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SAN FRANCISCO
PLANNING COMMISSION
Meeting Minutes
Commission Chambers - Room 400
City Hall, 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place
Thursday, May 2, 2013
12:00 PM
Regular Meeting
COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Fong, Wu, Antonini, Hillis, Moore, Sugaya
COMMISSIONER ABSENT: Borden
THE MEETING WAS CALLED TO ORDER BY PRESIDENT FONG AT 12:05 PM.
STAFF IN ATTENDANCE: John Rahaim – Planning Director, Sophie Hayward, Kimia Haddadan, Kanishka Burns, Wade Wietgrefe 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. 2013.0402T (K. HADDADAN: (415) 575-9068)
ORDINANCE AMENDING THE ADMINISTRATIVE CODE TO ESTABLISH THE BAYVIEW HUNTERS POINT CITIZENS ADVISORY COMMITTEE to provide policy advice to the City and County of San Francisco on planning and land use matters for Zone 2 of the Bayview Hunters Point Redevelopment Project Area.
Preliminary Recommendation: Approval with modification.
(Proposed for Continuance to May 9, 2013)
SPEAKERS: None
ACTION: Continued as Proposed
AYES: Fong, Wu, Antonini, Moore, Sugaya
ABSENT: Borden, Hillis
2. 2010.0222E (K. ZUSHI: (415) 575-9036)
248-252 9TH STREET - west side between Howard and Folsom Streets; Lots 006 and 007 of Assessor’s Block 3518 – Appeal of Preliminary Mitigated Negative Declaration for the merger of the two lots, totaling 5,000 square feet, on the project site, demolition of the existing buildings currently used as storage, and construction of a five-story, 50-foot-tall, 18,697-sf mixed-use building including 15 dwelling units and 3,126 square feet of ground floor commercial/restaurant space. The proposed project would include no parking spaces. The project site is located in an SLR (Service/Light Industrial/Residential) Mixed-Use District.
Preliminary Recommendation: Uphold Preliminary Mitigated Negative Declaration
(Proposed for Continuance to June 6, 2013)
SPEAKERS: None
ACTION: Continued as Proposed
AYES: Fong, Wu, Antonini, Moore, Sugaya
ABSENT: Borden, Hillis
3. 2012.0211D (G. CABREROS: (415) 558-6169)
2764 GREENWICH STREET - north side between Broderick and Baker Streets; Lot 053 in Assessor's Block 0939 - Request for Discretionary Review of Building Permit Application No. 2010.03.24.8854 proposing to construct front and rear horizontal additions and a vertical addition to the existing three-story, single-family dwelling within a RH-2 (Residential, House, Two-Family) Zoning District and 40-X Height and Bulk District.
Staff Analysis: Abbreviated Discretionary Review
Preliminary Recommendation: Do not Take Discretionary Review and Approve
(Continued from Regular Meeting of September 20, 2012)
(DISCRETIONARY REVIEW REQUEST WITHDRAWN)
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
4. 2013.0476T (A. RODGERS 415.558.6395)
PLANNING CODE TEXT AMENDMENT CONCERNING MIXED USE-OFFICE (MUO) DISTRICT - The Planning Commission will consider initiation of a draft Ordinance that would amend the San Francisco Planning Code Section 842 and Section 842.49, of the Zoning Control Table, for the Mixed Use-Office District to 1) permit a tourist hotel use with Conditional Use Authorization without a specified room limit; and 2) making environmental findings, Planning Code Section 302 findings, and findings of consistency with General Plan and the Priority Policies of Planning Code Section 101.1.
Preliminary Recommendation: Adopt a Resolution Authorizing an Adoption Hearing on or after June 6, 2013
SPEAKERS: Toby Levine, Jim Meko, Steve Vettell
ACTION: After being pulled off Consent, Adopted a Resolution authorizing an Adoption Hearing on or after May 23, 2013 with alternatives to be considered by staff, with counsel from SF Travel and other tourist and hotel organizations, and brought before the Planning Commission
AYES: Fong, Wu, Antonini, Hillis
NAYES: Moore, Sugaya
ABSENT: Borden
RESOLUTION: 18854
C. COMMISSION 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.
5. Consideration of Adoption:
· Draft Minutes for April 18, 2013
SPEAKERS: None
ACTION: Adopted
AYES: Fong, Wu, Antonini, Hillis, Moore, Sugaya
ABSENT: Borden
6. 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 Moore:
I just wanted to mention how pleased I was to hear that 52 UN Plaza is going to be
occupied by GSA again. About 625 Federal employees will be moving back into that building which has been refurbished, from what I understand, and I think they will be activating that part of the street in a very significant way.
Commissioner Antonini:
Couple of items, first I just want to report that the Subcommittee on the Secretary Search has been meeting and is considering the candidate pool that we have received, and we'll be trying to narrow it down to a number that, for which, we can make a decision, and that's basically what we've been doing. Much of this is in Closed Session because it is on employment issues. I did have another item. Last week I went to pick up my car, which had to have some work done on it at Larkin and Sutter Street. In fact, the fellow there has the only Chrysler servicing place in San Francisco for cheap Chrysler products. Regardless, the big issue is not about the car, but he said, “Can you help me?” And apparently he's been tagged every single night. In the past maybe once a week, every two weeks, and it's getting extremely expensive for him to clean up the front of his building because he does have a fairly intricate pattern of colors there and he has to get a painter in each time to clean it up. So, he indicated there was a store that opened across the street from him in the 1100 block of Sutter that is a graffiti store. It's not a hardware store, it’s not an art store, it is strictly a graffiti store selling products for illegal activities, which I don't quite understand why this is permitted. And their hours, from what I understand, are evenings and weekends only. So, they're catering specifically to the kinds of people that are often involved in graffiti that being sometimes youngsters, who are, only can come in the evening. And it's not always youngsters who do it, of course. So, I did make some inquiries through Planning and they're going to check with the Police Department as far as the handling of this because the other items that I have questions on is the handling of spray paints normally at most hardware stores, as you'll notice, the spray paints are restricted and they are often locked up or at least the attendant has to get it. You can't just self-serve yourself with those, for a reason. And I understand they're not to be sold to people under 18. I'm not sure if that's a City or State law, I've heard that. So, I’d kind of like the Planning Department to look into this. And there also was an article in C.W. Nevius’ column a couple of days before that regarding a similar situation on Sixth Street, where people were trying to clean up that part of the street and they were being besieged by being tagged every night. So, we spend millions of dollars cleaning this up privately and publicly and we also expect property owners at their own expense to clean it up, where we don't do too much about prosecuting the perpetrator. And also those kinds of businesses that might engage in the kind of sales of products for illegal activities.
