Transcripts For SFGTV Planning Commission 20240712

27th remote hearing. They require everyones attention and most of all your patients. If you are not speaking, mute your microphone and turn off your video camera to enable Public Participation sfgovtv is broadcasting and streaming the hearing live and we will receive Public Comments for each item on todays agenda. Comments or opportunities to speak during the Public Comment period are available by calling and entering the access code. When your item is reached and you would like to submit Public Comment, press star 3 to be added to the queue. Each speaker will be allowed up to three minutes to speak and when you have 30 seconds remaining you will hear a climb indicating your time and up and i will announce that your time is up and take the next person cued to speak. Best practises are to call from a quiet location, speak clearly and slowly, and please, mute the volume on your television or computer. Id like to take roll at this time. [roll call] first is consideration of items opposed for continuesance, case nur 20203448pca for the state mandated accessory dwelling unit controls planning code amendments is proposed for continuance to november 5th, 2020 items 2a and 2b for 201814357gpr for the Mission Bay South plan amendments general plan confirm tee findings and 1450 owen Street Office Development Authorization and are proposed to november 19th, 2020. Items 3a and b for case numbers 2015. 0511dnx and cua for the downtown property of 1125 Market Street, a downtown project authorization and conditionally use authorization business december 3rd, 2020. Dr approximate at 56 scenic way and review has been withdrawn. Commissioners, we should take Public Comment so at the time, members of the public, if you wish to submit testimony on the matters proposed for continuance, only on the matters of continuance, press star 3 to be entered into the queue and commissioners, i see no members of the public requesting to speak at this time. So, Public Comment is closed. The matter is now before you. Commissioner imperial. To continue items 1 to 4 as noted. Second. On that motion [roll call vote] clerk that motion passes 50. Placing on commission matters. Consideration with option draft minutes for october 8th, 2020. We should take Public Comment. Members of the public this is your opportunity to speak to the minutes. I see no members of the public requesting to speak. Public comment is closed and the matter is now before you commissioners. Move to approve the minutes. Second. Thank you, on that motion to adopt the minutes, [roll call vote] on that motion, that motion passes unanimously 50. Item 6, commissioner comments and questions. We can move on to item 7, announcements. We have a report to the Controllers Office and theyre compiling a report but again, its not looking good and were protecting about a 19 milliondollar shortfall in revenues to get back on our total revenue budget of about 45 million and this may change and as we move forward in the year theres two factors at play and theyre kind of driving this lower than expected. Phase 1 is the economy and the downturn wore seeing less applications than in the prior year and also, working with dbi because of covid, weve limited the number of permits who are actually taking in at the permit centre so that is leading to additional reduction. Well keep you, well work with dbi to troy to expand the number of permits that we take in on a daily basis and which hope it will help and keep you apprise of that but i want today give you a sense of where we are and what we protected in the Controllers Office and that concludes my report. Thank you, director. Seeing no questions from the commissioners, we can move on to item 8 review of past events at the board of supervisors board of appeals in the historic reservation commission. Good afternoon, commissioners. Aaron star. Management of legislative affairs. At this weeks plant use hearine was the lion martin house and not significant for its architecture the lion martin house is significant for its Clear History as a longterm residents for phyllis line and del martin and and this just the nichation and the designation will need to go before the Historic Preservation commission for review and approval for vote of the board, the issue was recommended to the full board as a committee report. At the full board this week, the board considered the cu appeal for the field lights at saint the ceqa a well and the the board voted to sendai the ceqa appeal but continued the cu appeal to the next board hearing. This week supervisor marra mended the conditions on the cu and restrict the usage of the lights. The field lights may only be used monday through thursday and dimmed no later than 8 00 a. M. And turned off at 8 30. The commission had this requirement at 8 30 to turn down the lights and 9 00 to turn them o lights will still be allowed to operate 115 minutes a year as the commission conditioned. And restrictions on the sound system or amplified sounds stating there shall not be used past 7 30 and the Commission Restricted the sound system to 9 30 p. M. Supervisor mar did include exceptions to be limitations as to the commission. For no more than 15 evenings a year the lights may remain until 10 00 p. M. On any day of the week except sunday. In by 9 30 and the lights shall be dim by 3 9 30 p. M. The commission allowed 20 evenings a year and fort lights to be off by 10 with no specified dimming requirement. Efforts must be hosted by the project serving saint i guess in a anxious students and those from opposing teams and the commission allowed some of these events to be hosted by affiliates of s. I. See no questions from the commissioners so i will move on to the report from the historic reservation. Theres no report from the board of appeals. To have approval of applicants and first being secret studios on cesar chavez and washington vegetable on gerald avenue, ea Yoga Association of Northern California on sutter street, and monroe motors on valencia street. Don ramones Mexican Restaurant on 11th street and mayson street. Its initiated lapped mark of le ywca the womens building on sutter street. That concludes my report for the Historic Preservation commission and seeing no questions from the commissioners, we can move on to general Public Comment. At this time, members of the public may address the commission on items of interest to the public but within the subject matter jurisdiction of the commission except agenda ideas with respect to agenda items it will be afforded when the item is reached in the meeting. Each member of the public may address the commission for up to three minutes. When the number of speakers exceed the 15 minute limit, general Public Comment may be moved to the end of the agenda. Members of the public, this is your opportunity to press star 3 to be entered into the queue for general Public Comment. I thought we were going to get away request no general Public Comment. Theres one caller. Caller hi, good afternoon. Its george a, hope everybody is ok. I submitted a timeline for the record and it comprises these apartment time lines up until 2006 with a history of the demolition legislation for the two decades prior to that and then expanded version of today which granted from my viewpoint, my perspective but i think its pretty factual, except i just realised that i made a typo or an error on the date that it was passed which was actually may 17th, not may 15th, 2007. Which was when the resolution was passed. How much the corrected copy to mr. Rayonen and since its for the record i want to be right. I know you have a lot of reading to do in your jobs but i hope you can take some time to read the time lines and that is it. Have a good day. Happy halloween. Have a happy break and talk to you after the election. Byebye. Thank you. Last call for Public Comment. Seeing none, commissioners, we can close general Public Comment and move on to item 9, case number 20190002900imp for the 1145 Market Street informational