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SAN FRANCISCO
HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION
Meeting Minutes
Hearing Room 400
City Hall, 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
12:30 P.M.
HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION
Regular Meeting
COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Chase, Damkroger, Hasz, Martinez, Matsuda, Wolfram
COMMISSIONER ABSENT: Johns
THE MEETING WAS CALLED TO ORDER BY PRESIDENT CHASE AT 12:45 P.M.
STAFF IN ATTENDANCE: John Rahaim – Planning Director, Pilar LaValley, Sophie Hayward, Tim Frye – Preservation Coordinator, and Linda Avery – Commission Secretary
A. CONSIDERATION OF ITEMS PROPOSED FOR CONTINUANCE
No item from this calendar was proposed for continuance.
B. PUBLIC COMMENT
SPEAKERS: Zach Stewart commented that the electorate voted to establish the Historic Preservation Commission, and the Planning Commission transferred preservation planners and budgets to you to expand the HPC power; he believes the Commission is doing a fine job; F. Joseph Butler, Members of the A.I.A and Little House Committee, asked the HPC to review the checklist Categorical Exemption for 2807 Clay Street which is acknowledged as a historic resource.
C. STAFF REPORT AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
Planning Director Rahaim asked the Commission to adjourn the meeting in honor of a long time staff member who passed away unexpectedly yesterday. Scott Dowdee was with the Department for just over 30 years.
Preservation Coordinator Frye had no report or announcement.
D. MATTERS OF THE COMMISSION
1. President’s Report and Announcements
President Chase extended his congratulations to the Planning Department and to Mary Brown for her hard work and diligence on the San Francisco Modern Architecture and Landscape Design Historic Context Statement which received an award from the California Preservation Foundation.
2. Consideration of Adoption:
a. Draft minutes of Hearing of July 6, 2011
b. Draft minutes of Hearing of September 21, 2011
SPEAKERS: None
ACTION: Approved
AYES: Hasz, Martinez, Matsuda, Wolfram, Damkroger, Chase
ABSENT: Johns
3. Disclosures
[On August 17, 2011, at a public hearing on its Rules and Regulations, the HPC approved continuing its practice of allowing Ex Parte Communications with required disclosure.]
Commissioners Damkroger, Martinez, Wolfram, Matsuda, and President Chase received email communications about the Article 11 discussion.
Commissioners Damkroger, Martinez, and President Chase accepted an invitation from Supervisor Wiener and together with staff visited Supervisor Wiener regarding the proposed changes of Articles 10 & 11.
4. Commissioner Comments/ Questions
Commissioner Martinez would like to look at 2807 Clay Street’s Categorical Exemption checklist and the bulk [of the proposed work] when the discussion happens. He announced the 50th anniversary of the Death and Life of the City, and read a passage out of Chapter 10 in Ms. Jacob’s book.
E. CONSENT CALENDAR
Commissioner Wolfram pulled this item from the Consent Calendar. The item was heard as a Regular Item.
5. 2011.0660A (Tim Frye for R. Sucre: 415/575-9108)
804-806 22ND STREET, north side of street between Tennessee and Minnesota Streets, Assessor’s 4107, Lot 010. Request for a Certificate of Appropriateness for primary (south) façade alterations and a ground floor, infill addition on the rear (north) facade. The subject property is a contributing resource to the Dogpatch Historic District and is located within the NCT-2 Zoning District with a 45-X Height and Bulk limit.
Preliminary Recommendation: Approval with conditions
SPEAKERS: Bob Noelke, Resident of the neighborhood, supported the project.
ACTION: Approved as amended to require that the recessed depth of the windows meet the requirements of the District.
AYES: Hasz, Martinez, Matsuda, Wolfram, Damkroger, Chase
ABSENT: Johns
MOTION NO: M0137
F. REGULAR CALENDAR
6. (T. FRYE 415/575-6822)
I.M. SCOTT SCHOOL
1060 TENNESSEE STREET, west side of Tennessee Street near 22nd Street, Assessor’s 4107, Lot 006. Informational Presentation on the rehabilitation and conversion of the Boys and Girls restroom buildings to the Friends of Potrero Hill Nursery School. The subject site is Landmark #138, the Irving M. Scott School. It is also identified as contributing to the Dogpatch Historic District and is located within the P (Public) Zoning District with a 40-X Height and Bulk limit.
SPEAKERS: Maureen DeBoer, Bob Noelke, and G.G. Platt supported the project.
PRESENTER: Bryant Liles, Architect of record for the proposed project, presented an overview of the project.
ACTION: Information only – no action
7. (T. FRYE 415/575-6822)
MINOR PERMIT TO ALTER DELEGATION
Renewal of Resolution No. 0106 to delegate to Planning Department Preservation staff the review and approval of Minor Permits to Alter for Significant and Contributory Buildings & all buildings with Conservation Districts regulated under Article 11 of the Planning Code to the Planning Department pursuant to City Charter Section 4.135.
Preliminary Recommendation: Approval
SPEAKERS: [Unidentified Speaker] supported the two year delegation.
ACTION: Approved to extend the delegation to staff for a two year period.
