SAN FRANCISCO
PLANNING COMMISSION
Meeting Minutes
&
Calendar
Commission Chambers - Room 400
City Hall, 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place
Thursday, February 21, 2013
12:00 PM
Regular Meeting
COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Fong, Wu, Antonini, Borden, Hillis, Moore, Sugaya
THE MEETING WAS CALLED TO ORDER BY PRESIDENT FONG AT 12:06 PM.
STAFF IN ATTENDANCE: John Rahaim – Planning Director, Scott Sanchez – Zoning Administrator, Thomas Wang, Michelle Stahlhut, Sophie Hayward, Anmarie Rodgers, Kevin Guy, and Jonas P. Ionin - Acting Commission Secretary.
A. CONSIDERATION OF ITEMS PROPOSED FOR CONTINUANCE
The Commission will consider a request for continuance to a later date. The Commission may choose to continue the item to the date proposed below, to continue the item to another date, or to hear the item on this calendar.
1. 2012.1442C (M. STAHLHUT: (415) 575-9116)
795 FOLSOM STREET - southeast corner of Folsom Street and Fourth Street, Lot 051 in Assessor’s Block 3751 - Request for Conditional Use Authorization under Planning Code Sections 841.93 and 303 for modification to an existing wireless telecommunications services facility operated by AT&T Mobility. The facility would consist of four panel antennas mounted on the penthouse of an existing mixed-use wholly commercial building resulting in a total of 16 antennas. The facility is proposed on a Location Preference 4 Site (Preferred Location Site) within the MUR (Mixed-Use Residential) Zoning District and a 85-X Height and Bulk District
Preliminary Recommendation: Approval with Conditions
(Proposed for Continuance to February 28, 2013)
SPEAKERS: None
ACTION: Continued as Proposed
AYES: Fong, Antonini, Borden, Moore, Wu, Sugaya
ABSENT: Hillis
B. CONSENT CALENDAR
All matters listed hereunder constitute a Consent Calendar, are considered to be routine by the Planning Commission, and will be acted upon by a single roll call vote of the Commission. There will be no separate discussion of these items unless a member of the Commission, the public, or staff so requests, in which event the matter shall be removed from the Consent Calendar and considered as a separate item at this or a future hearing
2a. 2012.0391D (T. WANG: (415) 558-6335)
524 VIENNA STREET - on the northwest side of Vicente Street between Persia and Russia avenues; Lot 004 in Assessor’s Block 6090 - Mandatory Discretionary Review, pursuant to Planning Code Section 317(d), of Demolition Permit Application No. 2010.10.07.2484, proposing to demolish a one-story over crawl space, single-family dwelling in an RH-1 (Residential, House, One-Family) Zoning District and a 40-X Height and Bulk District.
Staff Analysis: Full Discretionary Review
Preliminary Recommendation: Do not take Discretionary Review and approve
SPEAKERS: None
ACTION: No Discretionary Review and Approve as Proposed
AYES: Fong, Antonini, Borden, Moore, Wu, Sugaya
ABSENT: Hillis
DRA No.: 0309
2b. 2012.0391D (T. WANG: (415) 558-6335)
524 VIENNA STREET - on the northwest side of Vicente Street between Persia and Russia avenues; Lot 004 in Assessor’s Block 6090 - Mandatory Discretionary Review, pursuant to Planning Code Section 317(d), of Building Permit Application No. 2010.10.07.2487, to construct a two-story over garage, single-family dwelling in an RH-1 (Residential, House, One-Family) Zoning District and a 40-X Height and Bulk District.