presentation for the abbreviated institutional master plan. Is staff prepared to make their presentation . Yes. Hi, good afternoon commissioners. Im samantha with department staff. The case before you is the abbreviated institutional master plan for your consideration by the schools at kgi. The first such submittal by the institution. The schools is partnered with keck graduate for liberal arts and science Science Education to students from around the world. All classes are fewer than 20 students through an Online Technology platforms. Their fouryear undergraduate offers are immersive, programmes that combine inner disciplinary academics with global residential rotations and five cities including San Francisco. Undergraduate students are encouraged to live in minerva Student Housing and participate in learning programmes. With individuals and organizations in each city. Minerv offers a twoyear parttime graduate degree with is a non Residential Programme completed to minervas Online Learning platform. Through the affiliation with kgi its accredited by the person Senior College and university commission. The regional credit or for california hawaii and the pacific islands. The school is Administrative Offices are located at 1145 Market Street on the ninth floor. The 10,000 square foot space is shared with two related entities. The minerva which owns the property used in minerva educational programmes and the institute for research and scholarships. A 5013c for funding, grants and advocacy. While the programmes are supported by 170 faculty and staff and only 40 in the San Francisco office. The school Student Housing at 216 turning street is undergoing the process converting the existing Tourist Hotels to our residential youth. The 40,000 square foot historic structure would contain 105room and house 200 students during their residential rotation of San Francisco. Feature expansions of their office and Student Housing are not anticipated at this time. To date, the department has not received any Public Comment. Theres no action required on this item. However, the commission has discretion under the planning code to hold a public hearing on the s abbreviated imp and the im includes all the information required by the planning code section 304. 5 and staff recommending accepting it without holding a public hearing. This concludes the presentation for the item and im available for questions and is a representative from the minuter va school. We have 40 and this is our second year of a 10year lease and we have put in precautions to prevent the spread of coronavirus. We thought you might be interested in that but i would welcome any questions that members have. Fantastic. We should open this up for Public Comment. This is the opportunity to submit your testimony by pressing star 3 to get into the queue. Seeing no members of the public requesting to speak commissioners, Public Comment is closed. And the matter is before you. Commissioner imperial. I have a question to the project sponsor regarding the Student Housing. In our documents it looks like Church Street and from currently it looks like it is a current Tourist Hotel and can you explain or elaborate or give us a background on that . It was a Tourist Hotel and weve occupied it as Student Housing since september of last year. We submitted our imp during the summer of last year. So it is currently being used as Student Housing. It did not have to be majorly remodeled or reconfigured in anyway in order for us to occupy it as Student Housing, the rooms are mostly double rooms with two students in them with a bath and theres a big lobby and a big communal kitchen and the owner of the building upgraded it significantly in order for us to occupy the building so its a much nicer building now. Is that responsive to what you needed to know . Yes. And also, i have another question, how much students are you anticipating for, you know, it looks like about 200 students are coming in or you already have existing 140 students . We have about 140 students living in the building right now. The capacity is up to about 200 students but given the coronavirus and the inability of our largely Global Student body, about 80 of our students come from other countries about 60 Different Countries and many students were not able to come to study inperson this semester so we have a lower occupancy than we would normally have which is probably a preferred zoos there no transmission of the virus and wove been very fortunate wove had those pro cautions in place since february and we have not had any cases of coronavirus. For the planner, im assuming that the building will be coming back to Planning Commission for authorization . Can you hear me now . The conversion from the Tourist Hotel to the residential use does not require commission approval. We do have a variance hearing scheduled for december 3rd. Just because it was a commercial building before and going to residential and doesnt mean all of the Development Standards are things like exposure in year yard and which are under review and in the Holding Patterns for the imp and the variance. Thank you for clarifying the process and thank you project sponsor for answering the questions. Thank you. Commissioner fung. Move to accept the abbreviated imp without a public hearing. Second. Im not sure its a formal motion that needs to be made but by closing the public hearing, essentially you accept the abbreviated institutional master plan if, for example, you wanted more information or to expand on any of the required information as part of the institutional master plan. We would continue it but by closing the public hearing, it is sufficient to accept the abbreviated institutional master plan so if the chair would be so inclined. That will work for me. Lets move on. So, thank you president koppel the public hearing on this matter is closed. Lets take up items 10a and b for 2017011878ofa and pha02 at 42023rd street at the potrero power station. You have see he have a major modification. Is staff prepared to make their presentation. Y. I am. Good afternoon president koppel and commissioners. Monday i Canal Department staff. We are a request for an Office Allocation from the Office Development annual limitation programme large cap and authorizing up to 403,000 of the 150 square feet of General Office use and the off street the power station mixed use project consists of a master plan for a 29acre former Industrial Site that includes numerous benefits and amenities and on january 30th, 2020, the Planning Commission certified the project eir with findings under the California Environmental quality act and recommended approval of general plan amendments the board of supervisors approved the project master plan and Development Agreement. The project sponsor and amendment for the phasing plan and the phasing plan amendment and eir addendum were approved on october 6th, 2020 by the planning director. The approval actions before you today solely concerns blocks 15 which is located between humboldt and 23rd street on the western side of the larger it contains and mixed use phoning and the power station special use district and a pps and 240pps heighten both districts. The proposed Office Development authorization would establish up to 403,750 square feet of General Office use within the existing station and a proposed story and compliance with the requirement planning code. In addition to the Office Development authorization, the project sponsor a major modification from the off street loading enter trance requirements and as provided in the special use district, the project sponsor may request in the Planning Commission may approve the deviation of 10 or more from any standard within the design for development. It provides for a 2020foot maximum offset loading and the project sponsor requests the modification to create a 33foot loading entrance on the building facade. To date the project sponsor has conducted Robust Community engagement efforts with neighbours and residents of do dogpatch and potrero