of the environment and how that project can be a great example of maybe not net zero but more of, like, net zero carbon . Like, were working with them to not even bring in natural gas, to bring in 100 renewable electricity. President melgar commissioner johnson . Commissioner johnson thank you. Thank you so much for the report. You may have covered this, but i just have a couple of questions. One is just how youre thinking about this strategy playing into other strategies around the city, specifically departments, like the Neighborhood Department network, nert, you know, being prepared for natural disasters, making sure that people have places to go if they cant shelter in place, and making sure the department is responding to the need specifically of communities of color and older Housing Stock where people cant necessarily shelter in place. Is there a response to that . Sure. In reality, all of those things have been habit and core to the Climate Resilience plans that weve been working on, with the office of cap raresilience and planning and other city departments. We had a survey go out, like, how are you feeling . How prepared are you . The climate work is focused on climate mitigation, and we are using that as an opportunity to work with them and other groups to talk about the preparedness . So we just had a debriefing with brian strong about the things that have happened so far on that project . And in that, weve teed up to those different stakeholders groups, is that this is the first project out of the gate in this larger Climate Resilience area of work. And then, well be coming back to you about the Climate Action strategy, well be coming back to you about the d. E. M. S and their Climate Emergency preparedness plan. Kind of one of the things were excited about, this Climate Resilience interagency program, we can have much more communication clearer to the public . And hopefully, that will inspire both participation but actually people being prepared and being kind of inspired to do things in their own realms and together in their communities . Is that helpful . Commissioner johnson yeah, thats great. President melgar thank you. Commissioner moore . Are you doing anything to inform the communities about the projects and the work . Because i believe it created a complete different dialogue between us and the community. In terms of the hazard preparedness part . Just in terms of the entire program. Yeah. So theres several workshops going on right now about the waterfront efforts, the ports resilience. We will be circling back. At the hazards plan, its currently with fema and the state being reviewed, and then, itll come back and be with the board. How do we create both some open houses where people can come and learn about that as well as all of these Emergency Preparedness methods and also we have a great from the five stakeholder workshops that we created this summer, we have a Great Network of communication that we can continue to distribute this information. President melgar thank you so much, miss fisher. I think this is really amazing, and i just want to thank you personally because, you know, my fellow commissioners know that ive insisted on calling the Climate Crisis a crisis, which it is. This past month has been difficult being a human on this earth and see whats happening around us, and i love that youve taken such an approach that is definable and has specific tools that can be applied, and like a dropdown menu, you choose this, you choose that. Its super practical, and it makes me feel hopeful because its difficult to be, you know, in this time, given the enormity of this impact, tackling this problem project by project. So i want to thank you for taking this seriously and doing such tremendous work. I think were going to look back in ten years and remember lisa fisher and the work that youve done. Thank you for working with the larger city family to get this on the books. Thank you and looking forward to the resolution. Thank you. Okay. Thanks, everyone. Clerk commissioners, if theres nothing further, we can move onto your next item, but before we do, for the benefit of the public, i am pleased to inform that under your discretionary review calendar, item number 18, at 2727 vallejo street, discretionary reviews, both of them have been withdrawn. So if anyone in the public is here for item 16, both those d. R. S have been withdrawn, and because of that, it will not be considered this afternoon. Commissioners, item 12, for the sfpuc Alameda Creek recapture project report. Clerk item 16, 2727 vallejo street, there were two d. R. S filed against that property. Both of those d. R. S have been withdrawn. Good afternoon. Chris kern, Planning Department staff, and joining me are members of the sfpuc project team, including tim ramirez, Natural Resources manager, who will give you a brief overview of the project following my presentation. The item before you is somewhat of an unusual one. Its the partial recirculation of a draft e. I. R. For the sfpucs alameda recapture project. Its located on s. F. Capture lands in Alameda County would bypass around the Alameda CreekDiversion Dam as part of an effort to reestablish steel head in Alameda Creek. The draft e. I. R. For this project was published on november 16, 2016, and the Planning Commission certified the final e. I. R. On june 7, 2017. The final e. I. R. Determined that the post project would not result in any significant environmental or biological impacts. On september 19, 2017, the board of supervisors reversed the certification in response to an appeal of the final e. I. R. By the Alameda CountyWater District, and the board in that action directed the department to undertake additional analysis of potential impacts of steel head and to submit that report for review. The primary concern with the e. I. R. S analysis of impacts on steel head focuses on the complex interactions between surface waters and groundwater in the project area. And because of the technical nature of this topic, the board also directed the staff to submit our analysis our groundwater analysis to a peer reviewer. So per the departments instruction, we engaged a professor to peer review the e. I. R. S groundwater analysis. Based on dr. Morans initial review and feedback, our ceqa consultant initially revised and expanded the groundwater analysis. Its included in the recirculated e. I. R. The peer review report concludes that the revised groundwater analysis contained in up and downix hyd 2 r supports the e. I. R. Since the boards 2017 reversal of the e. I. R. Certification, the Planning Department and sfpuc staff have held multiple hearings. In response to agency feedback, the sfpuc has revised the proposed project to further limit pumping during the steel head migration season, and tim will provide an overview of these modifications in his presentation. The recirculated e. I. R. Contained updates impacts on steel head migration. It also concludes that the project would not have Significant Impacts on steel head. The recirculated portion of the draft e. I. R. Was published on december 4, and the public review period closes on january 21. To date, weve received one comment letter from the Alameda CountyWater District stating that the district will not submit any comments opposing the e. I. R. If the department will submit monitoring reports. Comments made today and all comments received today during the Comment Period will be responded to in writing in the responses to comment document. Comments should be directed to the information and ad canvasy in the e. I. R. Written comments may be submitted to the department by email or regular mail until 5 00 p. M. On january 21. When the responses comment document is complete, the department will provide responses, and we will then return to the commission to request certification of the e. I. R. If the e. I. R. Is certified, the sfpuc may consider approval of the project. Now id like to introduce tim ramirez, who will provide a brief overview of the proposed project, including the recent modifications to the proposed project operations, after which i would request that you open the hearing unless you have questions for staff at that point. Thank you, commissioners. Tim ramirez, director Natural Resources and Land Management at the sfpuc. Can i have the slides quickly, just a few to try to capture the summary of the project. So this is one of many projects in our water system improvement program. This project is focused on maintaining our water supply reliability to our customers. This Commission Certified the document for this program in 2008, so were coming to an end of almost over a decade