San Diego

David Poole, a Pardee Construction Co. executive who has been battling the San Diego city bureaucracy for the right to build child-care centers on the campuses of eight Mira Mesa elementary schools, cleared what appears to be his final hurdle Friday.

City Councilman Ed Struiksma, who has been aiding Poole, said city officials agreed to withdraw a requirement that the temporary buildings that will house the child-care centers be placed on permanent foundations.

Poole had complained that the requirement would substantially increase his costs. School system codes do not require temporary classrooms near the proposed child-care centers to be placed on permanent foundations.

Struiksma said the requirement was withdrawn when city and school board attorneys agreed that the child-care centers could be built under school building codes instead of city building codes.

Funded partly by donations from five large residential development companies, the child-care centers will provide before- and after-school care for 560 school-age youngsters. They will be operated by Harmonium Inc., a nonprofit social service agency. Poole is a member of the agency’s board of directors.