San Diego’s Holiday Construction Restrictions Near Shopping Centers Go Up in Smoke

By Lu Rehling

And now, for your holiday shopping displeasure …

Used to be, we had a business- and consumer-friendly policy regarding holiday shopping: In the past, from Thanksgiving to New Year, San Diego restricted construction in city rights-of-way near major shopping centers.

Well, bah humbug to all that, and bring on the traffic jams surrounding a mall near you!

The city recently announced that restriction will “no longer be implemented.” Why? Projects over people (and retailers!) is the way holidays will roll this year and years forward, by order of Mayor Gloria and his Director of Engineering. Reasons given: “timely completion” and “efficiency.”

Notably, this change doesn’t just apply to publicly-funded projects (such as sewer repairs), or affordable housing projects, or any other at least arguable priority. Nope: ALL construction projects, including the full range of those submitted by private owners for building permits get the benefit of this restriction. Just as the longstanding moratorium on summer beach projects (which once lasted three months) rolled back like waves at high tide earlier this year (as reported here), the holiday moratorium now also is just a memory. So much for honoring the spirit of the season.

And what’s the reason given by a representative at the Development Services Department for treating public and private projects the same? Well, it just wouldn’t be “fair” to developers to give only public projects a rules-waiver. Funny how high a priority keeping developers happy is for our city administration versus what works best for the rest of us, including local business owners/operators.

Of course, city engineers with an ethic of stewardship still can work with applicants “behind the scenes” to request that they take certain days off from impeding certain rights of way. Those staffers even still could deny permits based on non-criteria-based “engineering judgment.” But are any such denials the last word? Nope again: If appealed, they would be subject to reversal by those higher up the chain. And we all know who sits at the very top of that.

Bottom line: Public or private, it’s all about the cranes and dozers getting to do what they do whenever and wherever. It’s NOT about the brick-and-mortar retailers that already are hurting for customers, much less those customers themselves— also known as residents and citizens of our city. Of course, anyone who lives near a shopping center may be affected by holiday roadway detours and backups, as well, instead of getting a seasonal breather.

Want to know more about this new policy? Just call the number on the public notice that was issued a couple of weeks ago. Warning: After waiting over an hour on the phone, you may end up talking to a bewildered staffer who’s never heard anything about it, but who kindly will call around until they find someone who at least thinks they know who to call. And that next person will tell you that the title identified on the notice as a contact for contractors—“Construction Deputy City Engineer”—well, that position doesn’t actually exist. But, no worries, there were lots of internal consultations about the new policy among departments and the mayor’s office. Consultations also probably took place with developers (a likely guess) and maybe even with potentially affected retailers, too (hmm, ask your local mall store manager and hear what they have to say).

As for public outreach, well, you got that public notice, didn’t you? What more could you ask for as you head out the door to pick up some holiday bargains: “timely completion” and “efficiency” when you shop?

Maybe not, when Mayor Grinch, oops, meant to say Gloria, and his construction industry cronies have their way with the roads that you hope to merrily roll along on.

Lu Rehling is a resident of Hillcrest.