All right.

Hello, everybody.

Welcome to the Thursday, August 21st, 2025 regular meeting of the South San Francisco Planning Commission.

This meeting is being held in person at the Library Parks and Rec Building Council Chambers.

To provide a comment during the meeting, please fill out a speaker card and give it to the clerk.

You'll have three minutes to make your comments.

Please note that all commission time limits and rules of decorum will apply to public comments.

This meeting of the South San Francisco Planning Commission is hereby called to order.

Will you please stand and join in the Pledge of Allegiance?

May we please have roll call?

Commissioner Baker.

Commissioner Faria.

Commissioner Shahade.

Here.

Commissioner Zhang.

Here.

Vice Chairperson Palmiku.

Here.

Chairperson Kunas Ostark and Commissioner Evans are absent.

Thank you.

Are there any changes to the agenda?

No changes.

Thanks.

Uh items or announcements from staff?

We do not have any announcements tonight.

Okay.

Next we have the consent calendar.

May we have a listing of the consent calendar items?

Yes.

We have one item on the consent calendar, which is consideration and approval of minutes from the August 7th, 2025 Planning Commission meeting.

Madam Chairman with the consent calendar.

I'll second.

Thank you.

Can we have a vote?

Commissioner Baker.

Yes.

Commissioner Faria.

Yes.

Commissioner Shahade.

Yes.

Commissioner Zhang.

Yes.

Vice Chairperson Palmaku.

Yes.

Chairperson Funas Auschwerk and Commissioner Evans are absent.

I think I skipped over.

Let me go back to disclosure of Ex parte communications.

If any commissioner has had any communication with applicants, did any sites or project visits, had any interactions with third parties, or has any conflicts regarding items on the agenda, you may disclose them at this time.

If you would like to recuse yourself for an item, and also do so at this time.

Does any member of the public wish to address the commission on an item that is not on the agenda tonight at this time?

If so, please fill out a speaker card and give it to the clerk.

We do not have any comments.

Hearing no speakers, we will move on.

Yes, item number two is a report regarding consideration and recommendation of approval to city council of a zoning text amendment to make minor revisions to the South San Francisco Municipal Code, Section 2110 related to building height, consideration of a variance and design review for the redevelopment of the boys and girls club facility at 201 West Orange Park and the Parks and Recreation Zoning District in accordance with Title 20 of the South San Francisco Municipal Code and determination under the category of the California Environmental Quality Act that the project is categorically exempt as an infill development project.

And I am Adina Friedman, Chief Planner, and I will give the presentation tonight.

Great.

So the item, so good evening, Vice Chair and Commissioners.

The item in front of you tonight is the redevelopment of the clubhouse for the Boys and Girls Club of the Peninsula.

This slide shows the location of the existing boys and girls club, which is on a three-acre site on a city-owned property adjacent to Orange Memorial Park.

And as you can see, it's also proximate to Centennial Way Trail.

It's a few blocks from El Camino, right off of Orange Avenue.

Here are a few images of the existing facility.

A little bit of background on the applicant.

The Boys and Girls Club of the Peninsula provides community programming to kids and families in the community, including after school programming, sports, recreation, and summer programs, and much more.

The applicant is here tonight and will give a more in-depth presentation about their program.

As you can see, the existing building is older.

It was built in 1961.

And the proposal in front of you tonight is an opportunity to upgrade and expand the services that the organization provides.

This is a site plan showing the existing conditions on the site.

There's three separate buildings.

Building one is a one-story building with classrooms, building two is a two-story gymnasium, and building three is a one-story building as well that is primarily used for storage.

The red dashed line shows the extent of the project, which leaves the gymnasium intact and focuses on buildings one and three and the parking areas surrounding the building.

So the project proposal is to demolish and replace buildings one and three with two-story buildings with slightly larger footprints.

Currently, the facility serves 150 students in grades kindergarten through eighth grade.

A new trash enclosure, parking lot restriping, circulation and pedestrian improvements, and utility and infrastructure operates.

The next two slides shows some of the renderings of what the vision for the new facility will look like.

Here's the view from the parking lot, and here's the view from the far end of the building from further into Orange Memorial Park.

So the entitlements request tonight in front of the planning commission.

Oops.

There we go.

Okay.

The entitlements request is for a variance for the rear setback, a zoning text amendment to allow additional height for mechanical equipment in the civic districts, design review, and a CEQA determination.

In terms of zoning, it is within the Parks and Recreation District, and the proposed both the existing and proposed use is our permitted uses in this district.

The current use will remain the same following the expansion and redevelopment project just with a larger class.

The general plan designation is also parks and recreation.

The purpose of this district as its name suggests is for parks, recreation complexes, golf courses, and greenways, and the boys and girls club is consistent as it provides a community use within a park setting.

The project is also consistent with general plan policy direction, including the provision of parkland, recreational facilities, services, educational programming, and a variety of youth programming for all residents.

In terms of the setback, there is a request for a variance for the rear setback.

The required rear yard setback in the park and rec district is zero feet.

However, it is 10 feet when a parcel is abutting a residential district.

In this case, you can see on the slide here, the parcel outlined in red is a butting a residential district, which is in the orange there, which is the RM22 district.

That means that the required rear yard setback would be 10 feet.

The current setback for the building for building one, this is only for building one.

The current setback for building one is zero feet.

The proposal is to be on have a five foot setback.

The applicant submitted justification for the variance request, including this graphic on the screen.

There are many site constraints in place, including a PGE easement, a BART tunnel, the BART zone of influence, and the trapezoidal shape of the property.

These constraints were not created by the applicant or this or the owner of the property.

As I mentioned, the existing setback is zero.

If the applicant was rebuilding the exact building size and footprint, the building could maintain a zero setback, but since the building is expanding, they do need to meet the zoning in place.

Hence the application for a variance to have a five foot setback.

Staff has reviewed the variance request and justification and finds that the project meets the required findings.