of work. As chris stated, that is to recapture a portion of the flows that were releasing from our reservoirs and bypassing from our Diversion Dam upstream. So very quickly, overview map. This shows the entire Alameda Creek watershed boundary. Were focused on probably what is the peach color at the bottom, where our southern reservoirs are. The northern is the livermore valley. They meet in sunols canyon and then out to the bay. This is a zoomin of our watershed. In the canyon in between, its harder to see, is the Diversion Dam, and were recapturing water released from the far right of the screen, flows going from the right to the left. And heres Alameda Creek, and heres some of the quarry ponds that are left from mining. Thats the pond that were from which were proposing to pump water into our system. We are releasing almost 15,000 acre feet of water from our reservoirs down extreme to support the analagous fish, and the project is proposing to recapture some of that. Initially, we propose to recapture just over 7,000 acre feet, and weve reduced that now to 6,000 acre feet, and well talk about how thats done in just a minute. And were talking about this pit. This is a pit thats offstream. This is probably the key chart, and in the middle, the original column, is what was initially proposed in the first round of the e. I. R. And on the left is the new proposal. And in summary, the no pumping period has been expanded both earlier into the winter and then further into the spring. And the idea, out of an abundance of caution to the agencys comments, is to really make sure were not doing anything when theres water in the creek that might affect fish. So the adults are coming back in the winter. We want to make sure were not affecting their ability to migrate upstream. And then, in the end, in the spring, the young fish are moving downstream, and we dont want to do anything there, as well. In may and june, theres some conditions about whether we can or cant pump, and we wanted to be cautious. We wanted to make sure theres no flow in the creek at all above the project site. So if theres any flow in the creek at all, were not pumping, and were also talking about restricting the flow of the pump, as well, in the last slide. And this is the last slide. This is a cross section. Alameda creek is on the left, and the key elevation here is that little hatched area of blue where the elevation is 225. We dont want to get below that because we dont want to have the water flow the other direction away from the creek. Thats the bottom line, and so we want to make sure we dont affect the migration period in the winter and especially in the spring, when the young fish are migrating. Thats my presentation. Im happy to answer questions, and ill be here later, also, if you have any. Thank you for your time. Vice president koppel thank you. Now id like to open this up for Public Comment. I have one speaker card, laurel hitus, and if there are any other speakers, lineup on the side of the room. Thank you for the chance to supplement the initial written comments we subm is to be commended for arthur work to the fisherys work group. Since that time, we appreciate the staff has been responsive to our request for information as we continue to review the recirculated e. I. R. In a december 31 letter to planning staff, acwd requested that specific commitments for monitoring and reporting be incorporated into the project. Acwd reiterates its request to be reasonable, and we ask that the Planning Department and staff include requirements in the e. I. R. To operate the project and perform monitoring and compliance data to all watershed stakeholders to ensure the project is operated as described. Acwd believes that transparent monitoring and data sharing can build trust between all stakeholders. We will not appose toppose the recirculated e. I. R. If it can contain the requesting monitoring and reporting. Thank you for your consideration of the acwds request, and we appreciate the continued coordination in the Alameda Creek watershed on these important issues. Thank you very much. Vice president koppel thank you. Clerk if theres no other Public Comment, the commissioners may wish to chime in. If not, we can move onto the next item. Vice president koppel commissioner fung . Commissioner fung question, then, for staff. This Monitoring Program would be a mitigation then . Chris kern, Planning Department staff. No, it wouldnt be a mitigation measure because we could only impose mitigation in response to a Significant Impact under ceqa. The Water District in their comment letter requested that we include the additional monitoring and reporting requirements in the mitigation monitoring and reporting program for the project, the mmrp. Were not sure that thats the right mechanism, but the p. U. C. And Water District have had some conversations around that and have proposed alternative mechanisms through which the additional monitoring and reporting can be assured, and were still working out the details on how to accomplish that. Commissioner fung there appears to be the operational element there is really something between the two agencies. Thats the Planning Departments view of the request. Commissioner fung okay. Vice president koppel and just a reminder to the public, written comments will be accepted until 5 00 p. M. On january 21 of this year. Clerk very good, commissioners. Seeing nothing further, we can move onto items 13 a, b, c, d, e, and f, for the property at 542 through 550 howard street, also known as the transbay parcel f mixed use parcel for planning code amendments, shadow findings, downtown project findings, study findings, and conditional use authorization findings. Good afternoon, commissioners. Hap happy new years to each and every one of you. Nick foster, Planning Department staff. So before you are proposals for property located at 552 to 570 hours street. Specifically, the commission is [inaudible] 325, to allocate up to 275,764 square feet of General Office use, to provide shadow findings, and following two resolutions, one, to provide to the Planning Commission planning code map amendments to approve an ordinance to adopt a general plan amendment. So in addition to your deliberations today, the Zoning Administrator is being asked to consider the variance application and to make a determination on the request for relief from selection provisions of the planning code. Should the commission approve the project today or at a later date, the board of supervisors would then conduct hearings which would result in the citys final approval or disapproval of the project. Onto the project itself. The proposed project includes the construction of a new 61story mixeduse building, reaching the height of approximately 750 feet, 800 feet if you include all the rooftop screening features. It would include 189 hotel rooms, approximately 276,000 square feet of office use, and approximately 20,000 square feet of open space. As i mentioned with benefit of the planning code amendment, it would require the below market rate units offsite. Additionally, the project would include 178 class 1 and 32 class 2 bike Parking Spaces, with Parking Spaces accommodating 183 vehicle spaces for the Residential Hotel and office uses. It would provide a pedestrian bridge to the salesforce park. The commission has previously reviewed this project as part of the initiation of the general plan amendment, which was initiated on december 5 of this last year. It would amend maps 1 and 5 of the downtown plan and figure 1 of the Transit Center district plan. The amendment would basically facilitate a height and bulk swap on lot 116 and 136 with lots 138 on assessors block 3721 which is basically eliminating split zoning. On december 10 of last year, supervisor matt haney approved a portion of the planning code and to reclassify the height and bulk district, designations for the portion of the site. Also, that ordinance would waive certain provisions of the planning code to allow the required inclusionary could be provided offsite, and basically for a small footprint of the building to not be used for offsites. The department has received significant Public Comment on the shadow impact. We received comment on policy 6. 