Staff Analysis: Full Discretionary Review
Preliminary Recommendation: Do not take Discretionary Review and approve
SPEAKERS: None
ACTION: No Discretionary Review and Approve as Proposed
AYES: Fong, Antonini, Borden, Moore, Wu, Sugaya
ABSENT: Hillis
DRA No.: 0309
3. 2012.0010C (M. STAHLHUT: (415) 575-9116)
450 STANYAN STREET - east side of Stanyan Street between Fulton and Hayes Streets, Lot 041 in Assessor’s Block 1191 - Request for Conditional Use Authorization under Planning Code Sections 209.6(b) and 303 for modification of an existing wireless telecommunications services facility operated by Verizon. The modification would consist of replacing nine antennas and relocating three antennas from the east face of the building to the north face of the building with associated equipment located inside of St. Mary’s Hospital building. The facility modification is proposed on a Location Preference 1 Site (Publicly-used Structure) within the RM-2 (Residential – Mixed, Moderate Density) Zoning District and a 130-E Height and Bulk District
Preliminary Recommendation: Approval with Conditions
SPEAKERS: None
ACTION: Approved with Conditions
AYES: Fong, Antonini, Borden, Moore, Wu, Sugaya
ABSENT: Hillis
MOTION: 18809
C. COMMISSIONERS’ QUESTIONS AND MATTERS
Adoption of Commission Minutes – Charter Section 4.104 requires all commissioners to vote yes or no on all matters unless that commissioner is excused by a vote of the Commission. Commissioners may not be automatically excluded from a vote on the minutes because they did not attend the meeting.
4. Consideration of Adoption:
· Draft Minutes of February 7, 2013
SPEAKERS: None
ACTION: Adopted
AYES: Fong, Antonini, Borden, Moore, Wu, Sugaya
ABSENT: Hillis
5. Commission Comments/Questions
· Inquiries/Announcements. Without discussion, at this time Commissioners may make announcements or inquiries of staff regarding various matters of interest to the Commissioner(s).
· Future Meetings/Agendas. At this time, the Commission may discuss and take action to set the date of a Special Meeting and/or determine those items that could be placed on the agenda of the next meeting and other future meetings of the Planning Commission.
Commissioner Antonini:
I'd like to ask that we adjourn today in memory of Lou Spadia. I'd like to just say a few words about Mr. Spadia because I think there are some great life lessons here for those of you who did not know who he was or did not see the obituary in the Chronicle or Examiner. Lou was a native San Franciscan, raised in Potrero Hill. And like was the case with my father, he didn't learn English ‘till he went to Elementary School. I'm not sure which school it was, but it was somewhere in San Francisco. I'm not sure if this was the case for Lou also, but my father got to do the first grade twice because the nuns at St. Michael’s in Livermore wanted to make sure he was fluent in English before he advanced. I think it served him well through the rest of his life. In fact, he gave them a considerable sum when he passed way because he felt they were successful because of their insistence on his fluency in English. Anyway, more on Mr. Spadia, he advanced through high school, he was so fluent and so well liked that he became student body President in Mission High School, then right after the war he got out of the service and was probably the first employee of the San Francisco 49ers when they were formed by the Morabito brothers in 1946 as part of the All-American Football Conference, and his early jobs included things like being the equipment man, making travel arrangements and having to do bed checks on players to see that they were in bed. But I think the lesson here is he worked really hard and worked his way up through the organization, becoming business manager in '57 and becoming CEO after the second of the Morabitos passed away in the mid-1960s. And he also was influential with the NFL in persuading Pete Rozell, another product of San Francisco and graduate of USF, to start putting national ads in NFL programs and it was the beginning of the growth of the league, but what's even more important, Mr. Spadia went on as CEO until the team was sold to the Dibartolo's in the late 1970s. He gave back to the community which I think is really important. He formed the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame, and was known as the Hall without a hall because he said that the money we raised on this event we don't want spend to build a structure to house the plaques of the players. We want to give it to children to help them in sports and their educations. So, that's really important. And I think the lessons, as I mentioned, is, even today, I think if you'll work hard and persevere, you can advance in an organization, and I know of situations in today's world where people will begin at the bottom and rise to the top of organizations by hard work. And secondly, of course, it's very important to be fluent in the language of your country, in this case English. And third you've got to give back to the community for the things that were given to you. So, I think Lou is a great example and that's why I want to adjourn in his honor.
