Cars and Jobs Win Over Bid for Park on the Bay : Port: National City wanted land on bay for recreation. Jobs promised by company won instead.

Politicians generally are loathe to challenge proposals that promise to create jobs for their constituents, especially in the midst of a lengthy economic downturn.

Yet, National City Mayor George Waters did just that last Tuesday when he pressed the San Diego Unified Port District to deny Pasha Group’s request to expand its business onto port-owned land on San Diego Bay in National City. Marin County-based Pasha already uses 45 acres of port-owned land to process thousands of cars annually that are imported to San Diego on ships that stop at the National City Marine Terminal.

Despite promises that the expansion would create as many as 150 jobs, Waters steadfastly opposed Pasha’s proposal to turn the vacant land into a bayfront parking lot for thousands of automobiles that manufacturers are shipping to car dealerships. Waters instead argued--unsuccessfully--for commissioners to turn one of the last remaining vacant parcels over to the public.

The 6-1 commission vote that granted Pasha a five-year lease on the contested parcel highlighted an ongoing debate over appropriate uses for the port’s dwindling supply of waterfront land. That debate is framed by the port’s master plan, a constantly evolving document that determines the appropriate blend of waterfront land dedicated to shipbuilding, military, recreation, wildlife and for-profit businesses.

The current master plan, which was certified in 1980 by the California Coastal Commission, since has been amended more than a dozen times. “We go in and tweak it or try to make changes” that keep the plan in line with societal goals, port spokesman Dan Wilkens said.

Suggested changes often can generate ill feelings because, “for the first time in history, there is not enough (bayfront) land to go around,” Port Commission Chairman Clifford Graves said during a speech last year to a group of port tenants. “People are beginning to jostle each other . . . every (land-use) decision from now on is a trade-off.”

The Port Tenants Assn., which represents about 100 port tenants, “believes that the master plan is fine,” association President Ron McElliott said. “It designates a variety of uses, including industrial, commercial, retail and access to the bay for the public.”

McElliott, however, suggested that the port “should be encouraged to work harder on the shipping side . . . we’d like to see the port become more aggressive” in seeking marine-related and industrial development.

That view clashes with the goal of other port observers who want the port to increase public access to the bay and ensure an adequate amount of open space to serve as a refuge for wildlife.

The trade-offs between open space and industrial development were evident last week to Delton Reopelle, the National City appointee to the port commission who cast the sole vote against Pasha’s expansion.

“There is a legitimate criticism about the port walling off the bay in National City,” Reopelle said. “There are 54,000 people (in National City) who want to stick their feet in the water.”

“We’re not asking for a lot,” Waters said in an interview. “We’re asking for 20 acres out of a 200-acre waterfront . . . but the port wants National City to (carry) the entire burden of all the cars (imported by ship) into San Diego County.”

While sympathetic to Waters’ desire for public access to the waterfront, port commissioners maintained that the port’s master plan clearly calls for a marine-related industrial use at the contested location.

Privately held Pasha, which now operates on 45 acres of port-owned land in National City, would need the added space if it wins a contract from General Motors Corp., which is consolidating its West Coast import and export operations. The General Motors contract, which will be awarded in about two months, would add about 150 jobs in San Diego. The company now has about 100 employees at its operation near the National City Marine Terminal.

Commissioners were hesitant to dampen Pasha’s chances of winning the General Motors contract. “The economy needs this,” Commissioner Milford Portwood said. Commissioner Raymond Burk said that he was “encouraged by Pasha’s plan to create jobs. . . . I’m ready to go ahead today and approve Pasha’s request.”

While the commission’s vote was driven largely by the near-term promise of full-time jobs, they left the door open for debate over the parcel’s future by noting that Pasha’s lease will expire in five years.

Yet, despite the promise of jobs and the chance that future public use hasn’t been completely ruled out, Waters stuck to his guns. “We do not want it black-topped,” Waters said. “We have no beach area (in National City) and we want one of our own.”

Waters subsequently complained that the port’s master plan unfairly positions undesirable industrial uses in the South Bay. “The plan is usually run according to whether (a given use) is nice or not nice for the city of San Diego,” Waters said.

Waters also complained that the return to National City--an estimated 150 jobs from a 20-acre parcel--isn’t high enough. Waters said the city has created far more jobs at other locations--at a nearby Toys R Us store, a fast-food restaurant and a car dealership--that occupy far less land.

Pasha’s supporters, including organized labor, argued that the company deserved the additional land because it is providing relatively high-paying, full-time jobs with health benefits.

Pasha officials said that they were “caught in the middle” of National City’s long-standing argument with the port over the issue of public access to the bay, said Jim Hull, Pasha’s senior vice president.

Pasha, which also imports cars through Long Beach and Richmond, Calif., processes 38,000 imported Isuzu cars and trucks annually in National City. Earlier this year, Pasha won a contract to process about 25,000 Volkswagens that will be shipped from factories in Germany, Brazil and Mexico.

That number would swell dramatically if Pasha secures the General Motors contract, Hull said. About 150 additional employees would be needed to process an estimated 55,000 General Motors cars that would be brought into the United States through the Port of San Diego or shipped to Hawaii and Pacific Rim countries.

“Right now, GM has (import/export) facilities here, there and everywhere else,” Hull said. “What we’re offering to GM is the capacity to handle their import autos . . . and also their export traffic.”

The General Motors contract would bolster Pasha’s profit margin because the company would be able to load General Motors cars onto ocean-going ships that bring foreign cars to California, Hull said.