Rezoning requested to allow up to 400 new homes in Oceanside

Oceanside’s Planning Commission has recommended rezoning 25.6 acres along North River Road to clear the way for up to 400 homes on land historically used to grow and pack row crops such as strawberries and tomatoes.

The proposed Tierra Norte development is about three miles west of a larger proposed residential project, also on North River Road, that has sharply divided Oceanside over the conversion of agricultural land to residential uses.

Residents approved a ballot referendum in November 2020 that would have overturned the Oceanside City Council’s approval of North River Farms, a 585-home community to be built between Stallion Drive and Wilshire Road in South Morro Hills.

However, a Superior Court judge declared the referendum invalid because of state legislation passed to encourage developers to build more to address the region’s housing crisis. Another lawsuit filed against North River Farms remains undecided, but a settlement is expected that would allow the project to proceed.

The Tierra Norte site is in two contiguous parcels on the south side of the 4600 block of North River Road. One parcel is 9.7 acres and has been home to an agricultural packing warehouse since the 1960s, with administrative offices added later. The larger parcel is 15.9 acres, more than 75 percent of which is still used for farming.

The land is owned by Jay Kawano of So. Cal. Ag. Properties, Inc., and the Nagata Brothers, two longtime North County farming families. Final approval is up to the Oceanside City Council, which could decide the issue as soon as Aug. 24.

The Oceanside Planning Commission on July 25 voted 5-0 to recommend the City Council approve general plan amendments, zone amendments, and development plans for the property. The site is a half mile east of Douglas Drive, near several multi-family developments and single-family residential subdivisions.

“It’s not appropriate for contemporary light industrial development,” said Dan Niebaum of the Lightfoot Planning Group, a representative of the property owner.

“The parcels are kind of remnants from the ag uses of many years ago,” he said. “This is an infill residential project. It’s going to repurpose an underutilized site and provide much needed housing.”

No detailed plan has been prepared for the property yet, but it could include apartments, condominiums, row homes and single family homes. The specifics of any proposal would be reviewed by the Planning Commission.

A preliminary analysis showed the residential development would bring the city more than $15 million in fees and tax revenue, compared to a little over $2 million for industrial development, over three years of construction, City Planner Sergio Madera told the Planning Commission.

Several speakers at the July meeting told the Planning Commission that they would prefer to see fewer homes on the site.

Traffic on North River Road “is in a near-gridlock situation” at certain times of day and more homes won’t help, said Michael White, a resident of the adjacent Rancho Pacifica neighborhood.

“We realize that some development is inevitable,” White said, but he asked for it to be less dense and with a higher percentage of single-family homes.

“Parking is another concern in our area,” White said, because the streets of his neighborhood already get overflow parking from nearby developments.

Converting undeveloped land from industrial to residential uses further upsets the city’s jobs-to-housing ratio, said Diane Nygaard, an Oceanside resident and president of the group Preserve Calavera.

More people will have to drive farther to work, which detracts from their quality of life and increases pollution and greenhouse gases.

“We keep losing industrial land by converting it to more housing, because that’s what developers want to do,” Nygaard said. “We need more industrial land ... not less. Approving the conversion of 24 more acres ... just moves our city backward.”

It also makes it harder for the city to follow its general plan, she said. The plan recommends building infill development along major transportation corridors, such as Vista Way, Oceanside Boulevard and Mission Avenue.

Planning commissioners asked a few questions about traffic and parking, but generally supported the project.

“It strikes me as a reasonable request to change this over to residential,” said Commission Chair Tom Rosales.

“The highest and best use of this area is homes,” said Commissioner Tom Morrissey. “This is a good project. The metrics are in place to take care of some of the issues that came up. The only logical decision is to let the project go forward.”