SAN FRANCISCO
HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION

Meeting Minutes

Commission Chambers Room 400,
1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place
San Francisco, CA 94102-4689

Wednesday, January 6, 2016
12:30 p.m.
Regular Hearing

COMMISSIONERS PRESENT:   Wolfram, Hyland, Hasz, Johnck, Matsuda, Pearlman, Johns

THE MEETING WAS CALLED TO ORDER BY PRESIDENT WOLFRAM AT 12:34 PM

STAFF IN ATTENDANCE: John Rahaim - Director of Planning, Eliliesh Tuffy, Lily Yegazu, Tim Frye - Historic Preservation Coordinator, Jonas P. Ionin – Commission Secretary

SPEAKER KEY:
+ indicates a speaker in support of an item;

indicates a speaker in opposition to an item; and

= indicates a neutral speaker or a speaker who did not indicate support or opposition.

Hearing Materials are available at: Website: http://www.sfplanning.org Planning Department, 1650 Mission Street, 4th Floor, Suite 400 Planning Information Center, 1660 Mission Street, 1st Floor Voice recorded Agenda, only: (415) 558-6320 Commission Hearing Broadcasts: Live stream: http://www.sfgovtv.org Ordinances and Accessibility Hearing Procedures

A. GENERAL 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.  Each member of the public may address the Commission for up to three minutes.

None

B. DEPARTMENT MATTERS

1.  Director’s Announcements

Director John Rahaim:
Good afternoon Commissioners and Happy New Year to all of you. Just one announcement today, it’s noted in the written Director's Report on the Affordable Housing Bonus Program. I believe you had a presentation on this at your, I think, last meeting. We are moving ahead with not only the program but a series of public meetings and we're trying to prepare public meetings in each of the supervisorial districts. We have meetings in District 2, 7, 3 and 1 in that order. We are looking to do one in every district but I just wanted to give you an update on that process and let you know we are tentatively scheduled to be at the Planning Commission to approve or for them to act on that program at the end of January on the 27th and we do anticipate further changes as we go forward. It’s a substantial program, it’s one that we've been spending a lot of time on and it is part of, if you will, the menu of tools in our toolbox that we can actually use to increase the affordable housing production. Secondly, I would just say that we're also--the Mayor has assembled, I think as you know, reassembled his Housing Task Force that he convened about 3 years ago in preparation for then Proposition C that created the Housing Trust Fund. He has asked that task force to reconvene; it’s made up of a large number of members of the community, affordable housing advocates, developers, and community folks. The goal of the task force is take a new look at the city's Affordable Housing Bonus Program, the inclusionary requirements, to see if it should be raised, to see if there are other items that should be addressed in that program given the current affordable housing crisis in the city. He asked me to chair a committee that would look at process improvements and what the status of projects in the pipeline would be. I have convened a subset of that task force to do just that and certainly, if any of you are interested in working on that or on the other working group; the other working group will be chaired by Olsen Lee of the Mayor's Office of Housing to be looking at specifically the economics and the actual requirement for the inclusionary program; whether it should be raised from12 percent or how it should be raised, what types of projects it should apply to and that sort of thing. So Olsen will be chairing that aspect of the program, I'll be chairing the aspect of the program that deal with process improvements and the procedures within the city. So if you have any questions I'll be happy to answer them, otherwise that concludes my report.

2.      Review of Past Events at the Planning Commission, Staff Report and Announcements

Tim Frye, Preservation Coordinator:
Good afternoon Commissioners, Happy New Year. A few things to share with you at this first hearing of the HPC; there was an appeal of your Certificate of Appropriateness for the Van Ness BRT which you're probably aware of. The two main concerns the appellant has raised in the appeal are the removal of all of the trolley poles along the project and then the tree removal along Van Ness Avenue. We’re currently preparing a brief in conjunction with MTA and will be presenting on your behalf at the Board of Appeals hearing next week on the thirteenth, so next Wednesday. I'll have a full report at your following hearing on the outcome of that appeal. Also wanted to let you know with the Board of Supervisors adopted all Mills Act contracts and they were recorded, as there were 3 for this past year, and they have been recorded with the Assessor so those projects will now or those properties will now take advantage of a revised assessment as part of their upcoming years tax bills. 90-92 2nd Street, the Bourdette Building, is the only remaining proposed Article 10 designation that’s at the Board of Supervisors. We’re working with the Clerk to have it scheduled at Land Use Committee we think pretty soon, but I’ll certainly give you an update once Land Use Committee has had their hearing. One last item is this morning; I attended a bidder’s conference for the RFP to identify a lead community partner for the Old Mint. There was a pretty large turn out this morning it included a Q & A portion at the beginning and a tour of the building. As you know, if you're familiar with the RFP, we are looking for basically a lead community partner to help identify viable uses, whether it’s a mix of uses or single use within the building, to help to support a larger strategic plan on how to get the building rehabilitated and occupied in the long term. So this is really just to identify someone to help work with the city to facilitate realizing the building as a fully updated community amenity. The closing of the RFP is the first week in February and I am on the selection committee or the panel for reviewing the bids. I'll certainly keep you updated on any developments as they move forward. Sorry there is one last item, there were two requests, separate requests, by the HPC regarding Rec/Park properties; one is you ask for bill update on the Mother’s Building, as you know the Historic Preservation Fund Committee funded an analysis of conditions of the murals in the Mother’s Building as well as the overall condition of the property which is on your Landmark Designation Work Program. The report is complete and I am working with Rec/Park to schedule an informational presentation in front of you and hopefully by February to give you an overview of that report and let Rec/Park share with you some of their ideas for moving forward in stabilizing the building and finding a new active use for their property; and the second is based on public comment at previous hearings you have inquired about the proposals for the Palace of Fine Arts and again we’re working with Rec and Park to gather some information for you and let you know where they are in their selection process for any new proposals for that location.  That now concludes my comments unless you have any questions.