This project also includes a proposal for a minor zoning text amendment to address building height for mechanical screen, mechanical equipment and screening in the parks and rec district.

The maximum building height in the parks and rec district is 30 feet, and building height is measured to the highest point on the roof or the top of the parapet wall or mechanical equipment screening wall.

And mechanical equipment is required to be screened.

So any rooftop equipment is required to be screened, not just in this district, throughout the city.

During review of this project, staff determined that a 30 foot height maximum, inclusive of screening, does not allow for a modern two-story building with updated mechanical equipment.

So this is a little bit of an outdated measure in our code.

This graphic here shows the 30-foot height of the building, and it shows that the mechanical screening, which is outlined in red on the screen, extends to 35 feet.

So the proposed zoning text in front of the planning commission tonight would adjust the zoning to include a moderate height exception in the civic districts for buildings of 30 feet in height or less.

And the exception would be an allowance for an additional five feet in height, subject to a maximum of five feet in height, subject to design review.

Staff supports this amendment, and it allows for new modern buildings and modernization of older buildings in our civic district with a design review process.

The design review board reviewed this project at their meeting this year in March, did recommend approval of the project.

They provided comments on landscaping, mechanical screening, and electric vehicle parking, and the applicant addressed all comments in a subsequent submittal.

The applicant also held a neighborhood meeting at their current location in May 2025.

Boys and Girls Club of the Peninsula presented the vision for the redeveloped building and site, and the neighbors who were present supported the project and did have questions about the interim conditions of what would happen during construction, and the applicant will go into that.

The project applicant submitted a checklist and evaluation that shows the project qualifies for a categorical exemption from CEQA.

This is a class 32 infill exemption.

No exceptions apply, and no additional environmental documentation is needed.

This project does qualify for an infill exemption.

So I'm going to move to staff recommendation.

Staff supports approval or recommendation of approval for the boys and girls club redevelopment.

This proposal would modernize and improve a heavily used community facility.

It would expand a community resource to better serve the community members, provide site improvements, improves pedestrian access and overall site accessibility, meets design review criteria, general plan goals and policies, and is consistent with zoning with approval of a variance and the minor amendment proposed.

That I'm going to get to the staff recommendation, which is that staff recommends that the planning commission adopt resolutions making findings and recommending the city council make a sequel determination that the project qualifies for categorical exemption.

Approve the entitlements request, including zoning ordinance amendment, design review and variants.

And with that, there are several members of the applicant team here tonight.

So I would like to turn the microphone over to the boys and girls club of the peninsula.

And we're gonna get the great.

Good evening, everyone.

Good evening, commissioners.

Thank you for having us today.

My name is Jenny Obiaya, and I have the privilege of serving as the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Peninsula's CEO.

And I'm joined today by some of my wonderful teammates and colleagues and partners and community members, and we're so excited to talk with you more about this South San Francisco Clubhouse project.

I'll start by just sharing a bit about our organization.

We are a nonprofit expanded learning program which focuses on serving kids in the after-school space and during summertime.

And our vision is that all youth are able to grow up to lead a fulfilling life fueled by their passions, talents, and a love of learning.

We know the reality is that it is incredibly expensive to raise kids these days, especially given the cost of living in our communities, and so it's really our mission to ensure that all young people have equal access to high quality opportunities that will help them thrive in the classroom and beyond.

You can see some of our current South San Francisco Clubhouse students here.

This is a map showing our impact footprint, who we serve right now.

As an organization, we currently serve 6,700 students across 30 sites from East Palo Alto all the way up to Daily City.

And I want to hone in on this term active students.

This means the number of students who come to us repeatedly because we really understand that our impact as a youth development organization is all about sort of repeatedly getting the opportunity to partner with our students and families.

One thing I want to note here is that of our 30 sites, the most of them, the majority of them, the ones in purple slash blue, are integrated directly into school sites, but we have four clubhouses, three in the South Redwood City, Menlo Park, and East Palo Alto, and then our one South San Francisco Clubhouse.

And these are really designed to be hubs of the community centers where families can come and take advantage of our programming.

And so if we zoom in to South San Francisco in particular, you can see how since 2022, when we first started serving this community, we actually took over the existing boys and girls club that was here that was sort of struggling financially.

We've really invested in trying to serve as many students actively as possible.

And so you could see in the purple, these are our existing boys and girls clubs sites, both in schools and the clubhouse.

And then the orange represents school sites that feed into our South San Francisco, our current South San Francisco Clubhouse.

So this year we are projected to actively serve 520 students from kindergarten all the way to college and through college in South San Francisco actively.

In terms of what we offer at the Clubhouse, we've got a wide range of programs, and I'll talk a bit about each of them, but I do want to point out that something that's incredibly important to us as an organization is that all of our programs are free to students and families.

So we have a robust fundraising program so that we can focus on raising the revenue that we need, both from private individuals.

We also partner with the school district to ensure that there are no barriers for South San Francisco families to access our high-quality programs.

So we offer after school, full-day summer camps, which always have long wait lists.

We provide warm, nutritious meals every single day for students, and families can come and take as many of them as they'd like.

We know what it's like to come home after a long day of work and still have to, you know, do bath and bedtime, and so we want to make sure that everyone has some great meals to eat.

We provide academic support through things like tutoring and our college access and readiness program focused on serving first generation college-bound students.

We have mental health services, providers on site, enriching extracurriculars, including the arts, culinary programs, and as you see in this picture, we've got really great competitive sports leagues.

And if you were to stop by on an evening or a Saturday, you would see that the gym is filled with our student athletes, but also with our very proud parents and family members cheering on their students.

And then we also offer career pathways programs, ensuring that students have exposure to lots of different different career pathways, but also the skills and the tools that they need to be competitive in the workforce, setting them up with internships, apprenticeships, and there's so much more.

We could be here all night.

But this is a snapshot.

Challenges and opportunities.

You all saw some of the pictures of the existing building, which is quite old, and we can really hone in on two challenges in particular.

The first is a capacity challenge, so I named that even.