hill. About the proposed design and land use of station a. Attends of these Community Outreach events and outreach and the San Francisco building and construct trades will have ensure sustainable Career Pathways into Union Construction through apprenticeship and San Francisco heritage also submitted a let tore share theyre pleased with station a has been moved into phase 1 so stablation work may begin. They state the project will create a unique landmark for San Francisco that celebrates the sites industrial path. Potrero boosters proteasome an d it incorrectly references the job housing Linkage Programme and this will be removed in the final motion. And the Department Finds that the project is on balance consistent with the objectives and approval will allow essential structural upgrades, rehabilitation and on going stewardship of the historic station a and instituting an office use and a sensitively designed project. It will also demonstrate a commitment to the Land Use Plan already established for the site and Development Agreement. The increased off street loading entrance will not impact any adjacent properties and will allow large trucks to more easily navigate the narrow radius. Over all the project will increase employ i employment and compliment the land uses that are proposed for this waterfront community. Meeting the intent of the Development Agreement. Based on the findings included in the case report, the department recommend approval of the project with conditions. This concludes my presentation. The project sponsor Team Including enrique and jason will follow with a presentation as well. I am also available for any questions that you may have. Thank you. It sounded like there was feedback when i initially did so turn down the volume on your computer or your television, however you are monitoring it. There it is again. If you could mute on your own theres feedback when i inmute you. Ms. Chang . It could be that they have not unmuted or they havent muted the web ex so maybe mute webex but unmute the phone . Theres terrible feedback coming from your microphone. Move your papers away from your microphone . Yes, can you hear me now without an echo. Yes, we can. Perfect. Thank you. This is enrique. Were proud to bring forward the first building of the project. This is an important building with an ambitious preservation plan that is wellloved by the community. Were before you today and allocation a major modification of off street landing and next slide, please. Today marks an important step for the project. The power plant closed as a result of the Community Driven process. This first building is here before you today is a result of the community and the hard work it did to close this power station. When my firm bought the property we continued to actively engage our Community Holding hundreds of events with tens of thousands of people as wen title the project. Were proud that this project reached consensus, next slide. As was evidenced by the support the project received during the approval hearing in january. This commission unanimously approved this project and since then, the project went on to be unanimously approved by every public body including the board of supervisors, the Port Commission and bcdc. Next slide. Im proud of this station a first building were bringing forward and work will begin to stabilize, preserve and this first building is response to the communitys request that it be stabilized early in the project and im very proud that it is in our first phase. I will turn it over to Jason Franzen who will lead you through the design of the building and take your questions afterwards. Thank you. If you can unmute ginas television. He is joining via the phone not the webex link. Thank you. Whats her phone number . Im happy to present to you today. It has been a number of years since the completed this young museum and were thrilled to be working in San Francisco again. Today i will present our design for the adaptive views the station a power station. Our design started with an understanding. When you took on this project there were two aspects that were important and i think you can see here the conditions were also working on block 11 and 12 together within the throw projects they frame the public space that inaudible . This building station a deserves a new life. That is i think something that we realised early on. The building is not only beautiful but its also valuable and has a lot of materials and structure that can be reutilized and this is an important sustainable objective. We look at the past and realised that actually the architecture is not complete. There was distance torn down which is the process i know aud that has been a pattern. We learned from our own past experience the different projects adaptive reuse projects and and similar example and the converted these are actually foundations that are the New Buildings up above and this is allowing us to reduce the amounts of new foundations and additional concrete structure. Next slide. We can see here this addition on top is trying to restructure which transfers its functional and i think creating a dynamic experience. Its something we wanted to work with and retain. Next slide. Actually in the state of decay, theres a remember opening you see and theyre not intended as a facade and theyre part of the infrastructural process and theyre expected to purchase but they make them do and they are to do and realise early on that we inaudible to avoid messing this up. We want to improve it. You can see here they have been aviv and bring light in and law and in general, west to north and we have actually added that opening and we would be allowed and on the east validation we retained the windows that exist on the south and on the west where you have a solid brick wall weve added emulating the south elevation in order to bring daylight and reactivate that space and beyond. Next slide. You can see the different kind of openings that responds in a different condition and on the east, where you have these existing openings and we recessed in glass in order to emphasis and next slide. You can see that as the public is left and to ga lane and going from east to west and where they can access the lobby and people can experience historic interpretive salvage display that will explain the history of the building and you can learn and look into windows into inaudible . You can see that the opening that is created for the passage bor owes from the industrial character of these existing foundation. You have windows allowing people to experience that kind of architecture. Next slide. Its crucial and because it is sitting on an existing structure and we want to utilize the new structure to the greatest potential and its lightweight next slide. The character of this we looked at the industrial arc tuckture that we find in the neighbourhood with inaudible with unit 3 and the historical architecture, the induce tremendousal architecture and the dry dock in this neighbourhood. Next slide. You can see the first image from the outside and sitting on top of the masonry structure below and next slide. And the material pallet will be similar to what you find in a mixture of concrete, brick, metal, glass, and as we go forward and were ending the potential we will inaudible . Next slide. You can see a view looking down. As vision a on the left up above and preliminary inaudible . The horizontal structure is very important function from a shaving standpoint. We want to make it as sustainable as possible and creating bringing shading through reduced energy load is important and beneficial for the experience and the idea and help them give the surface area for fuller energy and next slide. Here is a zoom showing what that looks like. The roof is a vital component and this building will be visible from the west and we wanted to do something to the architecture that we find there and it recognizes able and the safe and about the architecture that is happening below. Next slide. We started by looking at the