Commissioner Sugaya:
I had the privilege of meeting Mr. Spadia when I was a little kid. He was a member of St. Pius Church where one of my very good friend's mothers was a secretary. So, we had occasion to meet him. I don't remember exactly, but anyway, I’d like to thank Director Rahaim for the Railroad Boulevard I-80 I-280 project memorandum, and I assume at some point in the future we'll actually have some presentation or something when it gets along far enough. And then, we also, courtesy of our Secretary and I believe the Mayor's Office received a list of the current -- this week's agenda items for various Commissions and Boards. And I'd just like to note that under Entertainment, on the 19th, they had an issue which was Town Music Studio at 1660 Geary Boulevard, place of entertainment permit. And that is in the Japan Center. So, could staff look into that a little bit and give -- maybe just give us a short, like a memo or something on what's going on with that. Given that Other Entertainment seems to have caused some issues. And then under the Building Inspection, there was discussion and possible action -- I'm just reading this -- on a proposed ordinance amending the Building Code to establish Mandatory Seismic Retrofit for Wood Frame Buildings of three or more stories and containing five or more dwellings. Could we also get some information?
Jonas Ionin, Acting Commission Secretary:
In fact, that is on your Advance Calendar as a future presentation.
Commissioner Borden:
I also got to know Lou Spadia, I worked at the Chamber, in his years he would actually still come in. It was always such a delightful person to have around. If people don't know what the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame is, when you're in the United Terminal at San Francisco International Airport, that’s where it manifests itself, you will see the plaques and the recognition of all the great athletes. I think it’s just a really smart idea and a great way that makes our airport terminal very local and interesting. The other thing I wanted to announce is that the Red Cross has moved into their new offices at 1663 Market at Gough and this Friday they're having an opening blessing. So, if you're around, it is in the building where Café Trieste was and Martha’s Brothers will be going in at some point. You can come see a great adaptive reuse project of a great old building that is being inhabited and what they will have at some point in the future is the disaster operations center for San Francisco for when there is a major seismic event and they're going build a state-of-the-art disaster operations center because we actually don't have one.
Commissioner Moore:
Commissioner Borden, could you send out a quick e-mail to us so that we kind of know the time and date and repeating the location one more time.
6. Director’s Announcements
DIRECTOR RAHAIM:
Just a couple of quick announcements, we have had the Green Connections Plan that we've been working on with a number of City and nonprofit agencies including the Parks Alliance, Lock San Francisco and Nature in the City. There has been a survey that has been online for a number of weeks that closes at the end of the month. So, just to offer -- want to get their last thoughts in on that. That survey will close. It's on the Planning Department website. That survey does close on February 28th. I wanted to let you know that the Japantown Plan, which the community has now changed the name of to the Japantown Cultural Heritage and Economic Sustainability Strategy is now available online on the Department's website. Or through the Japantown Task Force as well. That community has completed its work on that plan and the draft is out for public comment. And there is a public meeting on that plan on next Tuesday, the 26th, from 5:00 to 8:00 P.M. At the Japanese Cultural and Community Center at 1840 Sutter Street, so, that is to talk about the draft of the whole plan that the community has completed. Finally, I just wanted to let you know that we are on track with the Academy of Art and the violations, the conditions of the notices of violations. They have met their first two rounds of deadlines. So, they have met the requirements that we asked them to meet to date, and we are working with them on a series of -- we are scheduling a series of meetings to go over the details of our long-term plans. And also, of course, on any of the conditions in the enforcement actions, but we are on track as of right now with the Academy. That concludes my report. The Zoning Administrator tells me that there was a Board of Appeals hearing last night, but there wasn't anything related to Commission actions. He will be here next week to give you a fuller report on the Board of Appeals as well.
