Building Ban in North Tier Is Tempered by San Diego

Yielding to the pleas of worried developers, the San Diego City Council rescinded its ban Monday on issuing building permits in the fast-growing area served by an undependable Sorrento Valley sewer pump station.

With little debate, the council voted, 6-1, to instead impose a conditional ban in the area, allowing developers to obtain permits and begin construction as long as the new homes homes and offices remain unconnected to the sewer system until November, when the city is expected to upgrade the infamous Pump Station 64.

Council members imposed the total building-permit ban March 10, five days after a pipe leading out of the station ruptured, sending a record 20 million gallons of raw sewage into Los Penasquitos Lagoon and the ocean.

The spill triggered the permit ban, and council members voted to keep it in force until April 21--a move they hoped would persuade state water pollution officials not to impose an $800,000 fine.

But developers have complained that the building permit ban was heavy-handed.

They preferred a plan imposed by City Manager John Lockwood to permit new development on the condition that no additional sewer hook-ups in the city’s northern tier be allowed until larger pumps are installed at Station 64 in November. Those pumps are to increase the station’s current capacity of 21 million gallons a day.

Kim Kilkenny, lobbyist for the Construction Industry Federation, told council members Monday that the total ban was working a “hardship in unforeseeable ways� on developers. He said some lenders were freezing escrow proceedings until the total ban was lifted and building permits were again issued.

Developer Julie Dillon testified that one of her projects is going begging for a lender because of the ban. After the meeting, she described it as a “very large development� worth millions of dollars in the North City West area.

On a motion by Councilman Bill Cleator, council members voted to roll back the absolute ban. The only no vote was Councilwoman Abbe Wolfsheimer, who said her opposition was “qualified.�

Mayor Maureen O’Connor and Councilwoman Judy McCarty were absent.

The state Regional Water Quality Control Board will meet May 4 to determine what fine, if any, should be assessed against San Diego for the March spill. The city is facing an $800,000 fine plus other penalties, and board staff members have yet to make their recommendation on a penalty.

The $800,000 penalty was part of a $1.5-million fine imposed by the water board for a Thanksgiving Day spill from the station. But it was held in abeyance as long at the facility operated without another mishap. The November spill of 1.5 million gallons eventually cost the city a $300,000 fine, the most it ever had to pay for a sewage spill.

Pump Station 64 serves the fast-growing San Diego areas of Rancho Penasquitos, Sorrento Valley, Scripps Ranch, Mira Mesa, North City West, as well as the cities of Poway and Del Mar.