historical roof on the building and its a very simple bump. Next slide. We realized that we had to work within the steps building envelope and it created the National Challenges that interesting results. Next slide. You can see here that the roof and that envelope and its important for tenants imposing the climate that we have today and it would look down and bringing it up in life into this future neighbourhoods and next slide. Creating a link here as you can see creating a very voice blee recognizable form on the skyline from the water. And we see the view from the park looking back. Thats my presentation. Thank you. Thank you. That concludes project sponsors presentation. We can go to Public Comment. Members of the public this is your opportunity to submit testimony by pressing star and 3 to be entered into the queue. Through the chair, you will be provided two minutes. Should you mute your volume on your computer or television, however you are watching before you submit your testimony, please. Caller im keith gold stone the president of the potrero merchants association. Im also the chair of the eastern Neighbourhoods Community advisory committee. And im speaking here to support this excellent project and i also have inaudible . The developers here have continued to exude community expectations. The Community Benefits are just superb. Theyve been noted before. The hiring of such a well regarded arc. Teri actuaarchitect actual d as we repair a contract for many years, of working on many large historic projects. Frankly i didnt expect the owners to undertake the huge expense of restoring station a. I did listen to the community and theyve stepped up with great preservation and excellent design. I cant wait to show them the waterfront to visit the power station and i strongly endorse the station a design. Thank you, very much. Caller good afternoon, commissioners, im allison heather, chair of the potrero boosters development committee. When i was last with you for a power station hearing, i spoke specifically about protections for station a. The build out was slated for development during phase 4 in 2028. So much could go wrong to this important but fragile structure during the passage of time and construction mishap. I was dough lighted and pushed to the first phase. On top of that to hear that we have inaudible as architect, keep in mind that potrero hill and dogpatch have lark lustre arc taug and develop that is concerned with the bottom line than estheticses and Historic Preservation but we have a visionary design that respects its context and honours our industrial heritage. This will be a unique landmark that we can be proud to have as a neighbour. I am deeply grateful to the project team for their commitment to our community. Thank you. Hi, commissioners, my name is bruce hughie im a local dogpatch resident. Im a you few blocks from the development site. I just wanted to give you my vote of support for this project and ask for your support. The desigthe design and the devt team spent energy and interest with adjacent neighbour reaction to design proposals. The neighbours, myself included, appreciate the consistent approachable openminded and collaborative style of the team and the main kudos i want to convey and there are through of them, a thoughtful and genuine Community Outreach to dogpatch in the neighbourhoods and secondly theres an investment in dog patch as a neighbourhood infrastructure and coordination with adjacent neighbourhoods. Lastly, theres delivery on an ambitious project worthy of an opportunity in dog patch and the city of San Francisco. I ask you support this project. Thank you so much for your time. Caller good afternoon, commissioners, this is Cynthia Gomez from local 2. Thank you. So, i apologize that the letter of support that we have for the project probably did not make it into the packet. I neglected to copy the planner. Local 2 is in support of this project. The potrero power station project, the development reached out to us early on in the process and brought us along and this process includes listening to housing and a hotel which would make creative use of the Building Elements of the decommissioned power station. We signed an agreement with the power sponsor regarding the jobs and a gun tee from a fair and neutral process and they have done the work to listen to and secure the support the Community Stakeholders and this should be a model for how someone, the process of someone following if they want to bring a hotel to San Francisco and were in support of this project and we join, as youve heard, other Community Stakeholders in asking for your support for its approval today. Thank you. Members of the public, this is last call for Public Comment on this matter. You need to press star 3 to be entered into the queue. Commissioners, i see no i take it back. Go ahead, caller. Caller hi, there, this is victoria fong with architects. I was wondering if this project gets approved, would there be any lbe or slbe Participation Requirements and or other ways for local businesses to get involved . This is not a question and answer period. You may submit your testimony and then followup with the planner. Thank you. Ok. Members of the public, last call for Public Comment. Seeing no additional requests to speak, commissioners, the Public Comment portion of the hearing is closed and the matter is before you. Director hillis. Thank you, mr. President. I just wanted to give just some quick additional context on the Office Allocation commissioner diamond and i had a conversation earlier about this. I think it kind of is appropriate to inform the entire commission. Since this is one of your first large cap allocations under the new prop e rules, just to give you some context, we just received october 17th, the annual allocation which was less than the typical allocation because now its based on the percentage of Affordable Housing that weve created compared to the arena goal. Its in the 500,000 range. Regardless of what you do today, that Office Allocation of the total bank is likely to be used in the coming months both from port projects as well as central soma projects which can take the bank negative and so that will likelikely happen regardless oft happens in this project. The reason were here today in support of this project moving forward in using that allocation, is because of what you heard today. The adaptive reuse in design of station a and the Public Benefits that came with the Development Agreement to housing Affordable Housing public space in infrastructure in the figure public support this project has. I want today give that context and im happy to answer any questions as we move forward with deliberations. Thank you. Lets hear from commission moore. Commissioner moore, you may be muted. Sorry about that. Thank you director hillis for setting the stage and explaining the background to the Office Allocations, the community throughout the process of master planning, preliminary master planning, final master planning and entitlement in eir has been loud and clear and participatory and as we move to the approval to see what happened today is absolutely awesome. For this project to put the focus on station a which is at the heart of the communitys voice, couldnt be more appropriate particularly as we are setting ourselves up for the landmark that the city hasnt had for a long time. There is San Francisco would have it station a. I am in full, more than full support of what was proposed to your experience to have highly com tent architect move forward and take us through something which we have been waiting and supporting and i couldnt be more supportive that we in deed allocate the required Office Allocation to this today. Thank you. Commissioner diamond. I too amex trolley supportive of this project. I think its an incredible example of creative adaptive reuse. I particularly like the mid block passageway. I think it is a great opportunity to look into the old building and i love the use of the shapes in the original building and