Waring is Out

Published: Tuesday, August 14, 2007 12:16 PM PDT

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Jim Waring, the top land-use and development aide to Mayor Jerry Sanders, resigned Monday evening after enduring a rocky tenure in which he was enmeshed in several high-profile controversies, most recently the Sunroad office building matter.

Sanders spokesman Fred Sainz said the mayor, who is on vacation, accepted Waring's resignation after the Waring offered it yesterday to Jay Goldstone, the mayor's interim chief operating officer. Waring was also on vacation Monday and could not be reached for comment.

The resignation, which Sainz said is effective immediately, comes after weeks of speculation within City Hall that Waring would depart in the wake of the Sunroad controversy. The company's Kearny Mesa office tower violates the Federal Aviation Administration's 160-foot height limit.

An internal investigation by the Mayor's Office showed officials in the planning and development services agencies botched the city's review of and response to the Sunroad building, but left Waring largely exonerated.

However, Waring was a driving force behind the mayor's decision to negotiate a compromise with the FAA and the company that would allow the building to stand above the height limit before he adopted the hard-line stance that the building be lowered to the FAA's requirements. As recently as last week, Waring was lobbying council offices to accept a compromise that would require the building be lowered, but to a height that continued to pierce the federal height limit.

-- EVAN McLAUGHLIN