“I don't think that I dug deep enough when I
should have. That's part of what my job is as
mayor.”
MAYOR JERRY SANDERS |
Mayor Jerry Sanders issued a stop-work order Friday on the
180-foot building Sunroad Enterprises is constructing near Montgomery
Field, while also acknowledging to state and federal officials that the
city of San Diego mishandled the project.
At a morning news conference, Sanders and City Attorney Michael Aguirre
detailed the steps the city took to rein in the development company, which
aviation officials have warned could endanger planes flying into the
general-aviation airport.
The mayor had said late Thursday that he also would conduct an internal
investigation of how the developer secured city permits allowing
construction to move forward, despite official warnings that the building
could be an air-traffic hazard.
Sanders' actions follow months of questions about the office tower's
construction and a two-part series The San Diego Union-Tribune
published Sunday and Monday detailing how the city allowed it to be
built despite concerns about its height.
| Sanders, Aguirre detail city's
actions
The developer's work has continued for months, even after
the Federal Aviation Administration informed the city and the
developer that allowing the building to be extended to 180
feet from 160 feet could interfere with the alternate flight
path pilots use when visibility is limited.
| |
Sanders
wrote a letter, sent Friday, to the Federal Aviation Administration and
the California Department of Transportation, which have asserted that the
$45 million project in Kearny Mesa exceeds certain height limits.
The 12-story building could endanger pilots approaching the municipal
airport's runway in poor weather, aviation regulators have said. The FAA
had warned the city that the office building was 20 feet too tall.
Citing the need to protect the public, Sanders told the
Union-Tribune Thursday that the city had no choice but to
acknowledge the agencies' concerns.
Although various city departments failed by allowing Sunroad's plans to
proceed, Sanders said, he must take responsibility for the decisions of
city employees.
“I'm not going to be blaming them for failing to communicate with me,”
he said. “I don't think that I dug deep enough when I should have. That's
part of what my job is as mayor.”
Sunroad representatives were instructed Friday to halt all work on the
top 20 feet of the building, despite a city decision in December allowing
some construction to continue in order to shield the unfinished structure
from bad weather.
That exception will be rescinded, said Marcela Escobar-Eck, director of
the city's Development Services Department, because city officials found
Thursday that Sunroad violated restrictions the city placed on the
project.
The new order, in effect, reinforces the terms of an earlier, stricter
decree from October 2006, Escobar-Eck said.
| Overview
Background: The FAA
declared a 180-foot office building under construction near
Montgomery Field in Kearny Mesa a hazard because it exceeds
the 160-foot limit for structures near the airport's
bad-weather approach.
What's happening: Mayor Jerry Sanders today will
order the building's developer, Sunroad Enterprises, to stop
work. He also will take personal responsibility for the city's
mistakes in a letter to the FAA and state officials.
What's next: Sunroad had appealed a previous
stop-work order; a hearing is set for June. Legal battles
between Sunroad and the city will continue, including an
attempt to bar City Attorney Michael Aguirre from litigating a
civil case involving the developer.
| |
A
Sunroad spokeswoman, Karen Hutchens, said the company has abided by both
orders, and workers already have finished the jobs allowed in December.
She was unaware of the city's new concerns about the site, near Kearny
Villa Road and Clairemont Mesa Boulevard.
“The company has been in full compliance with the stop-work order up
until today,” Hutchens said. “The only deviation was to take care of
weatherization, which has been completed.”
After the mayor's joint news conference Friday, Councilwoman Donna
Frye, who represents the district where the municipal airport is located,
accused the mayor of failing to keep her updated on the city's dealings
with Sunroad Enterprises.
Frye, who had called for the work to stop last month, said she was not
told that issuance of the Sunroad order was imminent and that compromise
discussions have been ongoing for three weeks.
A mayoral spokesman said City Council members were informed of the
mayor's plans an hour before the 10 a.m. Friday news conference.
The mayor's decision came late Thursday, as various players in the
Sunroad saga – which has spawned lawsuits, a criminal case and
recriminations from frustrated pilots – engaged in furious gamesmanship.
Near the end of a Thursday afternoon news conference on proposed ballot
measures, City Attorney Michael Aguirre, complaining of Sanders'
unwillingness to join him in criticizing Sunroad, called on Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger to intervene.
Sanders had been unwilling to use his authority to stop Sunroad,
Aguirre said, and he hoped his written plea to the governor would persuade
the mayor to “step forward.”
After the news conference, the mayor provided the Union-Tribune
with a draft of the letter to the FAA and Caltrans. A spokesman for
Sanders said Aguirre was aware of Sanders' plans to proceed against
Sunroad and had reviewed some of the legal questions involved.
In the letter to transportation officials, Sanders informs them of his
new directive to the developer and pledges to conduct “a thorough
investigation” of what went wrong when the city cleared the way for
construction.
He calls it “apparent that the city failed to stop work on the
project,” even though San Diego officials knew of the FAA's concerns. It
was a mistake, he writes, for which he takes “full responsibility.”
In an interview, Sanders drew a distinction between his approach and
the city attorney's. While he is trying to develop a compromise to the
Sunroad situation, the mayor said, Aguirre has opted for litigation, while
injecting politics into the situation.
“I think Mike is obviously making some political statements and that's
fine,” Sanders said.
Aguirre said last night that he was aware only of “the possibility” of
the mayor's letter and stop-work order and denied playing politics. “After
we have a chance to talk, he probably won't feel that way,” Aguirre said.
The mayor, who has maintained during his 17 months in office that he
would correct the faults of prior administrations sullied by financial
scandals, repeatedly returned to the theme of responsibility and
contrition during the 20-minute evening interview.
“I'm the one accepting responsibility for this,” he said at one point.
The city will no longer allow construction near airports without the
appropriate FAA permission, Sanders said, and he has called on Ronne
Froman, his chief operating officer and a retired Navy rear admiral, to
focus on the city's inaction as part of her lead role in the internal
Sunroad investigation.
The mayor wants the probe to be completed quickly, in as little as one
to two weeks, but he refused to say if it could lead to disciplinary
action against employees, including his land-use chief, Jim Waring.
Waring guided the city's dealings with Sunroad. Sanders offered him
tentative support Thursday.
“I've stood by Jim all the way on a lot of things,” he said. “I'm not
prepared to say he or anybody else has done anything wrong.”
Sanders also said he erred in not informing city residents that he was
working on possible solutions behind the scenes, including a proposal to
reduce all but 15 percent of the Sunroad building's roof to 163 feet, a
figure that exceeds, but nevertheless is much closer to, the FAA's
standards.
“Obviously I should have stepped up more publicly, more quickly,” he
said.
Meanwhile, lawyers for the developers moved to prevent Aguirre from
litigating a civil case against them. A Sunroad executive facing
misdemeanor criminal charges because of his lobbying of city officials
regarding the building succeeded in a similar effort.
Last week, a judge, citing Aguirre's “intense personal involvement,”
said the City Attorney's Office had a conflict of interest and could not
continue to prosecute the case against Sunroad executive Tom Story. Story
was once chief of staff to former Mayor Dick Murphy.