7. Review of Past Week’s Events at the Board of Supervisors, Board of Appeals, and Historic Preservation Commission.
BOARD OF SUPERVISORS:
No Report
BOARD OF APPEALS:
No Report
HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION:
Tim Frye of Department staff to provide you with a presentation on yesterday’s Historic Preservation Commission, it was a very short hearing, so, there's only a couple items to share with you. The Commission continued its decision on who to appoint to the Historic Preservation Fund Committee. As you know, this is a Committee that was made up of variety of stakeholders from the preservation community and various City agencies as a result of the Emporium settlement a number of years ago. The Historic Preservation Commission has one appointment to that Committee and has decided to postpone that decision until all members of the Commission are appointed. The Commission also received an update from Commissioner Hasz on 900 Innes. This is the Shipwrights Cottage down at 900 Innes in the Bayview neighborhood. There are some outstanding DBI violations on the landmark property. Commissioner Hasz was appointed to work with the community and Randy Shaw, the property owner, in finding ways to raise the money for a new roof on the structure and to secure the structure and to address the outstanding violations. And he gave a report on the estimates that are currently being procured via several contractors and will report back to you once the community and the property owner have a better idea of what direction they're going to take to address the violations. Commissioner Hasz will also be present at the DBI hearing in early March to represent the Historic Preservation Commission along with the Planning Department and the property owner.
E. GENERAL PUBLIC COMMENT – 15 MINUTES
At this time, members of the public may address the Commission on items of interest to the public that are within the subject matter jurisdiction of the Commission except agenda items. However, for items where public comment is closed this is your opportunity to address the Commission. With respect to all other agenda items, your opportunity to address the Commission 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.
F. REGULAR CALENDAR
8. 2012.1306TZ (S. HAYWARD: (415) 558-6372)
Review of two Ordinances (Planning Code Text Amendment and Zoning Map Amendment) that would rezone parcels in the Upper Market NCD (Upper Market Neighborhood Commercial District) to the Upper Market NCT (Upper Market Neighborhood Commercial Transit District).
Planning Code Text Amendment. This proposed Ordinance [Board File No. 12-0901], introduced by Supervisor Wiener, would amend the Planning Code, amending Sections 721.1 and 733.1 to modify the explanation of boundaries of the Upper Market Street Neighborhood Commercial District (NCD) and the Upper Market Street Neighborhood Commercial Transit District (NCT), and amending Section 703.2(b) to permit, in a limited area, food processing as an accessory use to a nearby off-site non-residential use; and would adopt findings, including environmental findings, Planning Code Section 302 findings, and findings of consistency with the General Plan and the priority policies of Planning Code Section 101.
Zoning Map Amendment. This proposed Ordinance [Board File 12-0902], introduced by Supervisor Wiener, would amend the Planning Code Sectional Map Sheets ZN07 and HT07 to change the use classification of specified lots on Blocks 3561 through 3565, now in the Upper Market NCD (Upper Market Neighborhood Commercial District) to the Upper Market NCT (Upper Market Neighborhood Commercial Transit District) and to change the height and bulk classification of Block 3563, Lot 034 from 50-X to 65-B. The proposed amendment would rezone most of the Upper Market NCD to Upper Market NCT land use controls. Two lots near the northwest corner of Market and Castro Streets would remain in the Upper Market NCD district. The proposed amendment would also change the Height and Bulk designation on one lot at the southwest corner of Market and Noe Streets from 50-X to 65-B. The Planning Department may propose additional rezoning of the remaining Upper Market NCD parcels at the northwest corner of Market and Castro Streets from the Upper Market NCD to the Upper Market NCT zoning.