6 on the Transit Center district plan and finally some commented related to potential impacts on pedestrian zone and natoma between 1st and 2nd. Jonas handed out a planning out ordinance. This is nonsubsequent, basically some boiler plate language that was updated by the city attorneys office. There was a substantive change to one of the conditions of approval, page 55, number 42 gviii was simply updated to state the inlieu fee was not available. So its either onsite or offsite, the fee is not available for this project. The last one, as commissioner diamond pointed out, there was a small typo saying that the project was wholly residential. Its not, its mixed use. [inaudible] im available for any questions you might have, and of course, the project sponsor is here, as well. Thank you. President melgar we will hear now from the project sponsor. Thank you. Good afternoon, madam president , members of the commission. C. J. Hickly, land use counsel for the project sponsor. We are really delighted to be here this afternoon. This has been a long time coming. Were very happy to seek your approval of this really important and unique project in the transbay area. Since youve heard from me a few times in the last few weeks, its my great pleasure to turn things over to fred pelley, from pelley clark architects, and hell present the project in the larger urban context, so take it away. Good afternoon, commissioners. Its a great pleasure to be here, and its a kind of anniversary to me because 2020 marks the 13th year that ive been involved in the design and execution of the transbay Transit Center district plan. I frankly see parcel f in many ways as the completion of this incredible visionary plan, and weve taken the assignment of designing parcel f as the culmination, the final set of architectural and urban design contributions to this incredibly important visionary world class center. To that end, lets start with the first slide or the second slide. I think its important am i the slide person . To that end, its very important to somehow keep in mind, this is a hard thing to do because its been so long, but on the left of the slide is where we were about 15 years ago. The right hand of the slide is where we are today. An enormous amount has been accomplished during that period of time, and as i say, caesar pelli, my late partner, and i have been extremely involved in the Transit Center district plan. And again, just a simple graphic that shows what happened over that period of time. [please stand by] we began our design of parcel f some four years ago. And we felt that was, given the fact that is the culmination of a long period of building and planning, this is a moment to both look at history and to look at the future. And one of the key inspirations for the architecture of the building was the coloration, the materiality of many of the most significant buildings within the San Francisco area. And then particularly, if you will, the Bell Building which is the immediate neighbor. And i think its one of the most attractive buildings in the city. Theyre light in color, substantial buildings. Where the glass to solid ratio creates a sense of permanence and solidity. We did not see parcel f as a building that was going to compete with the Sales Force Tower architecturally. Because its a multiuse building, we had the opportunity to express the multiuse qualities from the yachts. In a way, the program is legible as one interacts with the building. It does have a prominent position as one enters the city, particularly from the airport. You can imagine without parcel f there is a gap in the skyline that is waiting to be filled. Here you see two views of the building. On the left is the view when youre standing on the salesforce park back toward the project. The upper part is residential. The middle part is office. As you see in the section on the right hand. The lower part is hotel. And the yellow beneath that, the lower 7 floors of the building, where all of the buildings amenities are located. Of course, this is also accessible from the part and from the street. So in an interestingly, parcel f has multiple street levels and weve tried to make the street experience three dimensional. There are few opportunities to create a 3d street experience in the way we can in parcel f. Ill get into that later. Absolutely critical underline all the work weve done is the impact of the building on the street. Both in terms of Pedestrian Movement, cars and trucks. A great deal of study has been done on how the building meets the street, how we activate all sides of the building, particularly natoma and howard. Frankly, how we hide loading docks because this is very visible part of the city. How people can flow easily from the south to the north. That was a particular concern of planning staff. The connection to the very unromantically named under bus ramp park. We need find a better name. All the way up to mission. I think that is going to become an important point of access north to south, but also east to west. The building supports and frames Pedestrian Movement at the street level. Now, ill talk for just a minute on constraints. This is a site that in many ways there was always intended there would be a building here, but no one thought ahead to how do we create an environment and a site that is ready for a building . To that end, you see the curved triangle in the drawing on the right. Thats the tunnel underneath the streets. Thats the tunnel that is going to eventually give access to the train box. Thats in place. We cant build on top of that. That uses 30 of the parcel f site. That is a nobuild area. On top of that, there are three light gray circles. Those are the preexisting exhaust fans that will vent that tunnel in emergency conditions. With those two things present, its really impractical to build a building there at all. So we had to work closely with tcta about how not only to build a building that levers over the train box, but also allows us to move those vents to other locations in the future. That took a year worth of work. The net result, again its a bit light, but just to the east, to the left of the bus ramp, there is a line of a kind of light blue which will be the new location for the vents. And its actually a very good and much better location because there is no vertical encumbrance above the vents. Those leave the parcel f site. On top of that, we were able to create a wine glass structure so that the building comes down, but then the structure starts to gather toward the middle, that really allows to us lever over the train box. At the same time, it makes the whole lower a floor of the building columnfree. Very transparent. It touches the ground very lightly. You can see that the loading docks are embedded in the center of the site. Here you see the loading blocks dock location in the center. The access is from howard. Trucks go into the loading docks onto a turntable. The turntable repositions the trucks to allow them to load and unload. There is no truck impact on natoma at all. Flush the other opportunity this presented was that now were able you can see where the orange is located on the parcel f site. Were actually able to put two retail fronts on this location. That is a rare opportunity and it reinforces the sense these are lively streets, accessible streets and are active and visible through many hours of the day. Were also celebrating the pedestrian passage to the west of the site. This is the condition that you see today. On the left hand slide youre standing on natoma looking toward the east. That is the bus ramp above you. On the righthand side, youre standing on natoma looking back toward the bus ramp toward the west. Anyone who walks there today, realises this is were making due with it as public space, but its not very inviting, not handsome. It has tremendous potential in the future. And thats what were capitalizing on in parcel f. One of the things that we got quite excited about early on, is that this is already happening in San Francisco youve already got this tradition of making use of spaces that are otherwise back alley spaces. Theyre spaces people might not think of public, civic destinations. We see that opportunity as parcel f reaches the ground. One of the great effects of having a train box beneath us, we have to build a very, very light structure on top of the train box and the red awning and the twostory cafe you see in the foreground are built on the train box, but thats as much architecture as we can put there. That means the Building Steps down in scale. Very active uses that spill out onto natoma and celebrates this interaction of the building with the back alley, that is natoma today. If you look at it from the other direction, thinks the view this is the view to the hotel lobby. But in the upper left hand part of the slide is a fully accessible public elevator that will go from natoma up to the fifth floor, which is the bridge connection to the park. Two views you see on the left hand slide, the bridge on the fifth level, the public elevator to the left connecting to the park. On the right hand slide is the Hotel Entrance and the public elevator just beyond. If you look carefully, the parcel f building is very transparent, very open and that is the result of the wine glass structure pulling all of the structural support toward the inside. Fortunately, parcel f will be one of three buildings connecting by bridge to the park. In many ways its the western anchor to park activities. 