i do agree it will be a unique and much desired feature not only in the neighbourhood but the skyline and of course were appreciative of all the effort the developer went to to develop the outpouring of community suppose sort support today and the prior phases that weve seen of this project. The only little detail that i would ask staff to pay particular attention to, when they do their design review, which they retained the authority under condition nine to do, has to do with the exterior fabric shading which i understand from the project sponsor is a teacher that still requires a great deal of study so i would ask staff to make sure that the project sponsor provides specifications regarding the Materials Operations use, maintenance and viability of the proposed rule down shades for you and approval by the Planning Department staff prior to approval of the Building Permit. Aside from that dough tail, i am extremely supportive of this project. Commissioner imperial. Thank you. I also share the sentiment though for our other commissioners morin and diamond and thank you for clarification. Director hillis regarding the Office Allocation cap and around the Affordable Housing, i too, its very supportive of the project. I truly appreciate the Community Planning and the Community Feedback that was really part of this project. I respect that the project sponsor put a lot of thought and the idea of incorporating design and Historic Preservation. I also applaud snow squalls were approving for major modifications on phasing that theyre also prioritizing or incorporating Community Uses for or during this phasing. I am greatly supportive of this. I do want to approve this project. I will second that motion. Before i go on to commissioner moore, i just wanted to also hey, hats off to the developer for doing their Due Diligence getting everyone on board and everyone from the construction to the. We see this build out overtime. I talked with enrique as well as who has been involved in this for a long time. Also coming from the pier 70 side of the waterfront to reconsider that station a and pier 70 have a more stronger connection particularly now with putting this major emphasis on station a. Theres a building in the way where the district passage to pier 70 if this continues and we encourage that that particular be picked up again as we move forward and starting to have these two sides and strong dialogue in north south direction rather than only coming to the side from the other way. Seeing no further questions to speak and having a motion that has been seconded, i will call the question on that motion. Commissioners, move this matter with conditions. Commissioner diamond [roll call vote] so moved, commissioners, that months passes 50. That will place us on item 11 for case number 2014. 073cua at 1950 page street. This is a conditional use and on october 8th, 2020 the Public Comment [please stand by] at the hearing i suggested discussing three issues, shadow privacy impacts and to discuss the house rationale. We sent an email that night to everyone we knew. We held a meeting with six attendees this tuesday. The issues that were raised at the zoom meeting were student population and neighbors asked us to reduce the student population. The white zone lane which is part of the circulation report and they wanted us to reduce the wipe up zones to the embarcadero and shuttle students to school. And also ask questions about school affiliation. We also had direct contact with the two adjacent neighbors. They didnt to express their satisfaction. And we had several other email exchanges. And well and it will be part of the parent contract therell be consequences. In blue you can see the existing shadow and green was the original fivefoot setback. You can see the shadows fall on the roof. Youve had three minutes. Commissioners may ask you questions. Members of the public this is your opportunity to enter your testimony by entering through the area you have one minute. Caller good afternoon im representing myself a 28year plus resident across the street from this property at 1951 payne street. I have heard from one of the residents who expressed concerns over the project. Also there were requests reviewed or managed by mta and look at the implement and the problems theyve had with street congestion and parking. Thank you. Caller im carl russo 1965 payne street. I live across the street. The neighbors were never given the justification for expanding the school to fit 250 students. They say there are 43. Ive asked this in two separate meetings. The first time director said she arrived at the number based on advice to plug something in and presumably from the hired planner and the second time just last week i asked whether a profession study or prospectus was drawn up to include the 250 student enrollment and these six residen residents residences now and said they arrived it what sounded like spit balling through Advertising Department and meetings with staff. It seems like a rather flimsy estimate as an expansion. Members of the public, last call for testimony and enter the key by pressing star and 3. Theres one more caller. Caller i across the street at 197 page and i feel this has been pushed through in quick time and was unaware until september but there was a traffic plan dated 2019 and i think the time frame is being rushed through and without really the neighbors and the residents being involved in the process. Thank you. Members of the public, last time for Public Comment. Seeing no one, Public Comment is closed and the matter is before you. Commissioner commissioner diamond. I was pleased to see the additional conditions on but would like to hear the rest of the presentation based on the housing units. Id like to id like to understand more with respect to the design change. Thank you. Can you hear me . Commissioner yes. Great. So basically the other units was based on a large common area and adults require privacy we converted to studio units. Each unit has a full bath and kitchen. Theres still a common area its been reduced slightly in size because we had to expand the individual units for studios larger than group hubs and we lost one unit which is a shame because we were trying to make i its a maximum numb and the teachers can get together and socialize if they want but as the commission pointed out these are adults and they probably deserve privacy and independence. And commissioner id be prepared to approve the project today. Ill call on commissioner moore. Commissioner i didnt hear you. Commissioner i was going to second the motion and call on you. Commissioner the question is [indiscernible] it would require the three studios on the west side the exposure. Commissioner thank you for confirming that. The studio units are more desirable. Before i did not find the reduction in the communal space being functional for a living room outside the studio itself. What studio is narrow and 10 feet but not enough to resemble more new york type studio. I would have liked to have heard the Community Come forward and see they see eye to eye and are supportive of each other. I do not see that. I do not have evidence other than what the revised motion has therell be monitors and the promote measures being taken to deal with it. I would like to ask we get a one year or shorter report on the project which we often do and if the maker agrees i ask we add that as part of the condition. Ill take it back. Well take the recommendation. Commissioner i may not have properly looked at it and if im correct we need to make a motion of intent. Is that so . Yes, would need to cancel approval with the changes and staff will make the necessary revisions so the motion for approval. Okay. If youve already submit the language as part of your packet or if theres only six conditional agreements youre making i think the commission can adopt that motion today because you read them in to the record. Did you not . I did not. If you did we can approve the matter today. If you submitted them in the packet its