Commissioner Sugaya:
Couple of things, last night I was at a reception for the opening of the Hallidie Building on Sutter Street. It's really a magnificent building. There was a brochure that was handed out. Director Rahaim was there and our Planning staff was there, Sophie. It was a wonderful reception and it was actually held not in the building, it was held across the street at the Crocker Galleria, where if you go up to the top floor you can access a public space, which I didn't even know was there. I'm familiar with the one that faces Market Street, which is used by a lot of people during lunchtime, but this one I wasn't aware of. But, if you go up there, you can see the building head on and you're up four stories or three stories. So, you can see the cresting in the upper part which has a lot of decorative features to it. I think everyone was very pleased. It sailed through Planning, as I understand, through the Historic Preservation Commission without issues. And everything was worked out. So, that was really great. My firm, we weren't the preservation architects, but we were the preservation architects, might blow my horn a little bit on the Pier 29 restoration project. Some of you may remember, Pier 29 had a fire about a year ago and destroyed the front part of the bulkhead part of the building, which faces The Embarcadaro. And, so, it was fast tracked through the Port and the City approval process and it was completed just the end of last week, I believe. And staff went over earlier this week to take a look at finished product. So, that one has also been completed. And then just a quickie to Planning staff, could we get a copy of the MTA Polk Street alternatives that were part of the community discussion earlier this week? Thank you.
D. DEPARTMENT MATTERS
7. Director’s Announcements
Director Rahaim:
A couple things, as noted in your Director's Report, the recent Landmark District was created along Market Street of eight discontinuous buildings being called the Post 1906 Reconstruction Period Project Buildings on Market Street, That did go through the Board and took effect recently. It is a series of masonry buildings on Market Street that you supported as well as the Historic Preservation Commission. And that is now in effect and is the City's most recent Historic Landmark District. I was also going to mention the Polk Street Plans, that the MTA has prepared in response to some concerns by the community and by this Commission and we're happy to get you those plans as well. Lastly, just to announce that there is a Public Scoping Meeting on the Environmental Impact Report for the Central Corridor Area Plan, and that is to take place on Wednesday, May 15th at 6:00 P.M. At the Mendelson House, which is at 737 Folsom Street. Again, 6:00 P.M. May 15th, at 6:00 P.M. at the Mendelson House, Public Scoping Meeting for the EIR for the Central Corridor Area Plan.
8. Review of Past Week’s Events at the Board of Supervisors, Board of Appeals, and Historic Preservation Commission.
BOARD OF SUPERVISORS:
No meeting
BOARD OF APPEALS:
No meeting
HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION:
No meeting
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.
SPEAKERS: Peter Karakaur, Joseph Butler
F. REGULAR CALENDAR
9. 2011.1355E (W. WIETGREFE: (415) 575-9050)
MISSION DOLORES REHABILIATION AND IMPROVEMENT PROJECT IS/MND - The project site is a 700,920-square-foot (16.1 acres) city park bounded by 18th Street to the north, Dolores Street to the east, 20th Street to the south, and Church Street to the west; Lot 001 of Assessor’s Block 3599 and Lot 001 of Assessor’s Block 3586 - Appeal of Preliminary Negative Declaration for the proposed rehabilitations and improvements throughout Mission Dolores Park including: relocating and/or refurbishing existing athletic courts; constructing a new multi-use court; removing an existing building and constructing three new buildings; removing and widening existing pathways; constructing new internal pathways; design changes at the edges and entry points of the Park; repaving the Muni tracks and minor Muni shelter stop alterations within the Park; and other Park-wide changes. The project site is located in a P (Public) Use District.
Preliminary Recommendation: Uphold Preliminary Negative Declaration
SPEAKERS: Lindsey Keefoff, Jill Enderdownan, Felicia Evans, Robert Burst, Andrea O’Leary, Jacob Gilchrest
ACTION: Upheld
AYES: Fong, Antonini, Hillis, Moore, Sugaya
RECUSED: Wu
ABSENT: Borden
MOTION: 18856
10. 2013.0269C (K. BURNS: (415) 575-9112)
354 CLEMENT STREET - northeast corner of Clement Street and Fifth Avenue; Lot 025 in Assessor’s Block 1429 - Request for Conditional Use Authorization, pursuant to Planning Code Sections 303, 716.44 and 790.91 to allow a change of use from a Limited-Restaurant to a Restaurant (d.b.a. Shabu House) which will operate as a Bona Fide Eating Place. The property is located within the Inner Clement Neighborhood Commercial District, and 40-X Height and Bulk District.
Preliminary Recommendation: Approval with Conditions
SPEAKERS: George Lee, Louis Lo
ACTION: Approved with Conditions
AYES: Fong, Wu, Antonini, Hillis, Moore, Sugaya
ABSENT: Borden
MOTION: 18855
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: 2:01 PM
Adopted: May 16, 2013
