Golding’s Well-Planned Maneuvers Sank Harbor Square

After the San Diego Planning Commission rejected plans last week for a hotel, office and restaurant complex on land now used for parking at the County Administration Center, Supervisor Susan Golding dodged credit for what looked like her first major triumph since taking office a month ago.

“This is a victory for all the citizens of San Diego County,” she told reporters after urging the commission to scuttle a private company’s plans to build the $100-million bayfront development under a long-term lease with the county.

Golding pointed out that community groups and leaders from Cardiff, San Carlos, Lakeside and elsewhere had risen to argue against using the prime public property for a private commercial development.

And she noted that those groups had been joined in their opposition by a lengthy list of prominent San Diegans--including developers, bankers and businessmen.

What Golding did not say then was that she and her staff had been working behind the scenes for weeks to help ensure the defeat of Harbor Square.

In fact, most of those who spoke against the project Thursday at City Hall--in what appeared to be a spontaneous show of protest--did so at Golding’s invitation. And the list of names read into the Planning Commission’s record by a San Carlos community activist was compiled by Golding’s staff between Jan. 7, when she took office, and the commission’s meeting Jan. 31.

Under other circumstances, Golding’s actions would have been little more than typical political maneuvering. In this case, however, the newly elected 3rd District supervisor was working to defeat a proposal that had been endorsed unanimously by the Board of Supervisors just two months before she took office.

In her fight against Harbor Square, Golding:

- Sent a letter on county stationery Jan. 11 to about 200 community leaders, inviting them to her office to discuss the Harbor Square proposal and possible alternatives to the project.

- Met with about 30 of those people Jan. 24 in the Board of Supervisors’ library, plotting a strategy for defeating the project when it came before the city Planning Commission for review.

- Gathered the list of more than 50 prominent San Diegans--including developers Ernest W. Hahn, Tawfiq Khoury and Douglas Manchester and banker Gordon Luce--who would lend their names in opposition to Harbor Square.

As a result, Golding has quietly been given credit for defeating a project that many government officials and political observers thought was on its way to approval.

Although the Harbor Square proposal never became a cause that attracted mass support, public opposition to it had been fairly dormant until Golding got involved.

“I think she made a very big difference,” Ann MacCullough, the San Carlos activist who helped Golding organize the opposition, said. “Once somebody spoke up who was in a position to do something about it, a lot of us who had been mumbling and grumbling came forward.”

With the credit, however, has come blame. The developer--Harbor Square Associates--holds Golding partly responsible for the defeat of a project that was the product of more than three years of negotiations and agreements between the private investors and the Board of Supervisors.

Acting under the assumption that the county would do all it could to help win support for Harbor Square, the firm had invested more than $2.2 million in the project since striking its first agreement with the county in 1981. The development was expected to generate $4 million a year for the county.

“I’m sure Susan Golding’s attack did not help our cause,” Bob Rosenthal, a partner in ZRD Development Inc., which owns Harbor Square Associates, said in an interview.

Richard Robinson, the county’s director of special projects, said he believes Golding’s involvement was a key factor in the project’s defeat.

Robinson said he and the developer’s representatives had gone to the Planning Commission hearing expecting to debate no more than the wisdom of four conditions the city’s staff wanted to place on the project. At an earlier informal workshop with the commission, Robinson said, he detected little opposition to the basic plan.

“Golding had a lot to do with it,” Robinson said in an interview. “She got that last-minute cadre of folks together, people from the community groups well outside the city. Even though she was there as a private citizen, she is a member of the board, so that gave it some official status.”

Leon Williams, chairman of the Board of Supervisors, said Golding’s efforts to overturn a duly-approved board action would leave the county’s business “in chaos” if practiced by other elected officials.

Citing attorney-client confidentiality, County Counsel Lloyd Harmon refused to discuss Golding’s actions. He would not say whether Golding had risked leaving the county open to charges of violating its contract with Harbor Square Associates.

Harmon has said that he discussed that prospect with the board in closed session Jan. 29, after the developer’s attorney warned the county not to do anything that might jeopardize the firm’s chances of winning government approvals for the project. Harmon said he considered that letter to be a threat of a lawsuit.

“It’s a real sensitive area,” Harmon said.

Golding, however, said Harmon was aware of her actions and had raised no questions about them.

“I’ve been cautious, perhaps overly cautious,” Golding said. “I didn’t want to do anything irresponsible that might subject the county to liability.”

But Golding said there is no legal precedent for “muzzling” an elected official.

“I will reserve my right to speak my mind and opinions for the next four years if I think the county has made a mistake,” she said. “It would be irresponsible to do nothing.”

Ellen Spellman, the developer’s attorney, said Harbor Square Associates would not consider filing suit against the county until after the company’s appeal of the Planning Commission decision is heard by the full City Council. That hearing is not expected to take place for several weeks.