record enough. Okay. I think is that my computer or is there significant background noise . I believe its from the sponsor. Ill mute them. Commissioner okay. Thank you. Having sat on the board of multiple private schools the traffic issue is not unique to this particular site or this particular school. It does take a significant amount of effort and work to implement these proposed plans and if they do, they probably will be able to reduce the amount of angst that is occurring with the neighbors. Im supportive of this project with all these conditions as provided. Commissioner imperial. Thank you. I think whether there are changes that need to be made that i believe the planning staff can be instrumental if theres any changes that need to be made or any recommendations that need to happen. Of course, im hoping that there will be also Committee Meetings during the one year where the community and the project sponsor can look at this again. With the help of the planning staff input and in terms of the housing, i am satisfied with the housing. Im glad its reduced to six units but it is now bigger. It doesnt feel like the person is going to live there is just going to be a small room. I need to approve the project with the conditions of approval. Commissioner, did you want to chime in. For clarity, and to approve this matter with conditions as amended with the conditions submitted to you in your packets and recognizing certain findings will need to be amended to basically recognize and acknowledge the change in residential units. If that is correct the motion has been seconded and on the motion commissioners. [roll call]. That passes 50 that places us to the following items [reading item] for the property at 945 through 947 minnesota. The discretionary review if you can figure out the technical difficulty will opine on the variants. Staff are prepared to present. The item before you is a request for discretionary review of Building Permit application 2019003 [indiscernible] to rehabilitate a facade of a category a underneath your wifi is im going to turn off the video. Shall i start over. I dont think its necessary. Before you is a discretionary request for review of [indiscernible] and to add a rear deck at the third floor and roof dem and construction of the roof deck over an existing structure. That encouch in the rear yard and for the portion of the spiral stair that exceeds 30 feet in height. The proposed roof deck is within the allowed fillable area. Since the d. R was filed they pulled it back five feet from the rear building wall. And theres considering expanding the process which already wren crouches in the rear yard. Though a variance is required for some proposed work staff did not find extraordinary circumstances with respect to the d. R. Of the for issues. This concludes my presentation and im happy to answer questions. Thank you. Youll be afforded three minutes and Public Comment to one minute and twominute rebuttals. Caller commissioners i believe behind 945 minnesota street of subject property. I was a building inspector 28 and requesting to rereview the project. The new developer is attempting a de facto legalization and expansion of illegal structures without specifically including them in the variance request nor identifying clearly on plan as to what they represent. I have previously forwarded my two briefs explaining problems with the plans and development and theres likely more issues and theres no permit for construction of the structures at the rear of the property. Planning staff seems unaware the existing structures are illegal. Theres at least a done dous dozen problems with the residential design guidelines. Due to a recent rezoning the zone has been cut to less properties. The removal of the illegal structures will allow some open space to be restored. The usual impacts on blocking light and odors and privacy are all coming into play. Due to the detrimental effects i ask the illegal structure to be removed and thank you for your consideration. Project sponsor you have three minutes. Im not sure if you can hear me . We can. This say project i got involved with and began with a permit and as the contractor came on through the project he found the building was settled more than three inches on the side and replaced it in concrete and the building is in complete disrepair. The clients bought the building with the structure as they didnt know it was illegal or build without permits. When we discovered all this i recommended we go through the historical process and various process to get the career structure approved along with any changes we make to the front facade. Theres siding and because it settled so much the infiltration we needed to replace the southern siding in order to make this a successful water tight project. We went through the historical process and got unanimously approved with a certificate of appropriateness and asked for the additional variances when we look at the averages of the properties its done through the planning process i believe our setback requirement for 12foot encroachment for recesses on either side in a twostory high structure basically the 12foot encroachment is within maybe two to three feet greater than the allowed setback up to the third floor level which is the roof level of the twostory structure thats allowed. Were not way out of line to the existi existing [chime] we dont want to have to tear it down and replace it completely. Wed like to rehabilitate it. And as far as spencer coming to the requesting the [indiscernible] i had to get the building per mits permits from the contractor who was out of town at the time and i invited spencer over to resue the documents review the documents. [chime] thats your time. Members of the public its your time to enter testimony pressing star 3 to be entered into the queue. Last call for members of the public. Okay. Seeing none, d. R. Requester, you have a twominute rebuttal. Caller i didnt hear you. It was cut off by the speaking voice. You have a twominute rebuttal. Caller very good. Again, i think he is confused or not correct about the setback requirements and whats allowed. Ive looked at section 134 and i believe youre allowed to leave 35 feet and i dont know what the arguments are and i dont know what hes talking about. The building is substantially in the rear yard set back. I never got the plans in spite of him implying and these people are and i dont think i have much to add. My concern is on the rear structures built illegally and i would like to see them replaced and thats my rebuttal. Thank you for that. You have a rebuttal. Caller it allows encroachment in the year yard and were about 2. 3 inches on the side of that instruction and 4. 1 on the other side. Weve done what we can do rehabilitate the building and bring it out of an eyesore. The front stairs are completely cracked. And the infield below the nonconforming structure at the rear the unit doesnt really help the light, air and ventilation because of the deep overhang of the existing structure the nonconforming structure. As a result of that by in filling the bottom side which doesnt get light to it and has a concrete patio it will bring light and air for a better quality of life for the tenants at the lower unit. Our intention is to bring this into the light of the Historic District its in. And its to some level of integrity its been losing for many years. Thank you. Additionally, let me add this building had a fourth level and habitable space in the attic i cant recall exactly when the top floor was completely removed. Therefore the facade is not akin to what was there in the past. That concludes the public hearing portion of this matter. Commissioner moore. I would like to ask for what is a technical discussion and theres the issue of the required setback and the issue of the noncompliance structure and encroachment. What is difficult for me is to understand the requester and an understand theres a former dbi inspector and has significant knowledge of the technical matters however, it