181 fremont connects by bridge, but this fifth floor in parcel f is essentially a whole other street level. We worked to put amenities there, to put Access Points for the public. Clearly, its the easiest way in and out of the building at the park level. And this is a view when youre standing on the park. The bridge is in the foreground. The pedestrian elevator is on the left. You can see just how open, light, transparent and welcoming the lower levels of parcel f will be. This is it. This is the way the building meets the sky. President melgar lovely. Okay. Thank you very much. Had one more thing to add . Yes, i know i said i was going to let fred do the talking, but there were other points. Can you take one minute, because youve gone over. Ill try to make it quick. I just wanted to emphasize as i think you all know, we have had concern over the shadow issue. Im really happy to report that we have finalized the deal with the community organizations. Im sure youll hear more about that. Im happy to talk to you about it as well in light of the time constraint. Ill just also say that i wanted to quickly mention the issue of Affordable Housing. And this projects relationship to the block 4 project. As you know, were proposing to fill our inclusionary requirement by providing offsite affordable units. And it is our great hope and desire that is able to happen at transbay block 4. The project is currently under review with ocii. Were negotiating at dda and have every reason to believe were going to be back here later this spring for consideration of that project. I want to point out that the two projects together represent a really extraordinary contribution to the citys Housing Stock. It willing 800 units of housing in the downtown. I think its a fantastic solution for the Affordable Housing knot weve had. President melgar we will now take public item. I have several speaker cards. Paul, lauren, cynthia and danny. Anyone else who wishes to speak on the item, please line up on the left and come up now. Good afternoon, my name is paul. Im with clearway energy. We run the District Energy grid here in San Francisco. Its over 100 years old. It actually warms this room. And i just wanted to make sure that policy 6. 6 of the Transit Center district plan is followed for parcel f. Were very excited about parcel f. Its a beautiful tower. I think a tremendous addition to San Francisco and its Housing Stock. Policy 6. 6 requires that district heating, District Energy is utilized if its accessible. And were actually located we have our line located at 2nd and howard street, so were available, were ready to connect. And this is actually a fantastic thing for the city because it actually futureproofs the property. Were moving towards zero carbon. And were working with sfpuc. And so as soon as we have zero carbon fuels going into our system, everyone connected to our grid benefits from that. So i think its a very sustainable offering that we provide. That will include the city hall as well. So that is all i wanted to say. I just want to be sure were included. Were in the original plan drawn over ten years ago. And i hope that it becomes a reality. Thank you. Jonas thank you, next speaker, please. Good afternoon, commissioners. Executive director of local city. We have no quarrel with this project but for one thing, the destruction of the great carfree pedestrian base at the Transit Center. This is the sales force center is amazing. I was there this week. The park is incredible. Its an incredible public building. Its great transstation, but where its failed is the environment around. We all know that have to a really great transit oriented neighborhood, you need to look at what is happening at ground level. These places happen, live or die, based on what is happening at the ground level. This is the typical condition at ground level right now. This is ministry fronting on the terminal between 1st and 2nd. As you can see, for decades the department has approved projects that have added loading docks or garage entrances and just kind of chopped up the block. Its a terrible idea for two reasons. One, you create this horrible condition, its not lively, its a lot of dangerous for cyclists and pedestrians because of vehicles going in and out. It precludes turning the streets on the project into pedestrian streets. We recently voted to make Market Streetcarfree. We were lucky, there werent a lot of loading docks and garages. Because they preclude those things. As long as theyre active, you cant create a carfree space. This is one exception. This is the space today. If this project goes through unamended, what youll see is the area in the foreground, back to where the food trucks are, is going to be wiped out. There is going to be a culdesac put in and a garage for almost 200 cars. Its going to mean two things. One, you lose the pedestrian space that exists now. It also means that we preclude or foreclose the opportunity to extend this pedestrian space. If you go to that block, you can see the Foundry Square project has a garage entrance, but you can go back several hundred feet more and create a bigger pedestrian owasioasis. If you put a garage in the middle of the block, youre not going to be able to do that. I harken back to an earlier presentation on the sustainability plan. If were serious, if climate is an emergency, if this changes everything, why are we here today destroying a pedestrian oasis to create more Parking Spaces. We ask you to approve the project with the condition that it not add the driveway and the loading vehicle loading on natoma street. President melgar thank you. Next speaker, please. So, im with local 2, as you all well know, the hotel and hospitality workers union, were here today in support of this project. The support letter would be in your packet, but there were a few lastminute details. Theyve been sorted out and this project comes with guarantees there will be a fair process for the workers of the hotel to join a union and be able to bargain for living wage, Affordable Health care, respect on the job and dignity on the job which is crucial for this sector of the workforce. As youll hear me say, its the kind of commitment that we ask any developer should be prepared to make. Were in support of the project and ask you to approve it. President melgar next speaker, please. Good afternoon. Im a resident of the east cut neighborhood where the project is located and chair of the advisory committee. Unlike, for example, mission bay or treasure island, there is no master plan governing development of the east cut neighborhood, so each individual project must be considered particularly carefully for its impact, not just on our neighborhood, but on the city as a whole. Parcel f, the project that is proposed, turns a blighted parcel in my community into a neighborhood asset. And fills the citys need for more housing, more hotel rooms and more office space. And as mr. Clark showed us, it will bring much needed streetlevel retail activation to enliven and benefit the neighborhood and city. Parcel f is also described, features this unique amenity, the skyway bridge connecting the salesforce park. As important, as discussed earlier, parcel f expedites construction and delivery of 336 Affordable Housing units ocii block 4 in the transbay redevelopment project area. A key contribution to what would be a population of 3,000 citizens living in affordable units in the east cut neighborhood. Indeed, an unprecedented 49 of block 4s homes will be affordable. Block 4 planning is proceeding apace. And we have found the developer heinz to be approachable, cooperative and responsive to Community Concerns about both of these developments, parcel f and block 4. And understanding that the projects contribute more to the neighborhood than the sum of each projects parks. The development of block 4 currently an empty lot behind a chain link fence, will not occur without parcel f moving forward simultaneously. On behalf of the transbay citize citizens advisory committee, i ask the approval of the requests today so that ocii and the city can continue to work with heinz to fill in two blighted parcels still marring the east cut neighborhood and add another signature high rise and tax