So right now the existing clubhouse serves kindergartners through eighth graders, and even with the existing footprint, we have a wait list for those grade levels.

But what the clubhouse is not able to accommodate right now is our high school students.

And we do have really rich programs to work with high schoolers, as I mentioned, a college access and readiness program called Future Grads, and right now that program happens only at the high school campuses.

So we have a team of BGCP staff that work at South San Francisco High School and at El Camino.

And this new clubhouse complex would allow us to finally start serving South San Francisco high school students on site at the facilities so they could take advantage of the many other programs we offer besides future grads.

And in this picture here, you see our first graduating high school graduating class of future grad students in the mid and northern part of the county.

So these are students from South San Francisco and Daily City celebrating their high school graduation and announcing their journey to college.

So capacity is one big challenge, and then the second big challenge is just the functionality of the building.

It is really old.

And our team, they work so hard to uh make sure that our students have a really caring, thoughtful, welcoming space for our kids every single day, but it's just not up to par with some, you know, our other clubhouses in East Palo Alto and Redwood City that are more modern.

I mentioned our meals program, so we do provide these warm meals every single day, but it is a challenge because in our other clubhouses down south, we have sort of restaurant grade kitchens where we can make the meals every day, have culinary classes.

The existing kitchen in the clubhouse in South San Francisco is really teeny tiny.

I'm not even sure it has like a working stove, it just doesn't have what we need.

And so, right now, every day our team is making the meals in our East Palo Alto clubhouse, driving them up in our vans to South San Francisco and putting them in warmers every day so that students can have these meals.

So we're excited that this new vision for the Clubhouse complex would allow us to have the same high-quality resources and facilities as we have in other places.

You saw some of the renderings, and I know the team will walk you through more of the vision for the project itself.

Uh, but we would be so excited to have a world class community hub for South San Francisco students and families.

One thing I do want to name is just the tremendous community support behind this project.

So we just have so much positive momentum.

We've gone out and we fundraised, and individuals in our BGCP community, private donors, have already committed 27.5 million dollars to make this hub a reality for the families of South San Francisco because they believe in South San Francisco and they believe in the potential of our BGCP students.

Adina brought up that during our community meeting there were questions about interim programming.

Where are all our students going to go during this construction project?

And this is really a priority for us.

Continuity of services for our students.

I have two nine-year-old boys, and they're an after school, and I have no idea what I would do.

I wouldn't be able to do this job if all of a sudden the after school services just stopped.

And so we have been working with the city, they've been great partners, and we are moving into the old South San Francisco library space.

Um we officially move in on September 2nd, and so it's just a hop skip and a jump from the existing from the existing site, and uh we're gonna be ready to welcome our kids, and we welcome all of you.

We are having an open house of that library space on September 5th, and so we welcome all of you to come.

It'll be really fun.

There will be ice cream trucks.

I think that I think now I'm going to turn it over to Michelle to my teammate and wonderful partner Michelle.

Thank you, Jenny, and thanks for the nice introduction to the project, Adina.

I'll try not to repeat anything you said.

Uh, and to the members of the commission, thanks for hearing us today.

Uh, let's see.

All right, we'll start with the overall slide uh showing the site plan, high-level overview.

The top slide is the existing conditions, the bottom slide is the proposed.

Uh generally speaking on the site, uh, we are clearly keeping the gymnasium as as it is, and we're expanding building one into a slightly larger footprint.

It's a little longer, a little narrower, sliding it up and off of that property line as much as we could, but the the 10 feet proved problematic.

We would have to sacrifice too many interior programming uh opportunities for the students when we run into that PGE setback line.

So that's the reason for the variance request.

Uh, on the other side, we're replacing that old storage building with the new high school teen center.

Beautiful opportunity.

We're taking up additional asphalt, mostly not parking.

We are losing a few few stalls, but we're re-striping to regain them back.

So we have a net zero loss in the parking.

As far as site circulation goes, it's much the same as it currently is.

So, all of the folks who are used to dropping off their kids and picking them up, it'll be the same circulation pattern in from West Orange Avenue, making a U-turn at the end of the site, and then coming and dropping off the kids.

This is an enlarged view.

We'll go into the floor plans just to give you a brief overview.

Currently, it's hard to find the front door.

Everything is flush.

There's some glass, some of it's blocked out, it's a little disconcerting.

I had a hard time finding the front door when I first arrived.

So the new facility makes the front door very clear.

It's a nice recessed entryway.

There'll be some bike bike bicycle parking on the exterior of that.

And some bike parking spaces on the interior of the secured lobby space.

Currently, the lobby is wide open.

There's no security whatsoever, so that'll be addressed here.

The blue area is a new cafeteria space.

It's a very large space that doesn't currently exist in their facility.

It's also a multi-use space.

They can make use of it for different activities over the course of the day, but it's a really lovely place for folks to eat.

And that spills out into a fenced in secure outdoor space that can be used also for eating, lunches, or recreation facilities, multi-purpose outdoor play area.

Behind that in the little terracotta area is the much-desired kitchen space, which is going to be much like the East Palo Alto facility, a culinary kitchen.

And associated with that is also the opportunity to provide a culinary class for all of the students who are interested in that kind of work for summer jobs or potential career opportunities.

The ground floor of this building is going to house kindergarten through third grade.

The purple areas are the multi-purpose rooms where those classrooms will take place.

The light gray areas are circulation and an open community space that can be used for play areas or transitional time where the kids can commingle and enjoy each other's company.

That's also a launching point for the vertical circulation.

There's a stairwell as well as an elevator up to the second floor.

One thing worthy of pointing out on this floor plan for those of you who are familiar with the facility, we're creating a new lobby for the gymnasium access.

Currently, the gymnasium facility has a pair of double doors, two pairs of double doors, that once you walk in those double doors, you're in the gym.

I mean, you're right there.

You're in the middle of it all.

It's a very tight space.

So this provided us an opportunity to give families an opportunity to enter the gym, have a breather.

