Encinitans Will Happily Say Pau to Roy Sapa’u

“Development Services Director Roy Sapa’u has never seen a development he didn’t like,” said long-time local activist Larry Gomorka. “It took him many years of siding with developers to rise to the top of the department. Nobody gets the top spot by rubbing the City Council the wrong way.

“But people tend not to last long as director,” said Gomorka. “Take Brenda Wisneski, for example. She was imported and then in the top slot for barely two years. Maybe she made the grift by the council, staff and developers too obvious, too public. 

“Sapa’u came up through the ranks,” said Gomorka. “He’s seasoned and probably too savvy about city ways to get canned early. Yet things like his tortured explanation of why a three-story building is actually two stories say even he could be vulnerable.

“He’s pulling down a pay package of $233,000,” said Gomorka. “There’s a lot of motivation to stay put.”

“Naming the department ‘Development Services’ says what the city is gung-ho about,” said Gomorka. “They always have to go after new revenue, and that comes from continuous development. To keep it rolling, the department must have a director who’s on board and keeps his staff in line.

“Yet, as contradictory as it might seem, there are some developments that are a bridge too far for the City Council and, therefore, for Sapa’u and his department,” said Gomorka. “At least in the current circumstances, one of those verboten developments was the grotesque Goodson project in Olivenhain. Stopped dead in its tracks as proposed but only for the time being.

“Maybe Goodson will rear its ugly head and test Sapa’u and the council’s character after the November election,” said Gomorka. “Few Encinitans would weep if the city said pau to Roy Sapa’u.”