When Rick Engineering opened for business in 1955, there was no Wild Animal Park, Salk Institute or planned communities like Rancho Bernardo. In time, these projects that Rick helped create would be reason enough to come to San Diego. But in 1927 when Glenn Rick and his wife, Ruth, settled in this corner of the continent, San Diego was home to fewer than 200,000 people. Although there were no fish tacos or Padres in those days, there was opportunity and the imagination of the Ricks, interrupted by outside events such as the Great Depression and World War II. After the war, a new era of rapid urban development unlike any in the history of Western Civilization transformed Navy town San Diego and the Ricks were in the thick of it. Founder Glenn Rick imagined Mission Bay as a tourism destination and economic engine to keep San Diego out of future depressions. He helped create, and played on, the Torrey Pines golf course now favored by the PGA and Michael Jordan. In 1955, Glenn's son Bill helped launch the firm and in four-and-a-half quick decades, the Ricks engineered the projects that define the landscape of man-made San Diego today — communities like Scripps Ranch and Otay Mesa; the megamalls at Fashion Valley and University Town Centre; industrial parks that blend with red-tiled roof neighborhoods, but do not dominate the skyline. San Diego was built out, not up. Chief Executive Lyle Gabrielson has been with Rick Engineering for 32 of the 45 years and watched the company grow with the city. "I started when the company was located in a shop on Kenyon St.," Gabrielson recalls. There were about 30 employees then. Today, with more than 13,000 projects in its portfolio, Rick employs 285 in San Diego, Tucson, Riverside and Phoenix. As building communities progressed from single homes to neighborhoods to master plans, so has building a far-flung company, says Gabrielson. "In the '50s, '60s and '70s, when the boss spoke, that was the way it was," he says. "But employee attitudes have changed over the last 30 years, and employees want to feel like they have a part in where the company is going. So we work on empowering all employees." Gabrielson says the new wave of employee participation fits his management style. "I have always preferred getting a lot of input on decisions made, so that for example, we know that the equipment that our employees use in the field is working for them." In the beginning, "Bill (Rick) worked to bring a number of us along as our mentor and it was successful," Gabrielson says. Not that there weren’t potholes along the way. "There were difficult times in the early '80s and '90s," Gabrielson says. "When Jimmy Carter had interest rates up in the 20 percent range, there wasn’t a whole lot of development going on." Typically, Rick assigns new projects to a team directed by a firm principal. A project engineer is then assigned direct responsibility for the project, from preliminary design to final construction. "It’s like a series of small companies within a bigger company," explains John Fowler, a longtime engineering consultant with Rick. Fittingly for the Rick legacy, Fowler now is consulting for the city of San Diego and with Rick Engineering on the region's largest redevelopment project to date, the 450-acre Naval Training Center Reuse Plan. When completed, the NTC will be transformed into a multiuse area including homes, community parks, office buildings and educational facilities. But the NTC plan is far from fruition, Gabrielson says. "There are a number of questions regarding historic buildings, traffic and toxics that have to be settled between now and 2005." Historic preservation, noise pollution, traffic density and the ability of a gnatcatcher to stop a bulldozer in its tracks are all part of the modern engineering landscape. Before anything is built now, everyone wants to know how it affects everything else. This requires Rick Engineering to harness the ability to not only alter the landscape, but to record and predict the future results of each alteration. Mapping now includes satellite-based Global Positioning System surveys and aerial photography. Bulky blueprints are now supported by computer assisted design , videos and multimedia presentations. While opportunistic politicians may tell us differently, developers and visionary engineers don’t always get their way. For example, voters rejected Glenn Rick's plan for a civic mall on Cedar Street. Glenn Rick also thought Mission Valley should be left to agriculture. Now that San Diego has grown into a metro area, quality of life issues have jumped to the forefront of development projects. Gabrielson says he is mindful of the collision between the need for future development and the desire to preserve the dream that continues to draw people here. "There's not much land left out there," Gabrielson says. "We’re not building as many homes as we need for the future population. The trend is toward the renewal of old neighborhoods, closer to transportation centers, and mixed-use planning." As a result, engineering firms are on the front lines in the battle of growth versus preservation of San Diego’s unique suburban lifestyle. "The trend over the last 20 years was to reduce density," says Gabrielson. "I don’t know if that was the best way for the city to develop." Asked to name his toughest project, Gabriel-son chuckles."Why, that would be Fanita Ranch the one we didn’t get to build." In 1999, voters in Santee rejected the 3,500-unit community development project after 10 years of planning. "Traffic issues were at the crux of it," he says. Part of the Rick recipe for building San Diego is an emphasis on community involvement that leads the firm to support the Metropolitan YMCA, the YWCA's Tribute to Women And Industry program, the Boys and Girls clubs and regional economic development centers. This, too, is a grassroots effort. "We try to get involved in whatever activities our employees are involved in their own communities from Pop Warner to little league soccer," says Gabrielson. In that sense, Rick has not only secured its role as a key player in the building of San Diego’s infrastructure, but continues building on Glenn and Bill Rick's dream. From inside the heart of San Diego out — to the future.

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