would have been helpful to understand his interest in the project given where he lives and looks at the project and my question is to mr. Winthrop. And noncomplying structure not uncommon and when they exist theyre allowed to remain. It required removal of noncomplying structures. The rear yard in this case has peck pe cule peculiarities and it will allows for some vacancies on the public site and the noncomplying structure does not require a variance it is filling in under an existing footprint. Roof decks complying or noncomplying dont typically require variances as long as the guardrails do not exceed the minimum required height. Rebuilding of structures repairing or rebuilding more than 50 of existing structures is considered new truck structure and the stairs are beyond repair and proposed for reconstruction. That requires a variance. I said id turn it over to cory to elaborate on the details of the rear yard and variances. Thank you. Do you want to chime in . I dont know who brought the project forward to the historic planning preservation commission. I wanted to highlight the year hard situation is a little bit different than what we normally see because the property is located next to a lots that has a building that faces on to a different street. In other words, its a frontage on tennessee street opposed to minnesota street and you disregard the building with frontage on the other street and only use the building next door to the frontage with property on minnesota that come up with the year yard average and that average is reduced to a line that aligns to the rear building wall. Thats a long way of saying the baseline is about 33 feet and mr. Sitara had a series of obstructions in the required areas. The existing stairs that do not have a permit associated with them obstruct beyond [indiscernible] im also happy to answer questions about the historic commissions approval if any of those come up. Commissioner thank you. Commissioners, would anyone care to make a motion . Commissioner moore . Commissioner moore youre muted. Commissioner move to approve with conditions. Second. Taking d. R. And approving with conditions . Yes. Very good. Commissioners on that to take d. R. Through commissioner diamond . What are the conditions . Commissioner its a miss misstatement on my part. Is the second amenable to that . Yes. On the motion to not take d. R. And approve the matter, Commission Commissioners . [roll call]. The motion passes unanimously 50. Administrator, what say you . Can you hear . Ill close the public hearing on the variance and [indiscernible] commissioner fung, did you have a comment . No, its not necessary at this point. All right. Very good, commissioners. That will conclude your hearin today. Commissioner shall we have a drink . Wouldnt that be nice. Thank you. Hell oh everyone. Thank you so much for joining us today. Well, covid has changed our lives. The fact it is has changed how we go to work, how we go to restaurants, how we interact with each other but this year will change how we vote. We want to make sure here in San Francisco, we make it as simple as possible. Im excited to be here to announce that although we cant do what weve done in the past, and provide early voting in city hall, we are going to be doing early voting right outside on grove street in what looks like a Beautiful Party at the present time. I want to thank the department of elections, and he will talk about more about exactly the steps that his team has taken to ensure that we not only make voting accessible, we make it safe. We want to make sure that people feel comfortable if they need to vote early. They can come to this Voting Center and it will be opening on monday. If they want to vote on election day or drop off their ballots on election day, well have 588 locations all over the city. And, what is dont be alarmed if you dont receive your ballot you wont be able to vote. This department of elections has received everything. If you didnt receive it in the mail can you provide replacement ballots. If you are going out of town and you need a ballot mailed to a different location, theres a system in place to do just that. For whatever reason, you are not certain or uncomfortable accessing a paper ballot, theres just a lot of options. Theyve been sending things in the mail, sending things online to say our goal is to make this as easy as possible. In the last president ial election, sa san franciscans tud out in record number. It was a 80 turnout. In 2008, it was 81 . This is a city that prides ourselves on making sure our voices are heard. Were not going to covid stop us from making sure that you have access to vote in San Francisco at your convenience. Im excited and i know that theres a lot of confusion out there but this department of election has done everything it can to make sure that its easy to call the department of elections, call 311, go online if you need information for where to pick up a ballot or a replacement ballot. We thought of everything. So, theres no excuse for anyone in this city who is a registered voter not to vote. And in addition to that, if you are not registered to vote, and you would like to register to vote, you have until october 19th. So, make sure that you take the opportunity to go online and this center is open and you can come here and register to vote and you can vote on the same day. In addition to the dress up locations on election day, and this Voting Center right across the street from city hall, we will have a number of of drop off ballot locations the weekend before election day. Linda brooks Burton Library and the branch library. Because again, were trying to make it easy as possible and its ballots inperson or on election day. If you need more information, please visit the department of elections website at spelections. Org. Call 311 or call 415 5544375. So with that, i just want to again thank everyone for their cooperation, the work they do. I really want to express a special thank you so john arts and the department of elections staff because they have been working very hard to make sure that no question is unanswered. Anything or any scenario that could occur, they wanted to make sure they were prepared to support and address the public. And they work with the number Great Community organizations and to get out the vote and some of those organizations are with us today, including George Chance from the chinese Newcomer Service center, jackie flynn, the ex you director of and these are organizations who make sure that communities all over San Francisco have accessed to vote. And we appreciate the work that theyve done for many, many years. I also want to thank martha cohen, the director of special events, for taking such time and care with creating a warm and inviting space. Thank you, martha for your work. And with that, i want to turn it over to our special guest, joining us here today, you probably recognize him because the tallest person here. Our state senator, scott wiener. Thank you, madam mayor. And i also want to thank martha and also our department of elections and john arts for once again really stepping up to make sure that san franciscans can vote and vote easily. Thats one of our core values in San Francisco that we want people to vote and we want to make it easier for people to vote so i have complete confidence in our department of elections that we will run a beautiful election here and that we will it will just be a really strong showing and a really difficult period of time. This is a partnership between the state and our counties including San Francisco we took action at the state level to people being able to vote during a pandemic and we authorized global vote by mail o so everyone gets a ballot even if you are not signed up as a permanent absentee and not put barriers in order to get an absentee ballot and normally, it has to be post marked byelection day and i do want to ask people please, try not to rely on post marking on election day and sometimes you can mail it after whatever the pick up