San Diego

A $24-million Mission Valley assessment district to build a flood control channel and other improvements was delayed for a week by the San Diego City Council after one landowner protested that he was included in the district and another asked for more time to study the costly project.

An attorney for University Ford told council members that the $366,000 assessment that the dealership would face far outweighed any benefit to the property, and spokesmen for Sammis properties asked for additional time to study the assessment under which the Sammis interests were paying about two-thirds of the entire cost of putting in a channel along the San Diego River, landscaping the banks and improving roads in the area between Stadium Way and California 163.

The improvement district is required before four major property owners can build a multimillion-dollar commercial, office and residential complex in the area.