There's bathroom access right there, which is a hardship right now.

You have to go around and about to get to a restroom.

So that's a nice little addition that'll connect the gymnasium to the general population as well.

Second floor, again the purple spaces are multi-use facilities.

This is servicing grades four through eight.

The green spaces are admins for the boys and girls staff.

And again, the gray areas are circulation areas and common games, multi-use flux space.

Now we'll go to the teen center.

So the teen center facility houses its own building.

The teens will have their own identity.

They don't have to hang out with their little kids.

You know, that's a big important thing.

I remember being from junior high to ninth grade.

I was a big girl now.

So I think that's going to be a real nice identity for those teens that are going to be coming here.

We also have a reduced, I'm sorry, a recessed entryway to the main lobby, so that'll be an entry statement.

That's shown in blue.

We're also planning on linking that to have an inside access into the gymnasium from that space.

So that'll be through the main lobby.

The green area is high school leadership, so that's a staff area.

The purple areas again are multi-purpose rooms, and the gray area also again is the student lounge for the teens, vertical circulation and open stairway leading up to the uses on the second floor, as well as an elevator.

And of course, we have the restrooms.

Packing a punch into a small space.

Off the student lounge here is also an outdoor space for quiet enjoyment.

This is going to be a quiet place for kids to enjoy the outdoor space, not meant to be extremely loud and noisy as we have the um we're respecting the residential neighbors right behind the project.

And the second floor of the facility, again, the purple areas are multi-purpose classrooms gray areas are common space lots of opportunities for study groups um student lounge space and a really unique thing in this facility that's been a hit in other boys and girls clubs there's a um the terracotta space there's a uh student high school library and academic support which is very important off of that is a technology room huge in Silicon Valley um and off of that is a really cool sound studio and sound booth so people can do their uh you name it they'll make their own music they'll do iPod webcasting whatever they want to do so that's gonna be a real fun space for those guys to explore and have fun with let's go to the outside exterior colors and materials uh we prided ourselves in providing some kind of a warm friendly approachable facade that's modern yet has a little elements of home uh the materials are plaster uh and uh uh cement board materials clear glass black moyens all the rage right now uh and you've seen the elevations of facades i i think this is a lovely upgrade a place that students can feel proud of feel like they belong in a space like this feel welcome and feel a sense of ownership so when they go out into the broad big world outside of San Francisco and go to college and beyond um this will be a familiar comfortable setting for them and they'll feel worthy and deserving of such um any questions thank you so much do any of the commissioners have questions for staff or applicant then does any member of the public wish to address the commission at this time if so please fill out a speaker card and give it to the clerk we have six uh members of the public who would like to provide public comments I will call them in order received at this time Mark Cox.

Good evening thank you commission my name's Mark Cox I live at 130 Knoll Circle.

I'm also the uh the pastor of good news chapel which shares a directly behind the boys and girls club at 215 West Orange.

Um first I just want to say how as a the church how grateful we are for the boys and girls club that to be partnered in that neighborhood along with Los Ridos elementary school right across the street and um and we're really excited for the to see the the designs and for the expanded use and the way the boys and girls club we're gonna be able to serve more families in our in our neighborhood so I'm so grateful.

I feel like we're we're partners on the theme on the same goal so that feels really good.

I also have a 14 year old that just started high school so that you're gonna have a high school please I've I've coached basketball in that gym that gym needs some work but it's a it's a great it's a great spot um our only concern as the church and sharing the property there if you uh um is that I I've noticed that there's a more of a setback which is going to happen which is which is really nice because right now the our property in the boys and girls club is really close at one point there's it's zero I believe for part of it and the other parts are maybe two or three feet um and so our only concern that's our that's our back um kind of a back courtyard we have to our church and uh children play back there and it's kind of a community area for us.

It's um and so we're just concerned about the the phases for the deconstruction for dust and debris and things like that.

So assurances from the developer that those things will be considered.

Uh the we also use those on the weekends.

So I think that's probably going to work out fine for that, as long as just we wanted to have that be known.

Um the other thing is, and I have photos here of the backyard because most of the pictures don't show the back the back side, which is the area that relates to Good News Chapel is um we have um right at the property line.

Uh there's four we have four large trees and um I have pictures you can see if you want to see them, where both the branches and the roots are going over and touching and going right into the boys and girls club property as well.

We would very much like to have those trees removed and I don't know if we could work with the developer uh to if I think it would make for much cleaner uh setback space and uh it's already you know causing disruptions to some of our concrete and uh and things like that.

So um I don't know if that's something that we could talk to the developer about.

If they uh would be able to remove those trees for us.

So that's all I have.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Lena Martinez.

Hello everyone.

My name is Lena.

I have been I have been involved in the boys and girls club since I was freshman.

I'm now a senior at South San Francisco High School and participated Future Grass and Career Pathways program.

Future Grass has impacted my life with a lot of opportunities.

Transportation included and great care.

I have visited eight colleges and three companies through FutureGrass and the Korea Pathways program.

Through SPP, I have learned how to make a professional resume and network.

This summary I was part of the YouTube apprenticeship program.

I met these professionals at YouTube every day to learn about their careers and go to work on the challenges each within my group.

I also participated in the coaching lab group, coaching lab program, is similar to the athletic program at the OE Clubhouse where I learned public speaking skills build confidence how to be a coach to younger students.

Um I have taken advantage of everything the boys and girls club has offered me.

If I had a high school boys and girls club, it will be very beneficial to me.

Right now, if I don't have sports, I just go home after school.

A couple a clubhouse will help me with my education.

I have a younger sister who one day would go to the clubhouse and she could receive more resources.

In my opinion, it is always better to be in person.

I will be in future grades in college and this club has will be a space I can meet with with them when they do the help.

So please approve our building.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Melanie.

Good evening.

Uh my name is Melanie Kreitz.

I am a lifelong South City resident.

Uh used to go to the boys and girls club facility here myself actually when I was younger.

And when I was in high school, I volunteered to be like a helper aide for the adults running all the classes there.

