From: Steven Hurwitz
To: Gross, Billy; Greenwood, Alex
Cc: CCD Law
Subject: Comments for tonight"s Planning Commission Study Session 10/22/2020 Date: Thursday, October 22, 2020 4:50:19 PM
Dear Planning Commissioners,
I am submitting this email on behalf of Golden Gate Produce Terminal (GGPT) in response to the latest preferred land use options that are a part of the City of South San Francisco’s General Plan Update. GGPT has been in South San Francisco for close to 60 years and have taken great pride in being located in the “Industrial City.” We appreciate the City’s efforts to update its land use policies, especially with the regional changes that affect our dynamic economy and the importance of providing more housing in appropriate locations in South San Francisco.
The GGPT is concerned about the Preferred Land Use Plan released last week. The need for healthy and safe food has never been more important and our specific location in South San Francisco has allowed us to respond quickly to the changing needs of the Bay Area. It is critical that we are allowed to keep operating in this strategic location, for both the success of our business and to properly serve our customers and community. A typical work day at the GGPT starts at 2 AM with dozens and dozens of huge semi’s delivering produce and we are concerned that any residential uses too close to GGPT will lead to complaints that could create political pressure for us to modify our hours of operation. The GGPT is an essential business and we cannot modify our hours of operation without jeopardizing the viability of the business, local food distribution channels and the relationships we have with our customers.
We respectfully ask the City to allow maximum flexibility in the land use definitions for our site and surrounding uses, to ensure we have the ability to stay at our location for another 60 years and beyond. We are specifically concerned that under the proposed High Density Mixed Use designation, residential must be built “on-site” for commercial uses to qualify for additional density. On site residential will create a conflict between the residents’ quiet enjoyment of their homes with our business operations, which will inevitably create political issues that the City will be forced to solve. We recommend that residential uses should not be required on site and that instead commercial uses should be required to make contributions to the City to build affordable off-site residential. Please take these comments into consideration when updating the Preferred Land Use Plan.
Sincerely,
Joe Carcione and Steven Hurwitz
Directors, Golden Gate Produce Terminal
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Steven Hurwitz
www.stevenhurwitzphotography.com