Letter of Determination

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Stephany Wilcox
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1 SAN FRANCISCO (Clerically Amended - December 30, 2014) 1650 Mission St. Sue 400 San Francisco, CA December 2, 2014 San Francisco, CA Site Address: Assessor s Block/Lot: Zoning District: Staff Contact: 3762/018 SLI (SOMA Service - Light Industrial) Jeff Speirs, (415) or jeffrey.speirs@sfgov.org Reception: Fax: Planning Information: Dear Mr. Furman: This letter is in response to your request for a regarding the property at 544 Bryant Street. This parcel is located in the SLI (SOMA Service - Light Industrial) Zoning District and 45- X Height and Bulk District. The request is to determine if the Planning Code would allow the proposed project (dba Black Hammer Brewing - as described in your request and follow-up ) at the subject Proposed Operation Black Hammer Brewing proposes to establish an ABC Type 23 License (Small Beer Manufacturer) at 544 Bryant Street, currently a print shop on a lot of approximately 4,795 square feet (sf). The operations would include a small craft brewery (+/-3,200 sf) and tasting room (1,066 so. The brewery would expect to produce no more than 6,000 barrels per year, with an initial production of +/- 2,000 barrels per year. Mobile bottling facilities or on-site pneumatic bottling is requested to be used 3 times per year. Determination Within the SLI Zoning District, Planning Code Section permits light manufacturing as a principally permitted use, although the Planning Code does not define a Brewery as a "Light Manufacturing" use. However, I have determined the proposed use (with an ABC Type 23 License) would be allowed at this location as a light manufacturing use subject to the following operating conditions: 1) production is limited to no more than 5,000 barrels per year; 2) no permanent bottling or canning facilities are installed; and 3) temporary mobile bottling or canning is limited to no more than 4 days per year. These conditions are necessary to ensure that the proposal operates consistent in a manner consistent with the description of a "Light Manufacturing" use described in Section 226. If these operating conditions are exceeded, the proposed use would be considered a bottling plant/brewery and would not be permitted at the subject

2 December 2, 2014 (415) Within the SLI Zoning District, Planning Code Section permits a retail business or personal service establishment as a principally permitted use. In the event the proposed tasting room (1,066 so would provide an independant retail component (or larger than 1/3 of the overall floor area), the tasting room would be allowed as a principally permitted use within the SLI Zoning District, and subject to neighborhood notification. APPEAL: If you believe this determination represents an error in interpretation of the Planning Code or abuse in discretion by the Zoning Administrator, an appeal may be filed with the Board of Appeals within 15 days of the date of this letter. For information regarding the appeals process, please contact the Board of Appeals located at 1650 Mission Street, Room 304, San Francisco, or call (415) Sincerely, Scott F. Sanchez Zoning Administrator cc: Property Owner Neighborhood Groups Jeff Speirs, Planner SAN FRANCISCO 2

3 1) COVIVI. SAN FRANCISCO December 2, 2014 San Francisco, CA Site Address: Assessor s Block/Lot: Zoning District: Staff Contact: 3762/018 SLI (SOMA Service - Light Industrial) Jeff Speirs, (415) or jeffrey.speirs@sfgov.org 1650 Mission St. Suite 400 San Francisco, CA Reception: Fax: Planning Information: Dear Mr. Furman: This letter is in response to your request for a regarding the property at 544 Bryant Street. This parcel is located in the SLI (SOMA Service - Light Industrial) Zoning District and 45- X Height and Bulk District. The request is to determine if the Planning Code would allow the proposed project (dba Black Hammer Brewing - as described in your request and follow-up ) at the subject Proposed Operation Harmonic Brewing proposes to establish an ABC Type 23 License (Small Beer Manufacturer) at 544 Bryant Street, currently a print shop on a lot of approximately 4,795 square feet (sf). The operations would include a small craft brewery (+/-3,200 sf) and tasting room (1,066 sf). The brewery would expect to produce no more than 6,000 barrels per year, with an initial production of +1-2,000 barrels per year. Mobile bottling facilities or on-site pneumatic bottling is requested to be used 3 times per year. Determination Within the SLI Zoning District, Planning Code Section permits light manufacturing as a principally permitted use, although the Planning Code does not define a Brewery as a "Light Manufacturing" use. However, I have determined the proposed use (with an ABC Type 23 License) would be allowed at this location as a light manufacturing use subject to the following operating conditions: 1) production is limited to no more than 5,000 barrels per year; 2) no permanent bottling or canning facilities are installed; and 3) temporary mobile bottling or canning is limited to no more than 4 days per year. These conditions are necessary to ensure that the proposal operates consistent in a manner consistent with the description of a "Light Manufacturing" use described in Section 226. If these operating conditions are exceeded, the proposed use would be considered a bottling plant/brewery and would not be permitted at the subject Within the SLI Zoning District, Planning Code Section permits a retail business or personal service establishment as a principally permitted use. In the event the proposed tasting room (1,066 sf) would provide an independant retail component (or larger than 1/3 of the overall floor area), the tasting room www. sf p ann n g.0 rg

