San Clemente Halts Developer Permits

The San Clemente City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to stop issuing building permits to developers until a new law regulating backcountry growth takes effect later this month.

The urgency ordinance, effective today, prohibits issuing residential building permits for developments larger than four units until March 27. That is when the Growth Management Ordinance overwhelmingly adopted by the city’s voters last week goes into effect.

The new law limits growth in the hills east of the San Diego Freeway to 500 units per year. Without the urgency ordinance, developers could have obtained permits for almost 150 more units by March 27, said Community Development Director Harry Weinroth.

Builders had obtained permits for about 450 units in the first two months of this year, Weinroth said.

City Manager James B. Hendrickson said the annual allocation of 500 permits would be made “starting from March 27 until March 26 of next year.” Tom Lorch, an aerospace engineer who co-authored the initiative, said its intent was to allow no more than 500 permits in any calendar year, including this one.

The ordinance, however, makes no reference to a calendar year, which was “an oversight,” Lorch said. The city’s interpretation means that developers could obtain almost 1,000 building permits in 1986.