So I have myself benefited from this um from this program.

I have two children.

Uh my son just started high school and my daughter's in third grade.

They both have learned so much with boys and girls club, leadership skills, coping mechanisms.

My daughter does take advantage of the mental health facility portion um at the clubhouse currently, um, and it's been fantastic.

The the staff is amazing.

Mr.

Romel, always um I think the club is so beneficial for the community.

They have events that welcome people in.

They they bring the community together.

Um the park and recs department is great for South City as well, but they are so overwhelmed.

And having the secondary option, especially um for free, helps so many families.

I know it's a godsend for many families that I know, um, as well as myself.

Uh, you know, I work out of the home.

I don't know what I would do if we didn't have the after-school care as well as the summer program for my younger child, especially.

Um, it's amazing benefits.

I fully love the upgrades that are being proposed.

I think that welcoming high school students into the facility would also benefit me so I can have a support system for my son after school as well so he can be successful and have all the resources leading to go to college.

Um, sorry, I'm very nervous, but coming into the boys and girls club and learning leadership skills there myself have taught me that if you believe in something, you need to do something that's out of your comfort zone.

So I apologize if I'm speaking too fast.

Um, but yes, I think that this is all fantastic.

I know that many people would benefit, um, myself included, um, and the community, and I look forward to seeing the new facility coming up.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

You didn't.

Aaron.

Hello, my name is Aaron.

Um, I'm a single dad here in South City.

Uh, three kids.

My son is 20, my daughter's 17.

They went through all the after school programs and summer programs.

Um my daughter, Ava is currently in seventh grade, and she's involved in the summer program and the after-school program.

And um, it's truly a blessing because without this program, I mean, I wouldn't be able to hold a full-time job.

What they do for me, they pick my child up after school, bring him to the club, bring her to the clubhouse.

Um, I know she's safe, I know she's in structure.

I know that when I get off work, I can just come pick her up, and I know that you know, without this program, I don't even know how I would survive through all these years.

So, you know, I asked the community to get behind whatever um the boys and girls club needs because it's truly amazing, and it is a lifeline for families like me.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Michael Ochoa.

Um, good evening, uh, commissioners.

My name is Michael Achal.

I'm a field representative for Carpenters Local 217 in Foster City.

We cover San Mateo County.

Um, it's a privilege to stand here today is as we begin something truly special, not just construction of a building, but the creation of a space where dreams will be nurtured, futures were futures will be shared, and community will be strengthened.

We're here to add on to the boys and girls club, and we're doing it the right way with union carpenters and a developer who believes in building with the community, not just in it.

Union carpenters are the backbone of this project.

They bring more than tools and talent that bring pride, precision, and a deep commitment to quality.

These are professionals who have spent years mastering their craft who understand that every nail, every beam, and every finish is part of something bigger.

And we are proud to be working with 100 properties who share that vision.

A developer who sees beyond the blueprints and budget, and who sees kids walking through these doors, finding mentors, discovering talents, and building confidence.

This is a developer who values union labor, community input, and long-term impact.

Together, we're not just constructing a building, we're investing in lives.

Here's what this project means for our community.

Opportunity for youth.

This boys and girls club will offer a safe, welcoming space for kids to learn, play, and grow from homework help to sports, from our classes to leadership programs.

This will be a place where they where every child can thrive.

Good union jobs.

We're creating high quality, well-paying jobs for skilled workers, jobs that support families, uphold safety standards, and build local pride.

Excuse me.

Economic and social impact.

Studies show that youth centers like this reduce crime, improve graduation rates, and strengthen families.

This is a smart investment in our future.

Community unity.

This project brings together labor, developers, educators, parents, and local leaders.

It's a symbol of what we can accomplish when we work together.

So today, celebrating more than building, we celebrate a shared commitment to our youth, our workers, and our future.

To the Union Carpenters, thank you for building with art.

To our developer, thank you for having this vision.

And to our community, this is yours.

Let's fill it with laughter, learning, and limit this limitless potential.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Okay, our last speaker would be Ryan.

Hello, good evening.

Uh, my name is Ryan Siebers.

I am the director of student services for the South San Francisco Unified School District.

So I am here to express our support uh for the Boys and Girls Club and their uh plans with this project.

I also want to uh thank the uh the previous speakers who had some fantastic points about the value of this project and thanks for the reflections on the existing building and the deficiencies.

I was highly accurate, thank you.

Uh so our longstanding partnership has been built uh on a shared commitment.

Ensuring every child in South San Francisco has access to academic support, social emotional resources, a safe and well-being space to grow.

Um the Boys and Girls Club has been trusted and valued ally in helping our district to address both academic achievement and whole child well-being.

They've created safe spaces where students can learn, connect, receive guidance, and not just as learners but as developing youth and our future adults.

So these programs are a lifeline for many families, providing enrichment, uh membership, a sense of belonging, and especially for the students who might otherwise go without this valuable support.

So as of now, uh it's pretty clear that their capacity unfortunately can't meet the demand.

Um kindergarten through eighth grade uh programs have wait lists, which means there are students who want these opportunities but can't access them.

And the expansion would not only open the doors for every deserving kindergarten through eighth grade student, but also extend uh these very critical supports to our high school students.

So this is a group that faces increasing academic pressure and mental health challenges.

Uh so this is clearly a project that is an investment in our city's future in the students who will one day be our workforce, our leaders, our neighbors.

So we respectfully encourage your support so construction can continue without delay, and we thank you for the opportunity to hear us.

Thank you.

All right, thank you, everybody.

I will close the public hearing and turn this over to the commission for discussion.

Um folks have comments.

Uh sure.

Um, some of you may know that uh before joining this commission, I spent about six and a half years as a trustee on the South San Francisco School Board.

Everything that uh Mr.

Sievers just said is absolutely true.

The Boys and Girls Club has been an excellent partner to our community.

Um, and the services is particularly the after-school care uh at uh Martin, um, and for our middle school students that get bust over there has been excellent.