4 December 2, 2014 (415) would be allowed as a principally permitted use within the SLI Zoning District, and subject to neighborhood notification. APPEAL: If you believe this determination represents an error in interpretation of the Planning Code or abuse in discretion by the Zoning Administrator, an appeal may be filed with the Board of Appeals within 15 days of the date of this letter. For information regarding the appeals process, please contact the Board of Appeals located at 1650 Mission Street, Room 304, San Francisco, or call (415) Sincerely, Scott F. Sanchez Zoning Administrator cc: Property Owner Neighborhood Groups Jeff Speirs, Planner SAN FRANCISCO 2

5 (11B Black Hammer Brewing, LLC 544 Bryant St., San Francisco, CA Vc73 August 20, 2014 To: City of San Francisco Planning Department 1114 (214 / () Attn: Mr. Scott Sanchez Ck ic 630 Zoning Administrator 1650 Mission Street - Suite 400 San Francisco, CA CEO - Black Hammer Brewing, LLC RECEIVED Lot/Block#-3762/ RY,4AJ7 - S7,,, Dear Mr. Sanchez CITY & COUNTY OF S.F. My name is and I am the founder and CEO of Black Hammer Brewing, a San Francisco based start-up microbrewery. My business partner, Kevin Jackey and I are seeking a letter of determination to use the above identified property as a small craft brewery accompanied by a segregated beer sampling area. The property is located in a SEC.187. SLI (Service/Light Industrial District) so we are seeking determination that our intended use is within the guidelines of the district. The primary purpose (and vast majority of the floor space) of the facility is to brew locally sourced, hand crafted lager beer to be consumed on premises and/or distributed to local establishments for consumption. The operation will be conducted under a ABC sanctioned Type 23 (Small Beer Manufacturer) license which restricts annual output to 60,000 barrels. Given the scale of our operation and coupled with the space constraints of this property, it is unlikely we could ever produce even 1/10th of the maximum allowance under this license. The process of crafting beer involves milling malted barley and other grains, mixing it with hot water, separating the resulting liquid from the "spent" grain, boiling that liquid with hops, cooling it, and adding yeast to produce a fermentation. From there, the beer that results from that fermentation is matured for a period of time and then either served directly from a tank or packaged into kegs. All of that process prior to the addition of yeast generally takes place on the same day and that activity can be performed as many times as there are available fermentation vessels to brew into. Beer usually stays in the fermentation vessel for one week so that is usually the limiting factor. 1 of 2

6 ((IB Black Hammer Brewing, LLC 544 Bryant St., San Francisco, CA Related support functions would include receiving of materials, washing of kegs, loading of beer for shipment to distributors and wholesale restaurant/bar customers, and disposal of spent ingredients (grain and hops). There is virtually no noise inherent in the production process that could be heard outside the brewery. Deliveries would be periodic, at the rate of several per week from different vendors, and pick-up of finished beer might also be at the rate of 1-3 times a week. Such activity would happen in or near the roll-up door on Bryant Street. I would expect this activity to be on a scale very similar to the other, existing businesses in our immediate vicinity (vehicle collision repair and maintenance facilities). There is no noise specific to such activity that differs from any other light industrial or warehouse activity. Although installing a bottling line is not in our plans, a bottling machine used to be the loudest component in a beer production facility. Given technological advances, a new bottling line would produce only a fraction of the noise pollution of our neighboring establishments and would be virtually inaudible with the roll up door closed. There is only one part of the entire process that produces any noticeable aroma outside of a brewery. That is the 3-4 hour period of grain cooking and boiling during which the grain and hops are integrated into the product. Each brew day would include one such period. For the most part, since barley is in the same grass family as wheat and other baking grains, the aroma is akin to that of a bakery. During the boil, hops are then added, which have an herbal or floral aroma that combines with that of the barley. For the most part, most of these aromas are contained within the immediate production area in which the brewing is taking place. The kettle, however, would be vented to the roof, sending up vapor from the boiling liquid that contains grain and hop vapors. This is similar to all other food production facilities that must vent cooking exhaust, smoke, etc. from the production area, except that brewing beer does not create any smoke. The size of this operation, however, even after the maximum expansion imaginable, is still so small as to minimize the impact of this activity. I would expect the height of the structure to cause much of whatever vapor did leave the kettle to dissipate in the air and not come back down to street level or the level of the shorter buildings across the neighborhood. Our goal of bringing high quality craft brewed beer to the SoMa neighborhood while leaving as small of an environmental footprint ensures we will do everything within our power to limit impact to the area in which we operate. We are currently working to be certified as an SF Green Business to minimize our environmental impact. Further, we will be making a substantial investment into the building which will visually enhance it and positively contribute to the beautification of the neighborhood. We respectfully request approval to operate our small craft microbrewery at. Sincerely, 2 of 2

Letter of Determination

Letter of Determination , COLJN \ SAN FRANCISCO PLANNING DEPARTMENT May 28, 214 Regan Long and Sarah Fenson Lol Brewing Co., LLC P.O Box 12714 San Francisco, CA 94112 Site Address: Assessor s Block/Lot: Zoning District: Staff