Carlsbad

A month-old moratorium on housing construction was lifted Tuesday, but Superior Court Judge David Moon Jr. also ordered city officials to stay within strict limits until he decides the fate of a slow-growth ballot measure.

Moon agreed to lift the ban at the urging of Carlsbad legal officials.

But he told city officials not to issue building permits for more than 1,000 units until after he rules on Proposition G, a grass-roots growth-control measure that would put a tight cap on the number of units that could be built each year.

Moon told attorneys he expects to decide the initiative’s fate by April 21. In the meantime, city officials say there is little chance that the city will even get close to the 1,000-unit limit.

Proposition G was approved by a majority of the Carlsbad electorate but was deemed a loser by the City Council because a rival measure, Proposition E, got more votes. Concerned Citizens, one of two groups that supported Proposition G, filed a legal action seeking implementation of the measure after the council refused to make it law.

Under Proposition G, 1,000 units could be built in 1987, 750 in 1988 and 500 a year thereafter until 1996. Proposition E was designed to ensure that public facilities keep pace with growth and ensure the city’s ultimate population does not exceed 135,000 residents.