San Diego

Expressing concern that city services are not keeping pace with development and growth, the City Council on Tuesday voted to appoint a new Growth Management Task Force to study changes in the city’s regulations that govern new developments.

Council members also voted to hold a workshop in January, when they will meet with growth consultant Robert Freilich to discuss growth recommendations made in 1984 by a similar task force appointed by then-Mayor Roger Hedgecock.

San Diego is governed by a Growth Management Plan adopted by the council in 1979. Freilich, who was a consultant on the 1979 plan, told the City Council on Tuesday that it was time to “rethink and re-evaluate the process of planning.”

A report by the city Planning Department said the city is hampered by decisions on growth management versus growth control. The report said there is no clear public consensus on how the city should handle growth. The report also noted that “recent events seem to imply that the basic thrust of the city’s plans, policies and regulations are misdirected.”

The report referred specifically to Proposition A, the growth management initiative passed by voters in November, 1985. The measure calls for voter approval of all new developments in the city’s future urbanizing zone. On Tuesday, several speakers complained that, despite the passage of Proposition A, they felt that the city is still encouraging growth.

Mayor Maureen O’Connor acknowledged the public opposition to growth and the power of l voters to stop developments. “I am worried about all these moratoriums. . . . If there were an initiative on the ballot today for no growth, it would pass,” O’Connor said.

She praised the task force appointed by Hedgecock and said she plans to ask some of its members to work with the new group. The mayor’s appointees, to be announced in January, have to be confirmed by the City Council.

The task force appointed by Hedgecock recommended 90 changes in the city’s growth plan. So far, 36 have been reviewed by council committees.