Um, I also had the opportunity several years past to tour the facilities, and um, back about eight years ago when I last took a tour, I I felt they were old and deserving of improvement.

So I will be supporting this project, particularly uh because of the expansion for high school uh students.

We've had a lot of when I was on the school board, I got a lot of uh parents complaining that there wasn't a lot of opportunity for our older students to have a structured plan that many of them needed.

Um certainly post-COVID mental health was a huge issue for many of our much of our community as a whole, but particularly our students.

Uh, I look forward to having a facility that can service them and like the pastor there.

I played basketball in that gym, and yeah, I hope that uh at some point we get some improvements to that as well.

Thank you.

Thirty chair.

Um, firstly, yes, I mean, we we want you here, so I think it's pretty clear.

So I'm gonna say something that's uh that's pretty me which is uh you know being the planning commissioner today I'm not trying to approve this because I want you here like I I need to approve it based off the two uh I need to find finding that I could give you the extra height and also the variance so being an architect I know how scary it is to come into a planning commission or design review board asking what variance as a matter of fact the past eight nine years I haven't seen the variance in front of us.

So I'm taking this seriously but you see my smile I'm not gonna be too harsh on you so I do find uh firstly I I I like the fact that uh staff is using your project to refine the tax amendment on the height limits I I mean no no staff is gonna just read through all the text and just refine them unless a project come through so that is the easy way for me that that is the that that part was easy for me to actually support what staff's finding is especially you're only allowing extra five feet for screening and when you're that high normally with the perspective and stuff like that it's minimal impact.

So I do find that relatively easy to support and I don't think that is an exception for a project per se but it it it is like outdated and should uh reflect uh through an amendment so I believe that one is uh uh uh like I'll support that variance so normally uh a lot of clients will come in and say I want variance because I don't like your rules okay so when if you are in such situation I will not give you the variance like even I really love what you do there.

However like I'm glad that the staff did mention uh wedge shape tight lot and also existing site is already nonconforming with zero uh setback but then you are creating a building that is at least set back a little bit now with that I almost want to be able to approve uh or or support the variance uh however I'm waiting to hear from the public uh comments if there are any neighbor directly behind this uh having opposition because the the setback that affects the back will still be a be an issue uh for variance approval in my opinion uh I did not hear anything so with all these all the above uh I actually will be supportive of the variants too but sorry for the long explanation of variants but like uh I I need to disclaimer this very clearly yeah I mean I'm pretty familiar with the with the facilities and I appreciate all the support you give to the community as stated previously we're in bad need of daycare with bad you know in need of support for our students all the cutbacks in extracurriculum activities sports at various schools at various levels this is this has the club has enhanced and improved the living conditions and I appreciate the partnership with the church you know and as far as the setback it's understandable there's a PGE easement and it's obviously working together.

It's a partnership and that's what we'd like to see.

In a lot of previous planning commission meetings we've had neighbors that come and they're feuding basically.

And we have to be what I would call the referee.

So I really appreciate and respect your partnership.

I the design is beautiful.

The added space is gonna improve the services and the activities of the club.

So I'm in full support.

Terra, my fellow commissioner said the one concern I had when this came out was not about the need.

Because I've lived in our neighborhood for over 40 years, and I've seen the building, you know, which has been there many years.

My main concern you answered it.

I did not want to see anything that would impact those who are currently using it by having a library in place and all that, because this project in all probability, once the process starts, I'm sure estimating maybe a year and a half, two year process.

And I don't want to see anybody be impacted by it because there again it's an important feature, it covers a lot of needs, as people have said.

So this will have my complete res support, and yes, it's a beautiful building.

And uh, as I'm sure a lot of the those who use right now, they wish you could start knocking it down tomorrow, but I know there's a lot of steps to still be taken.

So I will be approving it.

Thank you.

And thank you.

Thank you, staff.

Um, thank you, applicant.

This was clearly a really thoughtful process um and a great partnership.

Um I agree with uh Commissioner Zhang and fellow commissioners that there are very compelling reasons in a unique situation, um, and a very important community resource um to be uh approving this and making these updates as well.

I also um in favor of an opportunity to update any outdated places um in our code, um, and also just really appreciative of the thoughtful community partnership and uh feel very confident that that uh partnership will continue as work begins.

Uh also we'll put on my parent hat and just say I appreciate this from the vantage point of having a three-year-old and a five-year-old.

Um, just as a note on perspective for the demand of these types of services.

I think I put my now five-year-old on a uh the waiting list for uh city preschool when he was born.

He got off maybe a few months ago.

It's now time for kindergarten, which is not a knock on the city, but I think really just shows the demand for these types of services uh from families and kids of all ages, um, just appreciating also the collaboration uh with union, uh encourage local labor, um, and then just uh final note on uh encouraging applicant to really uh continue considering uh as it seems uh you all are the inclusivity of the building itself, especially since it will be serving uh young people coming into adulthood.

Uh so you know uh disability accessibility, uh mental health services, uh, you know, uh gender inclusivity, including uh bathroom facilities, uh changing tables for you know uh parents who might be coming in with with infants, uh so just encouraging really thoughtful use of this opportunity to update the space, and very happy to be able to uh approve a project like this, all right.

So with that, I think we can uh please get a motion.

Uh Madam Chair, I move we resolve and make findings under determination that the Peninsula Boys and Girls Club Orange Park Clubhouse Project at 201 West Orange Avenue qualifies for a categorical exemption pursuant to sequest section 1532 in fill developments.

A second, thank you.

Can I have a roll call?

Yes, Commissioner Baker.

Yes, Commissioner Faria, yes, Commissioner Shahade.

Yes, Commissioner Zhang, yes, Vice Chairperson Pomiku.

Yes, Chairperson Punas Ostrick and Commissioner Evans are absent.

Motion passes.

You want to do a second?

Oh, you should do a second.