Revenue Generating property to what is quickly becoming the citys most engaging and vibrant neighborhood. President melgar thank you. Next speaker, please. Good afternoon, president melgar, Vice President , commissioners. I, too, want to wish you a happy new year. Its my first time this year speaking. Danny campbell. Sheet metal workers, trustee with the construction trades council. Im here on behalf of the council in lending our wholehearted support, the developers and project sponsor was engaged very early on with us and committed to build this project badly needed housing for the city with the fine women and men of the San FranciscoBuilding Construction trades council. I heard estimate at term peak, there might be 3,000 Union Construction jobs building this project. You can rest assured it will be built with the highest Skilled Labor that the industry offers. So thank you very much. We look to your support. President melgar thank you, mr. Campbell. Next speaker, please. Good afternoon, commissioners. My name is michele. I am a d6 resident and with united place. Were here today in support of the project. We are super happy to see 300 Affordable Housing units in the pipeline especially the 40 units for sro families. Thats a huge win. Shadow is also very important, so were super happy that the developer has mitigated their impact with the community that is impacted that its impacted and were confident they would. As a resident, i appreciate that this project puts hotels where hotels belong, which is east of fifth street. Heinz has been a partner united place, so were happy to support them and happy to say they have committed and have been working with us on a rebuild and expansion of our youth center. So we are excited for the day that we come before you as a project sponsor maybe. Thank you. Happy new year. President. I just want to say, you know, a native of San Francisco, building a relationship is important to us. Its something that is authentic. Its building a bridge. There is a lot at people instrumental from heinz meeting with us, and they have partners like Chris Collins and rich peterson who was very helpful in bridging this gap. I want to say with these types of relationships, this is how we build our city. When i was at the inauguration yesterday, london breed was talking about how we need these projects like this to happen so we can get these folks off the street in Affordable Housing. Thank you. Mayor breed thank you. Next speaker, please. Afternoon, commissioners. Eddie for bright line, also representing Community Youth center, Chinatown Community development center, sro family united, parks and recreation in chinatown and myself. Were very appreciative first of all of the Planning Commission listening to Community Concerns coming out of chinatown about the impacts of parcel f. Today, were filing a letter of support that should have been circulated in your email, talking about after working with the statesponsorponsor weve w the families and the project sponsor to ensure that the programs within chinatown are supported as well. With that, ill kick it off, families as well to describe it more in detail. President melgar thank you. Commissioners, president melgar, representing the sro family collaborative. If you know my history in San Francisco, i, 12 years ago, came here, started working with families that live in single room occupancy hotels. Were talking about Multigenerational Families that share a 10 by 10 room or even smaller in the chinatown sros, where grandmother, grandfather, children, parents, all share the same room. And share shower facilities and Kitchen Facilities with everybody on the floor. If theyre lucky. Or everybody in the building if theyre not. And so open space is a really big issue for our community. And so were happy to be here today and see opportunities increased for sro families through the Affordable Housing partnership to this project, which really, we believe is going to have a tremendous impact for families that are going to be able to access this Affordable Housing opportunity. And will mitigate the effect that the shadow would have had or will have on willie woo woo wong playground. So its really exciting to be here after a month of intense communication and show our support for the project. And to be here today to share that with you. So thank you very much for your steadfast support of the community. It wouldnt have been possible without all of you. So were excited to be here today. President melgar thank you. Next speaker, please. Good afternoon, happy new year, commissioners, cory smith on behalf of the San Francisco housing coalition. Staff got the opportunity to review the project. While we realize there is just one proposal in front of you, what were seeing is this and block 4 as tied together. So when were talking about more than 300 new subsidized Affordable Homes and the quantity of homes between the two projects, were really excited. That will represent a 35 inclusionary rate, which for a private development with zero public dollars is a really, really significant numbers that we and everybody else here is enthusiastic to see. Great seeing all of the labor partners out here as well. We know that this will be built, as mr. Campbell said earlier, to the highest possible standards. One other thing we want talk about, though, the 1. 1 billion that is going to go to the city of San Francisco from the project. 56 million of onetime fees, 288 million of tax revenue over the next 30 years, almost 500 million in fees. 177 million related to the tcc phasing. And then im just going to add this in, the 45 Million Associated with the block 4 project. 1. 1 billion on top of Affordable Housing is really a win for everybody. So we were absolutely enthusiastic about it and i ask that you move it forward. Thank you. President melgar thank you, mr. Smith. Next speaker, please. Thank you, commissioners, my name is jim chapel and im here representing the San Francisco bay area planning and urban research association. Ive been involved with the planning of the transbay district since early 1995 when the location of the new terminal was selected. This includes extensive consultation in my role as then executive director of spur. On various planning studies to develop the transbay neighborhood plan on setting up the Design Competition for selection of the terminal and tower developer and setting up the Community Benefit district to help maintain the public realm. I urge you to take all necessary steps to approve the project as proposed, including the general plan amendment, planning code and zoning amendments, adoption of the section 295 findings, downtown project authorization, prop m Office Develop allocation, and cu authorization. Parcel f is a key component and built out of the transbay center. Spur is a strong supporter of the plan to focus regional growth in downtown San Francisco. Sculpt the downtown skyline. Invest in the transportation infrastructure, street and public realm and protect Historic Resources downtown. This location is the right place for growth due to its proximity to Regional Transit and the center for regional employment. People who work in downtown San Francisco are the most frequent users of transit. It is environment impatience pairtive we imperative we focus growth in such places. Parcel f will provide not only 165 residential units, 275,000 square feet of office, 199 hotel, ground floor retail and indoor and outdoor privately owned public open space, but in addition, will fund the construction of over 300 new affordable apartments nearby. The ground floor is designed to be oriented toward pedestrians with lobbies and retail long both howard and natoma facing the Transit Center. The design of the proposed building solves the requirements of a complicated site and building program. It will be a positive contribution to the streetscape and the skyline of the city. I urge you to affirmatively vote today on the six actions to improve the development of parcel f as a longplanned part of the Transit Center district plan, a plan that is key for the city and region. Thank you. President melgar thank you. Next speaker, please. Public comment is now closed. Did you want to chime in . Thank you. Good afternoon. Commissioners, i wanted to just jump in to touch on the variance to give a quick update. This case has six different action items on the agenda for the Planning Commission. Unfortunately, they should have had seven. There should have been a 7th item for the variance case itself that somehow did not make it on the agenda even though it was noticed. So i cant take action on it today, or it cant be considered