C. COMMISSION MATTERS

3.      President’s Report and Announcements

President Wolfram:
I have no formal report. The only announcement is that we will have the election of officers at our next hearing on January 20th and also, I guess we'll do maybe appointment of committees at that time as well.

Jonas Ionin, Commission Secretary:
If we could take that matter up under item 5 Commission Comments and Questions and formally move to set that January 20th that would be great. 

4.      Consideration of Adoption:

• Draft Minutes for ARC December 2, 2015
• Draft Minutes for HPC December 16, 2015

SPEAKERS: None
ACTION: Adopted as Corrected
AYES: Wolfram, Hyland, Hasz, Johnck, Johns, Matsuda, Pearlman

5.      Commission Comments & Questions

Commissioner Johns:
In the current issue of the New Fillmore, which is a neighborhood newspaper, there is an article about Japantown and you know we've approved the district there; I wanted to call everyone’s attention to it because it’s interesting and I think its worst reading but I also wanted to schedule on the agenda maybe for some time later this year. I'd like to address or investigate and address the Japan District to see what’s working and why it’s working and what didn't pan out and why not and what needs more time. I think that if we're going to use this as model for other districts it would be good to evaluate it. Along the line I think it might help us when the same issues come up and one of them pointed out in this article that the younger generation of business owners didn't seem very interested in running businesses in Japantown. I don't know whether it is anything can be done about that but I just think we should go over the whole thing and evaluate is it so.

Commissioner Hyland:
Good idea, Commissioner Johns. I had an announcement, on Monday I guess, Tim Frye, Shelly Caltagirone and I met with Regina Dick-Endrizzi, she's a staff person from the Small Business Commission and we--our commission is going to be hearing next meeting, next hearing, kind of an update on the cultural legacy business, Prop J, that just passed. So we were meeting to discuss how our two commissions, the Small Business Commission and the Historic Preservation Commission, and work together and how we can fulfill our role in the legislation or in the proposition. So we'll be having further presentation and discussion next hearing.

Jonas Ionin, Commission Secretary:
We should attend to the election of officers to establish that hearing.

President Wolfram:
So it's been proposed we have the Election of Officers at the next hearing January 20th. Do we need a motion to set that on calendar?

Jonas Ionin, Commission Secretary:
If we could, please. Thank you, Commissioner Johns and Commissioner Johnck. On that motion to set the hearing date for Election of Officers for January 20, 2016… so moved Commissioners that motion passes unanimously.

D. 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.

None

E. CONSENT CALENDAR

All matters listed hereunder constitute a Consent Calendar, are considered to be routine by the Historic Preservation 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.

None

F. REGULAR CALENDAR 

6. 2015-015229COA                                                                        (E. TUFFY: (415) 575-9191)
200 LARKIN STREET – east side of Larkin Street between McAllister Street and Fulton Street; Assessor’s Block 0353, Lot 001. Request for a Certificate of Appropriateness to install a temporary art piece – for a period of 3-5 years – in a designated significant interior space at the Asian Art Museum. The artwork is proposed to be hung in the northwest corner of the building’s open loggia, which surrounds the monumental grand staircase. The subject property is located within the Civic Center Landmark District, a P (Public) Zoning District, and 80-X Height and Bulk District. Designed by architect George Kelham and first opened in 1917, the subject property served as the city’s main public library for nearly 80 years, until it was converted to its current use as the Asian Art Museum.
Preliminary Recommendation: Approve with Conditions

SPEAKERS: = Eiliesh Tuffy – Staff presentation
+ Elisa Skaags – Project presentation
+ Linda Lei – Support of art installation
ACTION: Approved with Conditions
AYES: Wolfram, Hyland, Hasz, Johnck, Johns, Matsuda, Pearlman
MOTION: 0272

7.  2015-004086PTA                                                                     (L. YEGAZU: (415) 575-9076)
69 MAIDEN LANE – south side of Maiden Lane between Grant Avenue and Kearny Street, Assessor’s Block 0310, Lots 013A. Request for a Major Permit to Alter to replace the non-historic Maiden Lane façade and install new cladding, fenestration, and a projecting sign. Constructed in 1920, the subject building is a Category IV (Contributory) Building within the Kearny-Market-Mason Conservation District, the C-3-R (Downtown Retail) Zoning District, and 80-130-F Height and Bulk District.
Preliminary Recommendation: Approve with Conditions       

SPEAKERS: = Lily Yegazu – Staff presentation
+ William Duffy – Project presentation
ACTION: Approve with Conditions as Amended
AYES: Wolfram, Hyland, Hasz, Johnck, Johns, Matsuda, Pearlman
MOTION: 0273

ADJOURNMENT - 1:25 PM
ADOPTED JANUARY 20, 2016