Rancho del Oro developers offer land for new fire station

By Lola Sherman
STAFF WRITER

June 14, 2006

OCEANSIDE – Landowners who want to build 339 homes on property zoned for offices have now pinned their hopes on the City Council reversing the recommendations of two commissions to deny the project.

The council is tentatively set to consider the 28-acre Rancho del Oro-area project proposed by RPRN Land Co. LLC on Aug. 9.

RPRN has added an incentive: an offer to dedicate $1 million worth of land to the city for a new fire station.

Nonetheless, the city Planning Commission voted unanimously Monday to recommend denial of the proposal to rezone the property on Old Grove Road west of College Boulevard.

The Economic Development Commission previously expressed its opposition.

Acting City Planner Jerry Hittleman told the Planning Commission that Oceanside needs the land for offices buildings, not homes.

“We have a lot more houses in Oceanside than we have jobs,” Hittleman said.

This city has one of the lowest ratios of jobs to households in the county.

In supporting a recommendation to deny the project, Commissioner Richard Parker said Oceanside had “a serious problem with the jobs ratio. This is prime land” for offices.

Representing RPRN, attorney Marco Gonzalez introduced the fire station offer at Monday's meeting.

Gonzalez said the developers previously had agreed to provide an estimated $1 million in fees to the Oceanside Unified School District to offset the effects of new students on its classrooms.

During the two-hour commission meeting, 17 speakers addressed the proposal, and only three favored the proposed zoning change.

Some accused the developers of trying to “buy” the commission and council with the fire station offer, and others said the city doesn't need a fire station in that location and doesn't have the funds to staff and maintain it.

Ann Gunter, with the Lightfoot Planning Group of Carlsbad, representing the land owner, said Rancho del Oro has fewer homes than originally planned so the area could absorb another project.

“Oceanside has plenty of capacity (for offices) for the foreseeable future without this parcel,” she said.

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