OTAY MESA – Amid growing controversy, San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders said this week that he won't allow Blackwater Worldwide to open its Navy training facility in Otay Mesa until the plan goes through the city's public review process. The company has leased a 61,600-square-foot warehouse in a business park three blocks from the U.S.-Mexico border near Brown Field. It is installing a shooting range, a simulated Navy ship and classrooms, and hopes to begin operating in June.

On Monday, Sanders told his development services director, Kelly Broughton, that Blackwater's permits, which had been issued by city staff, will require more scrutiny than the staff-level review.

Broughton then sent a letter to Blackwater vice president Brian Bonfiglio stating that “no certificate of occupancy will be issued” until the company's plans are approved by the San Diego City Council and Planning Commission.

Sanders' action was prompted by a legal opinion issued Friday by San Diego City Attorney Michael Aguirre that found problems with Blackwater's permits.

Immediately after reading Aguirre's opinion Friday, Sanders said he would issue a stop-work order. That order was not issued because the mayor subsequently decided a better move would be to place additional conditions on Blackwater before it could move into the property, said George Biagi, a spokesman for the mayor.

Blackwater spokesman Mike Neil respondedyesterday in a letter urging Broughton to reconsider relying on what he called Aguirre's “fatally flawed” legal analysis.

Blackwater obtained its permits in March for interior improvements. The site was zoned for a vocational school, and city staff members decided that Blackwater's training qualified. The permits were obtained through Southwest Law Enforcement and Raven Development Group, affiliates of Blackwater.

Aguirre's opinion was that the City Council must approve the use of firearms and that the Planning Commission must determine whether Blackwater's facility is a vocational school.

Neil said Blackwater's own analysis shows that the company is entitled to occupy the Otay Mesa facility and that a delay could jeopardize Blackwater's long-standing contract with the Navy to train sailors in anti-terrorism tactics. A delay also could damage the company's business reputation and “cause harm to national security.”

In March, Blackwater abandoned a proposal for an 824-acre center in Potrero, citing tests that showed gunfire would exceed local noise standards.

Some of the activists who opposed the Potrero plan now are involved in blocking the Otay Mesa proposal by circulating petitions, holding rallies and speaking in public comments at San Diego City Council meetings.