heard, so well have to schedule the variance hearing to be scheduled at the time next special hearing to have that heard. I wanted to make that point. Hands are tied there because its not on the agenda, so we cant have that count. Having said that, came prepared to have the hearing, reviewed all the material, heard everything here today, and just for your reference, i am supportive of the variances. There is exceptional and extraordinary circumstances here with the constraints to the site, the train box below, with the mix of uses, other factors. There seems to be clear justification for the variances and im supportive of them. Obviously, well have a formal hearing in the future. President melgar thank you. That does not preclude us from taking action on the rest . Absolutely not. President melgar thank you. Commissioner koppel so ive been on this commission for threeandahalf years. This was the first meeting i accepted. Heard about the project literally threeandahalf years ago. So glad to see it here today finally. I really like the mixture that creates the true mixed use here. They were dealing with a lot of constraints with the small footprint along with the transit tunnels below. So i really think theyre making the most out of is this. This small plot of land. This definitely fits in with the neighborhood. I really like how the building accesses the public within the ground floor and also connecting to the top of the transbay park. The fees like cory smith mentioned are just astronomical. Thrilled to see the permanent jobs. And also mr. Campbell with the temporary 3,000 construction jobs. Dont forget, there is going to be a lot of apprenticeships on this job. We just swore in a new class of apprentices. Im thrilled these people are going to get a chance to work on a job like this. Which is sometimes work we dont actually get to do. Seeing rudy here and mr. On, just solidified the full support for the project. And im definitely very supportive today. President melgar thank you, commissioner. Commissioner diamond i want to echo commissioner koppels praise for all of the tremendous benefits of the project. I do have two loose ends. I have a question for mr. On. So i was very pleased to get the letter of support on behalf of all of the organizations. I assume first these are all the organizations that raised concerns at the initial general plan hearing, is that correct . Thats correct. Commissioner diamond are you satisfied that you have an executed enforceable agreement with whatever the terms were, or are those remaining steps . I believe we have executed an agreement. Commissioner diamond tau thank you. A question for the project architect. Very, very beautiful design. Reflecting many years of work. Could you address whether or not you looked at the alternative of no vehicular entry on natoma . We looked at that and a number of options. The issue is we have to have a dropoff for the hotel. And the hotel the hotel is a relatively small hotel. Its kind of in the boutique category, so its demands for vehicular drop offare modest. Because we were part of the planning in general, we bent over backwards to preserve natoma as a pedestrian environment even though there is a small incursion of cars. It literally does not work without a hotel dropoff. That is extremely important to recognize. 540 howard also has a loading dock, so it is already invading the natoma area. Interesting statistic. If you take maybe an overhead just to make the point if you look at the entire extent of the natoma pedestrian area, it is still entirely pedestrian, even though there is a dropoff here. If you look at the entire surface area of natoma environment, the dropoff represents 9 of the surface area. So we worked very, very hard to be sure that cars and pedestrians can equally occupy that space. Cars are behind ballard, so its very, very safe. The access to the parking garage below grade is actually on the property of parcel f. So that is parcel fs property to do what they need to do. But we felt that 9 incursion into that otherwise entirely pedestrian environment was a reasonable solution. Thank you. Commissioner moore i had the benefit of spending additional hours on talking about exactly that same point. I looked at the alternatives that were studied together with planning and everybody else, and its amazing to see what one thinking might be an alternative and what it comes to is better in the end, which is so finally tuned and well together, there is no way than seeing in a complex project. Particularly when the parcel is more than a third, almost half encumbered by technicalities. So i think the project on its own, aside from the quiet elegance, i think its a marvelous addition and makes the park come alive. Without it, its just a single building and a long park kind of leading to nowhere. But now youre starting to frame it. The way it integrates back into the urban environment on both sides, just slightly different building types, more streetrelated activity, i think its a fabulous project. And i think the city is making a major step having committed to one developer who can deliver on that high level of performance, but also daring to hire the same architect. Because mostly were so much into diversity and new look, et cetera, were forgetting that there is real power in the simple elegant gesture to also make the park finally that civic gesture we all have been hoping for. I was critical from day one on. Ive been on the commission for a long time. I looked at the competition. Did not feel that the park spanning that long was the right answer. And ive completely changed my mind. I also had a very interesting discussion about the tower being on the Southwest Corner of the park. Does its location and height affect the quality of putting shadow on the park . I like mr. Clark to speak to that himself. Because as were talking about it, he was kind of like interested in calling pete walker and talk about that very question. There is a very high investment in a quality park that has now already the public is owning the park. And im saying, are we losing anything . If you would speak about that. I would like to. Im going to use another graphic. Pardon me, im sketching on this drawing. So thats part of what youre seeing here. I spoke with adam green span who is a principal at pete walker partner and he was the key landscape designer for the park. Suffice it to say, he knows every species in the park. If you ever get the opportunity to walk around with adam to learn about what hes put there, you realize that everything is there for a purpose. What goes handinhand with that, from the very first moment that the park was talked about, we all asked the questions about shadows. This is a park in the middle of a city that eventually knew was going to be surrounded by high rise buildings. Immediately, its going to be in shadows. That was part of pete walker and adams consideration in terms of planting from the beginning. What is really interesting from a micro point of view, the far eastern end of the park is much foggier and wetter than the eastern end. There are dozen a micro climates within the park and a dozen subgardens that talk to each of those micro climates. The far west is the driest. Its for the prehistoric garden occurs. The shadows today actually are coming more from the east end. 181 cast a significant shadow on the park. Ive been on that east end many, many times. And broad sunlight actually, its hot certain times of the year. Its a lovely place to sit. What you realize immediately is that if its 1500 feet long and five acres, there are going to be areas of shadow, there are going to be areas of sun. It has that modulation that one finds in great parks. Its never all in sun. Its certainly never all in shadow. The Foundry Square buildings, 181 freemont, even block 5 are casting shadows on the site. What is really wonderful about that, were now able to measure a park that is there, operating in place, to see what the net effect of all of these new shadows are on the park. And there have been none. It turns out that pete walker and adam were being very sensitive to placing this within an urban context, which is never purely in the sun or purely in the shadow. It works to mod late with the light conditions. On top of that, the buildings on the northern side of the park are almost all glass. Those buildings are actually reflecting light back into the park. We had never anticipated that. That reflected light tends to fill the shadows on the south. So even though there might be a shadow on the park, if you look carefully ive done this many times within the shadow are sparkles of light. Its a measurable