Mitchell’s Loss Kills Coalition for Slow Growth

As the dust settled after the San Diego City Council election Tuesday, the council’s most colorful if not consistent critic of development, Bill Mitchell, was out on his ear, and the managed-growth council coalition he had supported was in disarray.

Ready to fill seats on the council Wednesday were two new members: One, Judy McCarty, had received the endorsement of the Building Industry Assn.; the other, Abbe Wolfsheimer, had been described by the builders as more akin to their interests than Mitchell.

But few council members or observers were willing Wednesday to make predictions about the posture of the new council on the critical question of growth, or to forecast the effect of the council election on other pending questions.

Environmentalists have fewer friends on the council than at any time in the recent past, conceded Jay Powell, coordinator of the Sierra Club’s San Diego chapter. And builders appear to have more potential allies, said Jean Andrews, a political consultant for the Building Industry Assn.

But a wild card is Proposition A, the growth-management initiative that passed by a greater margin than that enjoyed by either Wolfsheimer or McCarty. Interpretations varied widely on the extent that the measure might influence council decisions.

Proposition A’s supporters said it represents a potent warning to the council to approach development proposals with caution throughout the city, not simply in the northern reaches where the initiative directly applies.

But some opponents read its impact more narrowly. Councilman Ed Struiksma, elected to a second term Tuesday, said he believed the proposition applied strictly to the urban reserve.

Others quickly pointed out that it is likely to be challenged.

“I don’t see the proposition as any kind of mandate, because there was a lot of confusion about what it meant,” said John Thelan, a prominent land-use lawyer. “The second thing is there’s going to be a lot of legal challenges.”

“I’m sure that it will be before the courts very soon, and there may be some sort of stay pending its interpretation,” said Wolfsheimer, who opposed the proposition and defeated Mitchell to represent District 1.

“I think the issue with respect to Proposition A has been misunderstood,” she added. The central issue is not “whether San Diego should grow horizontally or vertically” but rather “whether we are taking care of human beings.”

Wolfsheimer has said in the past that Proposition A represents less an outcry against growth than a complaint that growth has been occurring “inhumanely,” without sufficient roads, sewers, parks and schools to keep up.

Observers said several issues likely to come before the council shortly will help define its new alliances and positions.

For example, they said the council will consider recommendations of the city’s growth management task force, including proposals to limit construction on slopes and in flood plains, and to require a percentage of open space in every project in a canyon.

Other acid tests may be proposals to require landscaping on new commercial developments, to ban many types of signs on new commercial projects, and the coming election of a new deputy mayor.

Gotch suggested that having three women on the council for the first time might also be reflected in votes on pending proposals, such as a day care center downtown and distribution of Community Development Block Grant money.

But McCarty, the 45-year-old former aide to Assemblyman Larry Stirling (R-San Diego) who was elected to fill the District 7 seat vacated by Dick Murphy, discounted that notion.

“I think we’ve moved past the day when we worry about whether it’s men and women doing the job,” McCarty said Wednesday. “As long as the job gets done, that’s what counts.”

Mitchell’s supporters said his absence would be felt.

“I think anytime you lose a voice--even though in some cases it was a voice in the wilderness, and even though in some cases it came from an oblique angle--it still was a voice for environmental protection,” Powell said.

Mitchell predicted Wednesday that his absence would mean the end of the growth-management coalition that often centered on himself, Gotch and Mayor Roger Hedgecock.

“The only ones that are left now are Roger and Mike, and Roger is shaky,” Mitchell said, referring to Hedgecock’s recent conviction and possible loss of office. “If Roger goes off, we have one person standing alone.”

To what extent Wolfsheimer would differ from Mitchell, or McCarty from Murphy, remains to be seen. Both new members have extensive experience in land-use issues--Wolfsheimer as chairman of the Department of Property Law, Land Use, and Negotiations at Western State University College of Law, and McCarty as past president of the Navajo Community Planners and a member of numerous community groups active on land-use questions.

Both Andrews of the Building Industry Assn. and Powell of the Sierra Club said McCarty’s background in community planning gave them cause for optimism. Struiksma, seen as one of the most conservative councilmen, predicted McCarty and Wolfsheimer would align themselves with himself, McColl and Councilman Bill Cleator.

“I think on a number of issues that have come to the council, it has in the past not been uncommon to basically draw a line and refuse even to talk,” Struiksma said. “I think with a good solid working majority on the council . . . that there will be greater efforts made to try and work with both sides to eliminate that confrontation.”