A developer who’s currently seeking the city of San Diego’s approval to help his company secure $15 million in tax-free loans is married to City Councilman Todd Gloria’s chief of staff, Jamie Fox-Rice.
Colin Rice is scheduled put his case to the City Council in a public meeting Oct. 5, at the end of which the City Council will vote whether or not to approve the publicly subsidized financing, which Rice’s company would use to buy and renovate Sorrento Tower, a home for the elderly in Clairemont.
Gloria says he recently approached the city’s Ethics Commission to ask whether he should refrain from voting on the matter, considering the personal relationship between his chief of staff and the developer. In a statement e-mailed by Gloria’s spokeswoman, Gloria said the Ethics Commission told him the relationship does not cause a personal conflict, and he is free to vote on the matter as he sees fit.
“Like with all Council items, I will carefully consider the proposal on its merits should it come before me for a decision,” the statement reads.
Until recently, Rice was a senior executive at troubled local affordable housing developer The Amerland Group. As I outlined in this story a couple of weeks ago, Rice recently founded his own company, C&C Development, LLC, with another former Amerland executive, Casey Haeling.
As a member of the City Council, Gloria is a de facto member of the city’s Housing Authority, which oversees the Housing Commission, the body responsible for investigating the merits of affordable housing projects like the one being proposed by C&C Development.
Rice, himself, is also no stranger to politics. He served as chief of staff to former state assemblyman Juan Vargas, who also served on the San Diego City Council.
I have contacted the Ethics Commission and I’ll update this blog if I hear anything more.
Please contact Will Carless at will.carless@gmail.com.