Um, that we make finding a recommendation to the city council to adopt the ordinance amending the zoning ordinance to make minor revision to South San Francisco uh municipal code, section 2011 related to the building height and recommending that the city council adopt a resolution approving a variance and design review for the redevelopment of the boys and girls club facility at 201 West Orange Avenue in the Parks and Racks Zoning District.

I'll second.

Thank you.

May we have a roll call?

Yes.

Commissioner Baker.

Yes, Commissioner Faria.

Yes, Commissioner Shahade.

Yes.

Commissioner Zhang.

Yes.

Vice Chairperson Palmaku.

Yes.

Chair Person Punas Ostark and Commissioner Evans are absent.

Motion passes.

Thank you.

Congratulations.

Congratulations.

That's one step done.

Thank you all.

Thank you, R.

The staff has been fantastic.

So not every office building shopping center, just this sort of reception.

So I've already gotten your name.

We always uh support staff getting their flowers.

Thank you, sir.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, everyone.

All right.

Next on the agenda, we have uh item number three.

Uh will the clerk please read item number three.

Yes, item number three is a report regarding a proposed development agreement to extend entitlements to construct a new office and RD campus and multifamily residential building at 180 El Camino Real in the Plan Development Zoning District for a period of 10 years in exchange for payment of community benefits monetary contribution obligations in accordance with Title 19 and 20 of the South San Francisco Municipal Code and making findings regarding the consistency of the proposed action with the adopted addendum to the 2009 environmental impact report pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act and 3A is the resolution, and Billy Gross will give the staff report.

Thank you.

I will now open the public hearing and call for the staff report.

All right, uh good evening, Vice Chair and Commissioners, Billy Gross, presenting this item with you this evening.

Um start off with this lovely image of the overall 180 El Camino Real site.

As you know, it was the Safeway Shopping Center once upon a time.

Um in 2020, the planning commission approved entitlements that subdivided the lot into two parcels and approved the front portion of this graphic with the new safeway building.

Um then in 2022, the planning commission and city council approved a mixed-use multifamily residential life sciences projects on the larger portion of the property, included approximately 750,000 square feet of office RD campus, uh 25,000 square feet of other supporting non-residential area, and then a 183 unit residential building and parking structure.

This is a rendering of the campus from El Camino, Safeways on the left, office RD building on the right.

I believe probably from Toss Resort Interior of the residential building, um, and just including this graphic just to show that the Safeway project is currently under construction, obviously making very quick progress with uh estimated opening of some time in summer of 2026.

This project is not part of the entitlements that you're looking at tonight, but obviously it's a part of the overall project.

So as I stated, Planning Commission entitled the life science uh mixed use entitlements in September of 2022, and so based on current municipal code allowances projects are allowed two years, and they're uh two years from entitlements to get building permits, and then there's an allowance for an additional year if Chief Planet can make findings that one year extension approval was granted, um, and so entitlements basically would expire on September 14th, 2025.

So the developer did uh come before the city to ask for extended entitlements uh with a development agreement.

And so similar to a project you saw at 800 Debuke, we we have a few of these projects that were entitled in 2022 or 2023.

Um that with the way the market has been for both office R and D residential projects haven't been able to move forward, and so asking for uh basically just additional time.

So the development agreement request would extend entitlements for 10 years from the effective date.

And as part of that, we the give back to the city is a prepayment of the community benefit fee obligations with an option to withdraw the project at year five, year five, and any fees that are paid up to that time would be non-refundable.

This shows the community benefits requirement for the 180 ECR project, it was 2.4 million, and so we split the three payments to uh year one 480,000 uh year three, the second pre-p payment would be for an additional 480,000, and then at year five, the third payment would be for 720,000.

Um, and then at any permit issuance after that fact, the remaining 720,000 would be would be paid to the city.

All of the other all of the separate impact fees, transportation, housing, child care, parks, those would all be due at permit issuance as is typical.

I started to talk through um project isn't under construction because of all these reasons.

Uh primarily this is showing the the market conditions for office RD, but it's a similar story for residential projects.

Uh the capital markets are not funding these, and so um the developers here this evening, they'll be able to talk through more of that and answer questions related to that.

Um, so in summary, there are no project changes uh with this, it's just uh proven of our approval of a development agreement, and so because there's no project changes, there's no new sequel implications with the application.

Um, South San Francisco does need time to absorb the existing RNT R and D entitled space and to allow for the markets to improve to allow for the larger residential projects.

And preserving these entitlements preserves future impact fee obligations.

So based on all of this, staff is recommending that the planning commission support the ordinance waiving first reading and approving the development agreement with still wave for 180 Al Camino Real.

With that, that ends the staff recommendation.

Um you or Steve Dunn with Still Wave will present a little bit on on their behalf.

Good evening, Chair and Planning Commissioners.

I'm Steve Dunn.

Uh, this is Ben you uh my business partner as well.

I think it's good for you to see both of us because we're not always able to be here every single night, but we wanted to be here tonight for sure.

Um so uh just to give you an update on the project, obviously you can see that we are holding true to probably our biggest commitment to the community, which was to build the Safeway project, which you guys have been waiting for for years and years.

Um so we were very very pleased that we're able to um make that go forward.

Uh we've made some good progress on leasing too.

Uh we have Chipotle as one of our tenants.

We have a uh a regional brand coffee, which I can't really mention now because it's a letter of intent.

We also have a letter of intent with another uh uh national communications user.

Um we're looking for one remaining tenant in the whole center.

Uh and that would be for a restaurant.

Um so we're excited for that opportunity.

Now that it's up, we get a lot more interest.

We're actually getting uh daily type of calls.

So we're excited about it.

It should, as uh Billy was saying, it should be open uh hopefully by June of uh this next year, actually open and operating.

Uh we hope that um all the users that we're talking to today that we actually have letters and tent or or leases will all open at the same time, which is even more exciting, and we can get that on the ground activity and security and safety, because it's a 24-7 Safeway.

Um it's really uh the highest end safe way.

Actually, it's gonna be on the uh front of the cover of uh their uh annual report.