(Continued from Regular Meeting of November 29, 2013)
Preliminary Recommendation: Approval with Modifications
SPEAKERS: Supervisor Scott Wiener, Gary Weiss, Erik Honda, Ryan Patterson, Andrea Aiello, Kelvin Amos, Dan Glazer, Dena Plotkin, Diane Amos, Jeremy Paul, Kyle DeVries, Mike Phillips, J.D. Petrias, Kenneth Bunch, Deborah Aiono, John Caldera, Gerard Guilders, Ron Schmidt, Sister Honey Bee, Paul Page, Lynne Williams, James Strano, Alan Beach-Nelson, Gary Virginia, Sarah
ACTION: Adopted a Recommendation to Approve with the following amendments:
1. Entire NCD to be rezoned NCT;
2. Include the minor technical changes;
3. Include the 1 year Sunset provision; and
4. Directing staff to consider future legislation for the entire NCT District.
AYES: Fong, Antonini, Borden, Hillis, Moore, Sugaya
NAYES: Wu
RESOLUTION: 18812
9. 2013.0077T (A. RODGERS AT (415) 558-6395)
AMENDMENTS TO THE PLANNING CODE, MODIFYING CONTROLS FOR MEDICAL SERVICE USES IN THE SACRAMENTO NEIGHBORHOOD COMMERCIAL DISTRICT [BOARD FILE NO. 13-0042] - The Planning Commission will consider a proposed Ordinance introduced by Supervisor Farrell amending the San Francisco Planning Code, Section 724.1, and related portions of Table 724, that would permit a change of use from a business or professional service use to medical service use on the first floor or below in the Sacramento Neighborhood Commercial District; and make environmental findings, Planning Code, Section 101.1 findings, and findings of consistency with the General Plan.
Preliminary Recommendation: Approval with Modifications
SPEAKERS: Katherine Stephanie
ACTION: Adopted
AYES: Fong, Antonini, Borden, Hillis, Moore, Wu, Sugaya
RESOLUTION: 18810
10. 2013.0029X (K. GUY: (415) 558-6163)
222 2ND STREET, southwest corner at Howard Street, Lot 063 of Assessor’s Block 3735 - Request for a Determination of Compliance under Planning Code Section 309 (Permit Review in C-3 Districts), to grant new exceptions for Separation of Towers (Section 132.1) and Bulk Limits (Sections 270, 272) in association with a previously-approved project to demolish an existing surface parking lot and construct a new 26-story, 350-foot tall building containing approximately 430,650 square feet of office space, approximately 5,000 square feet of ground floor retail space, approximately 28,000 square feet of subterranean parking area, and approximately 8,600 square feet of publicly-accessible interior open space at the ground floor. The design and configuration of the building have been revised, and would require new exceptions under Section 309 that were not granted by the previous approval described in Motion No. 18168 (Case No. 2006.1106X), approved by the Planning Commission on August 12, 2010. The gross floor area and height of the project would not change. The subject property is located within the C-3-O(SD) (Downtown Office, Special Development) District, the Transit Center C-3-O(SD) Commercial Special Use District, and the 350-S Height and Bulk District.
Preliminary Recommendation: Approval with Conditions.
(Continued from Regular Meeting of February 7, 2013)
SPEAKERS: Andrew Junius, Karl Shannon
ACTION: Approved with Conditions as modified to include additional design consideration given to the Second Street façade, the Tehama Street façade and banding improvements; and requesting that the final design be forwarded to the Commission for their information.
AYES: Fong, Antonini, Borden, Hillis, Moore, Wu, Sugaya
MOTION: 18811
G. PUBLIC COMMENT
At this time, members of the public may address the Commission on items of interest to the public that are within the subject matter jurisdiction of the Commission except agenda items. With respect to agenda items, your opportunity to address the Commission will be afforded when the item is reached in the meeting with one exception. When the agenda item has already been reviewed in a public hearing at which members of the public were allowed to testify and the Commission has closed the public hearing, your opportunity to address the Commission must be exercised during the Public Comment portion of the Calendar. Each member of the public may address the Commission for up to three minutes.
The Brown Act forbids a commission from taking action or discussing any item not appearing on the posted agenda, including those items raised at public comment. In response to public comment, the commission is limited to:
(1) responding to statements made or questions posed by members of the public; or
(2) requesting staff to report back on a matter at a subsequent meeting; or
(3) directing staff to place the item on a future agenda. (Government Code Section 54954.2(a))
Adjournment 2:30 PM – In Honor of Lou Spadia
Adopted: March 7, 2013