effect. Its mitigated the shadows and it means that the plants in shadow are getting this reflected light. So you know, the wonderful thing, it has this kind of organic quality. Its not a hypothetical as commissioner moore was just commenting on. We know exactly how its behaving. And its behaving very, very well. Commissioner moore thank you. That was a poetic way of describing it. There is no piece of paper that can make up that type of discussion. Thank you so much. President melgar thank you. Commissioner koppel well, barring any commissioners wanting to separate the items, i wanted to make a motion to approve. And ask for a little direction if we can take all six at once or not . Approval i dont see any reason why you cant. President melgar commissioner moore . Commissioner moore i would like to take the overall shadow discussion out. I owe it to my own reputation that prop k shadows is nothing i can support. That is basically my name to fame. I would appreciate if we would call that item separately. So motion to approve items 13, a, b, d, e and f. Second. President melgar very good. There is a motion that has been seconded to approve the general plan amendment to the board of supervisors and approve the planning code and zoning map amendments. Approve the downtown project authorization and Office Development allocation with conditions and the conditional use authorization. On that motion. Diamond aye. Fung aye. Johnson aye. Moore aye. Koppel aye. Melgar aye. So moved. Commissioners, that motion passes unanimously, 60. On the matter of the shadow findings, to adopt them commissioner koppel okay, yes liked to make a motion to approve item 13c. Second. On that motion then to adopt the shadow findings. Diamond aye. Fung aye. Johnson aye. Moore no. Koppel aye. Melgar aye. So moved that motion passes 51, with commissioner moore voting against. President melgar thank you. That places us on item 14, case number 2019, 2007cua. 2100 Market Street. This is a conditional use authorization. Excuse me, if you dont mind leaving the room quietly, we have additional business to attend to. Good afternoon. Planning department staff. Item before you is request for conditional use authorization to establish Financial Services use within a newly constructed vacant 2999 square foot commercial retail space located at the ground floor of 2100 Market Street. The project is seeking conditional use authorization from the Planning Commission to establish a retail use and establish a Financial Services use for the upper market neighborhood conditional transit district. It extends along Market Street from church to castro streets. Upper market is a multipurpose commercial district that provides limited convenience goods to neighborhoods and serves as a shopping street for a broader trading area. The subject property is located within a mixed use building that was approved by the Planning Commission february 2014, and completed construction 2019. Flat iron shaped lot with 129 feet of frontage on Market Street, 12 feet of Church Street and 141 feet of frontage on 14th street. The party proposes to occupy a 2999 square foot flat iron shaped commercial space with 172 square feet of frontage of Market Street. 17 feet of 56 feet on 14th street for 150 linear feet of frontage. The entrance to the Current Space is located on the Church Street frontage. Stirling bank and trust at the ground floor of the subject property. It would include improvements, but no alterations to the exterior. Sterling bank has 20 branchs in the bay area and two east coast branches. A bank is located on the market west, 2122 Market Street. The sponsor has that property terminating the lease in the near future. They conducted a survey in december of 2019. It was a 300 foot radius from the project site. The study found there are three existing formula retail establishments out of 47 active commercial uses. These include compass real estate, coffee, crossroads trading, 24 hour fitness, walgreens and the existing Sterling Bank. The lots contain the structure of the Safeway Shopping Center is located outside the 300foot radius. Sense the bank has been since the bank has been relocated, there would be no nominal increase to the establishment, but 303, the criteria in which the Commission Shall consider the project, the analysis for retail concentration area is review of the linear footage of store frontage. Its 20. 6 of total commercial linear frontage within the 300foot radius. The bank is proposed to be relocated to a space with 150 linear feet of frontage resulting in net increase of 125 linear feet. This would result in the concentration of 26. 6 . 303, the conditional use criteria provides that within the upper market if an application would bring the formula retail concentration within 300foot radius to concentration of 20 or more the planning staff shall recommend disapproval of the application to the Planning Commission. The study also found that there are 10 vacant commercial store fronts and the total of 57 store fronts in the area. That is 17. 5 . Department has received a fair amount of Public Comments regarding this project. At the time of the case report, the department received three letters in support. The castro merchants, the district and the Eureka Valley. Since the publishing of the case report, the department has received three additional letters in support which include the council of merchants association, a founder of the academy, a local business and the letter signed by the members and management of sf pride and prc. The department has received nine letters in opposition from neighbors living within the vicinity of the project and letter from the triangle Neighborhood Association. They share a concern about the size of the space, and the limited commercial and pedestrian activity that results from a bank. Since the report, two additional letters were received in opposition from local residents. These are available for review online and i have hard copies if the commissioners would like to review. Further requirements of section 303, the Department Recommends disapproval of the conditional use authorization as the project would result in an increase concentration to above 20 in an already concentrated area in the upper market. This concludes staff presentation and im available for questions. President melgar thank you. Do we have a presentation from the project sponsor . Yes, just a minute while we set up. Good afternoon. My name is walter. Im the attorney for serling bank and trust. Commissioners, Sterling Bank does not seek to establish a Financial Service in the upper market castro community. Theyre already an integral part of that community and have been for 24 years, but the lease is up and they need to move. They seek to move next door. Literally next door as you can see. Can we have the computer . Literally next door, you can see on the lefthand side of the screen, the existing branch. The proposed branch is just on the righthand side of the screen. Thats all were talking about here. The report assumes that the choice is between sterling staying where they are or moving next door. Thats a false choice. The lease is up, either theyre moving next door or out of the neighborhood. The staff report says that the nextdoor move is allowed, the concentration of retail in the neighborhood will go from 20. 6 to 26. 6 , a total which staff urges is significant. I urge you that 6 , which is shown the difference shown on the pie graphs is a very insignificant, diminimous number and the number is inflated and misleading and thats because we were instructed to only count spaces that are already occupied. What we didnt count is all the unoccupied spaces in the neighborhood. And the veritable plague of v c vacancies in the neighborhood which i live as well. Lets face it, the real significant number is the large and ever growing number of vacancies. These photos that were showing now show just some these are 15 photos just some of the vacancies within a twoblock radius. The last thing this neighborhood needs is another vacant space. I would point out there are more vacant retail spaces than available. The third point i want to make is not all retail banks are the same. The three others in the neighborhood, chase has 5100 branches worldwide. Wells fargo has 8,000 as you can see on the chart there. Even bank of the west has 600. Stirling has 26 total and half of them are here in San Francisco. It is truly a locally focused organization. I want to say about the 303d1 reason why this petition is recommended to be denied, that law says that if the application would bring the total over 20 , it would be denied, but as staff