Arizonan Named Planning Director : O’Connor Cites Administrator’s Management Experience

The San Diego City Council Friday selected an Arizona community development administrator as new director of the city’s planning department, a key city agency that advises the council on its often-controversial land use decisions and policies.

Robert Spaulding, deputy city manager for community development in Glendale, Ariz., was chosen for the influential post over Acting Planning Director Mike Stepner because of his management capabilities, Mayor Maureen O’Connor said. O’Connor presented Spaulding to reporters after a four-hour closed council session at San Diego City Hall during which three finalists for the position were interviewed.

“It boiled down to Mr. Stepner and Mr. Spaulding,” though Gary Brown, community development director in Lakewood, Colo., was also interviewed Friday, O’Connor said. Spaulding and Stepner, a 16-year member of the city’s Planning Department, were considered equals as planners and land use experts, but “the scale tipped because of Mr. Spaulding’s management experience,” she said.

“We were impressed by his experience, his ability as a manager, and the quality of vision he articulated to the council,” said O’Connor, who visited Glendale Nov. 6 with council members Gloria McColl and Abbe Wolfsheimer.

Spaulding, 40, will take over the post Jan. 1 at a salary of $95,000 per year after the council approves his contract at its meeting Monday. Councilman Mike Gotch, who was not present for Friday’s vote, is expected to support Spaulding, O’Connor said.

Spaulding, who oversees long-range planning for the Arizona city of 140,000, will take over a department with 193 staff members and a $9.1 million budget that has been without a permanent director since the retirement of Jack Van Cleave in February.

Spaulding previously held planning and community development posts in Bellingham, Walla Walla and Ellensburg and the county of Kittitas in Washington state.

He will lead a key agency, which advises the council on “how we’re going to grow, how much we’re going to grow and how we’re going to make it happen,” Stepner said in an interview before the selection. It is also a department where personnel spend an increasing amount of their time implementing the details of the city’s slow-growth ordinance, which capped residential building at 8,000 new units during the 18 months following its July approval.

As planning director, Spaulding will also have authority to approve or reject discretionary permits allowing planned residential, industrial and commercial development. About 650 such permits have been issued this year, Stepner said.

Spaulding told reporters that he has too little experience in San Diego to list his priorities as planning director. He said that San Diego and Glendale--where population is increasing at about 1,000 people per month--face similar problems coping with the impact of runaway growth.

The post will offer “the kind of challenge that no planning director in any other city in the United States has,” Spaulding said.

In an interview before Spaulding was chosen, Bob Morris, executive vice president of the Building Industry Assn. of San Diego County, said that builders are looking for a planning director who can provide strong leadership and consistent policy-making that has been lacking during the past few years. Morris faulted city planners for sometimes changing plans and instructions to builders without warning.

“We want someone who can come in and provide a level playing field,” he said.