Um, it's a podium structure, uh so it's not inexpensive to build, but it is the highest quality, and we'll have 24-7 again service as well as have a lot of um meat and cheese and wine facil and um prepared meals and that kind of thing.

So it's gonna be really great for the community.

So that's kind of where we are on the Safeway project.

Very excited that where we are.

Um, as Billy is mentioning, we we've been trying to push forward to go forward with the life science project, RD project, as well as a residential.

At this point in time, it's just too difficult to get financing, and the demand in the market for the users isn't quite there.

We do feel like it's recovering in both those um in both residential and in RD.

Uh it's just gonna take a little bit more time.

But here we are in the kind of the center of where we want to be because all the technology, AI, uh data, uh processing, and also just software and and tech.

It's this is the place we want to be.

And so these two projects are really high-end.

Uh, one's uh this project being mixed use.

We have another project that is in the South San Francisco as well that um just as high identity.

So we're really excited uh where we are, and we're here to answer any questions.

Thank you.

Uh the commissioners have questions for staff or applicants.

Um maybe just one question for staff.

Um, anticipating that we might see potentially more TAs.

Uh, do you I guess foresee any issues with um multiple of these uh coming forward?

It's kind of hard to look into the might only be one or two more that are kind of the same circumstances of things that were previously entitled haven't been able to move forward.

I will state from just kind of historical um back in the late aughts, early 2010s.

We actually the city had quite a few development agreements or projects with development agreements approved, and so it's not atypical to have multiple come through with this.

Um you will see some other projects coming forward, but as new entitlements, but I maybe one more will come forward that's asking for additional time.

I also know of another project that will likely just allow their entitlements to expire.

But from staff's perspective, obviously the city's been supportive of these projects.

They're they're kind of changing these neighborhoods, and so we wanted to be able to allow for at least process two to kind of do that where we're giving more time, and then obviously with the community benefit kind of prepayments, still getting something earlier in the process, and not having to wait for that.

So, kind of hopefully serves as a win-win.

Yeah, thank you.

That makes sense.

So the chair.

I have a question.

I don't know if it's relevant.

Uh you have the other project on Airport Boulevard.

Are you gonna pick and choose to prioritize which project you're gonna work on first or no?

I think the well, one, the market really drives that.

Yeah.

And these are they're different projects in the sense that this is a mixed-use project, um, really well located near BART.

Um, with access right directly at El Camino, but very amenitized in the area with all the retail.

Um, and then we have the residential that's growing right here, which we have a piece of it.

So I think that that makes it a little bit different.

The um more uh icona kind of um visible site uh at Airport Boulevard is a different site.

It's a bigger site, it's about probably three times the size of this, but that will probably generate more of the potential from bigger users that want campus and want to control, but also want the identity.

Um they're just they're a little bit different, but we're also providing a lot of amenities as you've seen in our plans, and you'll see coming up soon here for our second phase.

Uh, the amenities are absolutely critical in any project today because that's that's what the labor wants.

Uh the employers will want to retain their labor and also be able to encourage new labor.

And the only way to get them is to basically uh provide those amenities.

Yeah, the only thing that I'll add is that there the ownership is the same.

Our partnership with both projects are the same.

So whenever we go to pitch uh brokerage team or a tenant, we show them both of them, and we show them the benefits of both of them, and they can kind of decide where they want to go.

So we we're not pushing one or the other.

We love both projects, but you know, it's like deciding between your kids, like you know, they have different attributes, but both of them are great.

So no, I appreciate it.

So it's basically the market's gonna it's gonna determine it.

It's gonna determine and to Ben's point, just kind of going back to where we see it.

We're out presenting to users and brokers weekly, you know.

So we almost have at least one meeting a week with those potential clients.

And that's just that's key.

So we are very actively uh trying to solicit success of the project.

Any other questions?

Okay, does any member of the public wish to address the commission on this item at this time?

Please fill out a speaker card and give it to the clerk.

We have no public comments at this time.

Okay, then I will close the public hearing and turn this over to the commission for discussion.

No, actually, this will be very easy to support because the way the climate is nowadays and how things are, it's it's a lot of unknowns and uh having been on this body, even back talking about Safeway.

I was back here in 2014 when that all started, so you can see how things go, and so it's glad to see there is some building going and given the opportunity to opportunities to extend to keep to give you the time for the economy to turn around.

It's no problem for me to support that.

Yeah, no, I mean, the whole community is looking forward to the safe wear project.

We don't really have much, I mean, we have a few the say if we down the street, which has been neglected, and a lot of residents go to Millbury Burlingame for shopping.

So this would be badly needed, and we appreciate you working on that endeavor and expediting the process.

Uh all right.

Then can I have uh motion, please?

I'll make a motion.

I'll make a motion making findings and recommending that the city council adopt an ordinance amending the zoning ordinance to make minor revisions to San Francisco Municipal Code Section 20.110.

Oh, I'm sorry, yeah.

The wrong commissioner showed it different, different resolution, not too much tomorrow.

That was the previous resolution.

I'd like to make a motion making findings and recommending that the city council approve the proposed development agreement to extend approval entitlements to construct a new office research and development campus and multifamily residential building at 180 El Camino Riel in the Plan Development Zoning District for a period of 10 years in exchange for payment of community benefits, monetary contribution obligations in accordance with title 19 and 20 of the San San Francisco Municipal Code and making findings regarding the consistency of the proposed action with the adopted addendum to the two thousand nine environmental impact report pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act.

Can we have a roll call please?

Commissioner Baker.

Yes.

Commissioner Faria Commissioner Shahade.

Yes.

Commissioner Zang.

Yes.

Vice Chairperson Pomako.

Yes.

Chairperson Bundes Osterk and Commissioner Evans are absent.

Motion passes.

Okay.

Uh do we have any administrative business?

We do not have any administrative items on the agenda tonight.

Okay.

Uh any items from the commission in that case uh thank you everyone the meeting is adjourned.

Thank you.