indicated, its already over 20 . So that section does not even apply. With that, i want to turn it over to Sterling Bank and trust senior Vice President. Thank you, commissioners. My name is steve adams. Senior Vice President of Sterling Bank and trust. Our lease is up at 22 Market Street, so i need to move that bank. I just want to move it next door. I got unanimous approval from the castro merchants, Eureka ValleyNeighborhood Association and the castro cbd. Im a community bank. Im not wells fargo, im not b of a, im not a big bank. Were one of the last banks in San Francisco that runs on sro housing. Its one of the reason i want to stay at that end of Market Street. People say what about the other spaces . I spent seven years as president of the castro merchants. We have a high concentration of banks at market and castro. There is no other banks down at the other end. Were one of the last banks that lend on the sros and a lot of the sro clients are in that part of Market Street. A lot of the people who live in these aros, i banks them on the bank of San Francisco program, which the other banks dont. 95 of the people that i bank in the bank of San Francisco program bank at my Market Street branch. Ive been involved in the neighborhood for over 24 years. When i was president of the castro merchants, i, along with others, brought the milk movie to the neighborhood. I along with others brought the Farmers Market to castro. The bank is one of the few banks that supports the castro holidays. Were one of the few that support windows for harvey. I work with the sisters of perpetual indulgence on pink saturday, putting up the bank branch to put cash in the branch at 2 00 and 3 00 in the morning when other banks wouldnt. Ive been the treasurer of the castro street fair. So were involved in the community. And what im asking you today, is i dont want to leave the neighborhood. I paid my diaw dues and i want to continue paying my dues in the neighborhood. I live in the neighborhood and there is a lot of people here helping support me stay in the neighborhood. Thank you. President melgar thank you. We will now take Public Comment on this item. I have several speaker cards. Line up on the lefthand side and come on up. My name is robert. Im actually going to read a note from andrea she had to leave early. Im on the castro cbd retail committee. Im also head of research for cushman and wakefield in northern california, so my job is to track the retail and commercial real estate markets across the region. And im also a resident of the castro. So first from andrea, speaking for andrea, executive director for the castro Community Benefit district. Im here today to share the cbd strong support for the project. Sterling bank is a Good Neighbor with a strong history of giving back to the community. Theyre proposing a move next door to the Current Space. The cbd understands that this move puts them this corner over the limit, however, we also understand this is the Planning Commissions role to consider the realities on the ground. And sometimes a variety of department recommendations. Were asking you to do this. The castro is suffering from commercial vacancievacancies. Not allowing sterling to move into the spot will cause a vacancy at this visible corner. It will add to 15th and cheyenne sanchez, another visible vacancy. This space is large and the restaurants are trending toward fast casual and smaller spaces. Several restaurants have gone out of business in this neighborhood recently. The only new business opening in the castro tend to be coffee shops. The corner of church and market is saturated with these types of businesses and we urge you to work with us to vote yes on this agenda item. Thats it. Thank you for andrea. For myself, personally, tracking real estate and tracking retail in San Francisco has been a challenge. No doubt about it. From union square, which is suffering from high vacancy now and vacancy rate that is going to go up further. So neighborhoods, my neighborhood, the castro, which is suffering recently from body Clothing Store closing on castro street and from cafe flora closing just down the block. We need more retail, however we can get it. Retail has changed essentially forever and its affecting all markets around the world. And San Francisco is certainly having its issues across the board. So im hoping that we can create a retail, a lively Retail Store Front at this corner and keep it active. Thank you. President melgar thank you. Next speaker, please. Thank you, commissioners, for allowing me to speak on behalf of this project. My name is joseph. Ive been asked to present the following statement on behalf of president of castro merchants, and owner broker. Sterling bank has been a part of our community for many years. Sterling bank has always provided outstanding Financial Services to many people in our community. Sterling bank and steve adams have demonstrated their support to the Community Time and time again in many ways. I am in full support of their permit request per relocation to 2100 Market Street. I strongly feel that a denial of their permit would be a gross injustice to Sterling Bank and to our community. Thank you. President melgar thank you. Next speaker, please. Hi, everyone. My name is kent. Im here i live about two doors down from the current Sterling Bank and the proposed one. And im here in support as a neighbor. I met steve adams at the academy, which is a social and Community Club a couple of doors down. Hes the real deal. He runs a local bank. Im a Small Business owner. I have a lot of friends who are Small Business owners. Im gay. And hes part of our community. He literally runs a bank two doors down from me where you can walk in as a drag queen and be taken seriously about funding a project that youre doing two streets down. And there is anyone who wants to say he cant stay in the neighborhood, that he cant move next door, just i cant even believe were having the conversation. Steve is the real deal. I dont know if im allowed to say this, but hes also the president of the Small Business commission, so he has he wears a lot of hats. Sometimes hes the president of the merchants group, sometimes hes this. Hes there. Hes in the community. And he represents the bank. And theyre real and i go to them for advice and counsel. Theyre a local establishment that serves our community. And he wants to move next door and i think hes awesome. Even if there were no vacancies, even if all of the stuff that is going on which everyone is going to speak much more eloquently than me about, even if that was the case, i would still be here supporting him and his local bank that supports us as Small Businessmen who are sometimes the minority. And he has always made me feel and my other friends who are in Small Business in the neighborhood like were just as important as everybody else and i support him. President melgar thank you. Next speaker, please. Hello. My name is paul miller. Im the owner of a Small Business on the same block and i live in that neighborhood as well. I came down today in support for a couple of reasons. One as previously said, it is important to have a bank there in that neighborhood. If you want to use a smaller bank, there really isnt an option in that area. Youre either forced to use chase or wells fargo is really the only option. And if you want to support small local bank, there isnt anything for us to use. And that would be only four doors down from our business. So id like, if we had the opportunity, to continue to do so. The other thing which im understanding is an issue, is apparently the amount of store frontage it takes up. Having been in the neighborhood for some time, i can tell you that my feeling is actually the opposite. Im hoping that they can move so they can take up more street space. Part of the problem is, you walk down that block, it feels like things are closing. So even if its the same amount of businesses to take up more space and look in and see traffic, many of you know who come out of the church and market muni station there, often there are Homeless People creating encampments and while this is not going to solve the problem, it certainly makes it feel like youre not going through a slum, instead, youre on a busy street. And lastly, i wanted to comment on the fact that i understand that some people are frustrated with the developer for the way theyve handled this. And i know that some people arent necessarily thrilled how theyre using the residential space up above. But this isnt what were here for today. What were talking about is can this bank go into this space . I think its quite separate. I understand we would love