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Last night the Planning Commission heard the case of the Hole in the Wall. An agreement had been reached more than a month ago on mitigations suggested by the neighbors. The Planning Department had already written those conditions into their case report. The only hang up was that there was another challenge filed but the protestant had not shown up.
We (Jeremy Paul, representing the bar, Damian Ochoa, speaking on behalf of the neighbors and I) huddled in the back room with several Commissioners, the City Attorney, Zoning Administrator and Planning Director and arrived at this course of action: out of respect for the dozens of supporters and for the neighbors who had all been waiting for more than four hours, and in particular to give us all closure, the Commission would move forward on the case using a mechanism called a “motion of intent,” which meant that the decision would not become final until the other case was allowed to be heard next week.
Both sides agreed to accept the conditions contained in the compromise and to ask their supporters to do the same. Jeremy and Damian spoke for less than a minute each, simply acknowledging the agreement. No one else testified. The Commission moved to “take Discretionary review” in order to impose the conditions. Vice President Olague asked the case planner to read all 15 conditions into the record, then requested that language clarifying the sound issues (their noise is not to be audible, as defined by the city noise ordinance, in any surrounding residence) be added and the Commission then adopted the motion by a vote of 7-0.
Sitting through a recitation of the conditions had a sobering effect on the entire audience. There was no applause. People left quietly.
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Jim Meko is a South of Market activist, currently serving as chair of both the SoMa Leadership Council and the Western SoMa Citizens Planning Task Force and is a member of San Francisco's Entertainment Commission. Here at the Bulldog, of course, he's expressing his own personal opinions. He can be reached at jim.meko@comcast.net.