AYES: Hasz, Martinez, Matsuda, Wolfram, Damkroger, Chase
ABSENT: Johns
MOTION NO: M0138
8. 2011.0167T (S. HAYWARD: 415/558-6372)
PLANNING CODE CONTROLS FOR HISTORIC PRESERVATION. The Commission will consider a proposed Ordinance sponsored by the Planning Department that would amend the Planning Code controls for Historic Preservation, including but not limited to Articles 10 and 11. The Planning Commission reviewed proposed amendments on August 5, 2010 and recommended approval with minor modifications of various Code Sections to the Board of Supervisors. The Historic Preservation Commission began a parallel review of the proposed amendments in 2010 on the following dates: July 21st, August 4th, 18th, September 1st, 15th, and 29th, October 6th 15th, and 21st, November 3rd and 17th, and December 1, 2010. The Historic Preservation Commission is considering further modifications prior to sending recommendations to the Planning Commission and the Board of Supervisors, and began this re-review at its August 17th, 2011 public hearing, and continued the review at its September 7th and 21st, 2011 public hearings.
Preliminary Recommendation: Approve with minor modifications.
(Continued from Regular meetings of August 17, September 7, 2011, and September 21, 2011)
SPEAKERS: [Unidentified Speaker] spoke about the dilapidation of the Grand Stand in Golden Gate Park; Aaron Peskin commented on the proposed amendments to Articles 10 & 11, George [Paguda], Chairperson of the Coalition of SF Land Use and Housing Committee, opposed the amendments to Articles 10 & 11.
ACTION: Motion of Intent to adopt the changes to Article 11 based on the modifications the HPC made over the past two hearings, and continued final action on the motion of intent for Articles 10 & 11.
AYES: Hasz, Martinez, Matsuda, Wolfram, Damkroger, Chase
ABSENT: Johns
Following deliberation on Article 11, the HPC started the discussion of Supervisor Wiener’s proposed amendments to Articles 10 and 11.
SPEAKERS: Mike Buhler, He highlighted some points from his comment letter to the HPC 1) The proposal to require majority owners’ consent before initiation of historic resource surveys recommendation is without precedent and would have unanticipated consequence and on other community based planning efforts; 2) Heritage felt the proposed remedy for historic district designation is a severe remedy to hypothetical problems; 3) For the proposed SF Standards, Heritage felt the existing Secretary of Interiors Standards should be followed in SF. They have been consistently applied in SF to allow for density and broad flexibility to meet local development needs; 4) there were small word changes to Article 11 that exempted classes of buildings from review. Heritage hoped HPC would pay close attention and scrutinize those changes.; Sarah Karlinsky, Deputy Director of SPUR, supported 1) standards for review of applications, 2) economic hardship opt out provision, and 3) designation of historic districts and process. She looked forward to returning to HPC once SPUR finished doing more thorough analysis on historic district and the process that Heritage referred to; Jim Chappell, represented himself and commented that architectural preservation has a role but was not the only consideration. There were multiple goals that planning must address for the future of SF. He added that a local standard would be valuable in that staff, public and property owners would have a common understanding; Lucia Bogatay, Architect and Co-President of MDNA, stated that Supervisor Wiener’s proposed amendments would prevent neighborhoods from proposing historic districts at all, including city parks which represent the only cultural landscape of San Francisco as a historic city; Espanola Jackson, Resident of Hunter’s Point, supported Supervisor Wiener’s recommendation that required 2/3 of the community votes. She was concerned about the financial burden placed on home owners if the neighborhood was declared a historical district. She wanted to know if funds were available to people with hardship for maintaining their properties; Peter Lewis, Co-President of MDNA, preferred the Supervisor’s proposal be rejected; Katherine Petrin, Architectural Historian and Preservation Planner, strongly opposed Supervisor Wiener’s proposed changes to Articles 10 & 11; Susanne Dumont, supported SF Heritage comments and opposed Supervisor Wiener’s misguided proposal; F. Joseph Butler, Architect, supported SF Heritage position and stated HPC should be in charge of all survey buildings, landmarkings and historic districts; Linda Chapman, Housing and Zoning Chair of Nob Hill, supported the SF Heritage position; Joan Wood, Native San Franciscan, supported the SF Heritage position and urged HPC to safeguard their new found power from Supervisor Wiener’s proposed changes to Articles 10 & 11; Peter Cohen, Resident of Duboce Triangle, urged HPC to preserve and place some controls over the mid-block shared open green courtyard spaces in the neighborhoods, and to look at the economic, demographic and characteristic of Duboce Triangle; Inge Horton, Chairperson of Preservation Community of SPEAK, supported the SF Heritage letter; Zack Stewart opposed Supervisor Wiener’s proposal; Charlie Marsteller, represented himself and asked the HPC to move forward with a good proposal and to take SF Heritage and SPUR’s ideas so the proposed amendments to Article 10 & 11 would be better than the one introduced [by the Supervisor]; Aaron Peskin said the proposed amendments would lead to the decertification of the CLG status for San Francisco; Josh [Last Name was not clear], with Bright Line Defense Project, supported preservation for the creation of new historic districts and landmark resources. He would like some protection created for vulnerable communities with low income, fixed income, or moderate income people who are impacted by being property owners in proposed new districts. He liked Supervisor Wiener’s proposal about the economic opt out provision and thought one shouldn’t ask the city to create new districts unless half of the people that are impacted by it consent to it.
ACTION: Continued the public hearing on Supervisor Wiener’s proposed recommendations for Articles 10 & 11 to 10/19/11.
AYES: Martinez, Matsuda, Wolfram, Damkroger, Chase
ABSENT: Hasz and Johns
ADJOURNMENT: 4:30 P.M.
The minutes was proposed for adoption at the Regular Meeting of the Historic Preservation Commission on Wednesday, October 19, 2011.
ACTION: Approved
AYES: Hasz, Johns, Martinez, Matsuda, Damkroger, Chase
ABSENT: Wolfram
