OCEANSIDE TO UPDATE GENERAL PLAN
Current city document was created in 1970s; many parts still the same
OCEANSIDE
Oceanside is pushing to complete a comprehensive update of its General Plan in 2021, the first overall revision since the plan was created in the 1970s.
The General Plan is sometimes called the city’s “constitution” or its “blueprint for growth.” The document outlines where homes and businesses can be built, how wide streets should be, what environmental safeguards should be applied and much more.
“Oceanside’s planners have set good goals for its General Plan Update,” said Dennis Martinek, a former city planning commissioner. “Only good, long-term planning will allow Oceanside to accomplish its goals of economic prosperity, environmental quality and social equity.”
The need to update the outdated General Plan is often cited when development is proposed in the city.
Projects that don’t conform to the General Plan, such as the North River Farms residential development recently proposed for South Morro Hills, require an amendment to the plan. The City
Council approved a General Plan amendment for North River Farms, but residents, including Martinek, who opposed the project overturned the approval with a successful ballot referendum in November.
“Long-term planning should recognize that sprawl development is costly to citizens, results in traffic congestion, and causes global warming,” Martinek said. “The city’s decision-makers should not cave in to those who want shortterm financial gain at Oceanside taxpayers’ expense.”
Development goals change as a city grows. As a result, most cities update their General Plan every 20 to 25 years. But the work is expensive and time-consuming, and
Oceanside is behind.
“New elements have been added over time in response to state requirements (for elements such as safety and noise), and local concerns,” said Russ Cunningham, the city’s principal planner. Also, some parts of the plan, such as those covering land use and traffic circulation, have been updated separately.
“Three of our existing elements (safety, noise and environmental resources) date to the 1970s and have never been updated,” Cunningham said in a recent email.
The land use element was last updated in 1986, and the circulation element separately in 2012. Today, it is common practice to integrate
land use and circulation into a single element called “mobility,” which Oceanside intends to do in the update underway.
Three community workshops, all to be held online because of COVID-19 restrictions, are planned for January to inform residents about the process and to hear their thoughts on the proposed update.
Land uses, including agriculture, along with mobility and noise will be discussed at 6 p.m. Jan. 12. Community facilities, safety, conservation and open space, also including agriculture, is set for 6 p.m. Jan. 13, and a housing workshop will start at 6 p.m. Jan. 19. To participate, register at the city’s General Plan website at onwardoceanside.com.
As part of the General Plan update, Oceanside is working on a “Smart and Sustainable Corridors Specific Plan” that will help set forth expectations for where future housing and job growth should occur, Cunningham said.
“With the city being largely ‘ built-out’ in the traditional sense, we expect growth to occur largely in the form of infill and redevelopment within already urbanized areas,” he said.
Commercial corridors along Mission Avenue, Oceanside Boulevard are the most likely locations for infill and redevelopment within already urbanized areas. The plan will identify ways to better accommodate public transit and other improvements consistent with “complete streets” policies intended to reduce reliance on private automobiles.
The corridors plan is intended to “incentivize efficient land use and highquality development within these areas, which should promote synergies between new housing and commercial uses, better access to essential goods and services, walkability, aesthetic improvements, and increased safety and security through activation of public spaces,” Cunningham said.
“We’re also hoping that increased density and intensity in these areas will enhance demand for public transit, which should in turn lead to more efficient and convenient transit service,” he said.
Much of the city’s planning effort is funded by grants from the state Department of Transportation and the state Department of Housing and Community Development. Those agencies and others promote development along transportation corridors with easy access to public transit as part of the “smart growth” concept.
Not everyone thinks it’s a good idea to focus development along Oceanside’s commercial corridors, where in some places there’s already dense residential development and inadequate parking.
“The city would love to push all the high density on Oceanside Boulevard and Mission,” said Nadine Scott, an attorney and community activist. “But there’s only so much adequate infrastructure. An inventory needs to be taken of the relative age of water, sewer, electrical, telephone and cable capabilities.”
Planners need to consider that older neighborhoods west of El Camino Real rarely have homeowners’ associations, she said. Without organized residents, those areas are more likely to burdened with unsuitable development and issues such as short-term vacation rentals that sometimes bring noise, trash and parking problems.
Steep terrain in neighborhoods such as Fire Mountain and Loma Alta can be another challenge and makes it more difficult for some people to reach bus stops and train stations, Scott said. Also, the historical aspects of some areas
“This planning process ... will inevitably be different from prior long-range planning efforts.”
Russ Cunningham Oceanside Principal Planner
should be considered when planning.
In addition to the corridors plan and the General Plan update, the city is working on a South Morro Hills Community Plan.
South Morrow Hills is about 3,500 acres zoned for agriculture and historically used for commercial farming in the northeastern corner of Oceanside.
The proposed community plan will examine ways the city can accommodate housing in South Morro Hills while preserving some of the agricultural activities and enabling continued farming. The plan would build upon efforts underway to promote agri-tourism in the region.
“This planning process ... will inevitably be different from prior long-range planning efforts,” said Cunningham, the city’s principal planner.
“With very little vacant land left for development, the city must explore ways to utilize land resources more efficiently, leverage and improve existing infrastructure, and ensure that new development contributes to enhanced public safety, environmental health, and visual quality,” Cunningham said.