is at that particular box and there are unfortunately thousands of ballots each time where people just mail it too late in the day. It doesnt get post marked. Make sure you are going to mail it, please, troy t try to mail tractortrailer dait theday bef. Even if theres a problem with the post office, which i dont think there will be. You have plenty of time if you mail it right up to election day. It has 17 days to a arrive instead of three and that is a huge change in stay law that weve made to just make sure that every ballot can be counted. What this is really about is auctions. We want people to make choices that work for them and people can drop it off in different locations and of course, we have absolutely amazing voting facility here which will respond to our health needs in terms of allowing people to show up and vote safely. And to be able to do it efficiently. The capacity here, as you can see, is huge. Its going to start on monday and also be opening two weekends before the election. Were making it so easy for people to vote in a way that works for them and their family and their own health situation. I have a digital town hall last week with our secretary of state, alex padilla and with con on cause and a representative of the American Postal Workers Union and she was very, very clear that she has confidence that the mail is going to work well for this election. Despite some of the turbulence we were saying, theyve been able to move through that and she assured us our postal workers, who are some of our front line essential workers, who are putting themselves out there during this pandemic so we can do what we need to do as eye society theyre going to work incredibly hard and they will deliver the mail and people can have confidence in the mail. So, again, thank you, madam mayor, thank you to our department of elections and lets just run a great election as always. Thank you. And now, i want to invite up our director of elections, john arts. Thank you, senator werent. Thank you mayor breed and also for organizing this event. This is a great timing for an event like this, just before early voting begins. Early voting will begin october 5th here at the Voting Center located outside bill graham auditorium. This is an example of the mayor and the senator wiener have indicated and the department and city have take ep steps to make sure that voting is safe and healthy experience for all voters in San Francisco. The ballots we mailed actually tomorrow and voters will start receiving ballots on saturday and then theyll most will receive ballots on monday going through the election week. We have a full compliment of polling polic Police Station ple want to drop off or they dont want to mail their ballot back, just before elections day, is they are outside the voting area so voters dont have to go mud the voting area. They decrease the amount of traffic that voters would experience at election day. And everything that weve done since really the end of the march election going through the cycle for november, has been to plan in relation to conduct an election, while trying to respond to a pandemic. So everything that is happening here at bill graham auditorium, is organized so that people can maintain social distancing and theres ppes that our personnel are wearing and useing and the public has provided ppe and hand sanitizers and sanitizing wipes, face shields and things like that and the same for the polling places. The voters and coworkers can maintain social distancing as they go through the election process on election day. Weve had p. P. E. S available for the voters and the poll workers on election day. And the inperson voting here at the bill graham auditorium and the polling places theres a cleansing of the areas and materials and the commonly used items throughout the day so voters will go into a clean voting environment when they go to cast their ballot on election day. Also, i want to echo the comments about the post office. Weve had conversations and meetings with the post office before this election and to make sure there was no issues and with the processing and to support the conduct of this election for november. The post office of senator wiener noted, has put tremendous men does attention and focus on their abilities and their requirements to give ballots up to vote and he is get ballots to voters to elections here in San Francisco. I want to share the city and the departments of elections has put much time and thought into this and so theyre safe and secure and everyone has a good experience on election date ill turn it over to george chan. And even we call chinese and were helping everyone. So this year were happy to be receiving support from the city to continue the registered people. So, this year, we see the ballot we mailed to you and we help people register. We follow that many times they dont know if you change your address, make sure you update it, ok. So also, if you do know your status, we can help you to check it as well. Thank you. Good afternoon, everyone. My name is jaclyn flynn. Im the executive director of the a phyllis randolf of San Francisco and were working with the department of the elections in the city to really get out of vote this year. So i ask you, how important is your vote . 2020 is a challenging year as a nation. We have lost over 200,000 american lives from covid19 and these fires, as you can see, continue to raise and scorch our state and homes and businesses and and the california economy and our air quality and and they leap gap in time with racial tension zoos tie that they spilled into our streets. So i asked again. How important is your vote . This year and you can help redefine our jail system you can help reform our Law Enforcement system. You can help fund our parks, you can vote for housing and healthcare and your vote is a vote for change. I ask you, what can you do to effect change and if you can, do it early. Send it in my mail. Drop it directly into a ballot box and thank you to the city for creating an accessible space for folks to do that safely. And if you must safely head to your poll, please wear your mask and vote. I encourage awful us to ask our families, our friends, our work colleagues, our neighbors to do something important, vote. This year has been hard on all of us. And as i think about why its so important, i think about my own kids. And i realize that i have the power to set a clear example that im not satisfied where were at in this nation today and im not going to sit back. I will be an element of change. The a phyllis randolf institute will be on the frontlines reaching out to our seniors and over 5,000 units of low income Family Housing across is this city. Well be facing this year of covid, hitting the streets to ensure education and access to voting. You can help us in that fight. Im inspired by San Francisco. A city that votes for change. Im inspired by inspired by a t looks like me. When i vote i celebrate my skin, my lips and my determination to be represented by someone that understanding my perspective. To all my asian brothers and sisters and to all my latino brothers and sisters, we need you. We need bilingual folks and to my caucasian allies, we are all in this together. I challenge everyone to get education and make a plan and vote. Thank you. Thank you to the press and the immediate why for getting the word out and most importantly, we want to make sure that voting is easy. If you have any questions or concerns, what is interesting this past weekend, i heard from a lot of folks that said i didnt get my ballot yet, what is going on . What is happening. So people seem to be very excited about voting. We also want to make sure that folks are able to get their ballots and theyre able to get their questions answered and we make it as simple as possible and we also keep everybody safe. When were showing up to our polling places, or our Dropoff Center or this particular center here across the street from city hall, were all using the wash center to wash our hands and