RESIDENTS UPSET OVER PROPOSED ‘MEGA WAREHOUSE’ IN OCEANSIDE

Residents are gearing up their opposition to what they call a “mega warehouse” proposed near Oceanside’s municipal airport.

Known as the Eddie Jones warehouse because it would be built on Eddie Jones Way, the project is expected to go to the Oceanside Planning Commission later this year. If approved, construction could begin in early 2024.

The proposed building would have a 526,000square-foot warehouse and 40,000 square feet of offices, with 113 loading docks and truck terminals on two sides. The only access to the 31.79acre site is from Benet Road or Foussat Road, which also are the only roads in or out for people living in about 1,200 nearby homes north of the San Luis Rey River and state Route 76.

“Our major concern is the traffic impacts,” said resident Kim Stone at a recent Oceanside City Council meeting. The warehouse was not on the council’s agenda, but a crowd of residents, wearing blue shirts to show solidarity, showed up to speak against the project during the meeting’s public comments session.

Opponents also had collected more than 1,000 signatures as of Friday on an online petition at change.org.

“The placement of a huge industrial warehouse with constant 18-wheeler diesel truck traffic will greatly increase noise pollution and air pollution to those of us downwind,” said John Alden in comments on the petition. “This property should be allocated to residential, office or consumer-oriented retail” uses.

Most of the warehouse opponents live north of the airport and the San Luis Rey River, near the border of Camp Pendleton. The warehouse site is separated from the homes by the river, its levees and a bike trail that follows the river.

The industrial site was in use long before the residential neighborhood was built in the early 2000s.

From 1962 to 1966, the property was owned by Swan Electronics, a company that made amateur radio transceivers. In 1966, the site was sold to the Deutsch Company, which made electronic products for the aerospace and defense industry. Then in 2012 Deutsch sold it to TE Connectivity, another electronics company, which closed and left the building vacant in 2018.

In 2021, TE Connectivity sold the property to the current owner, RPG Development.

“The former dilapidated warehouse that was on site had issues with vandalism and homeless encampments after TE closed,” said Arlene Tendick, a spokesperson for the developer, in an email Tuesday.

“It was recently demolished, and soil remediation for contamination caused by the former use is planned,” she said. “RPG has also worked closely with the police and fire departments to secure the site and keep people off the property.”

So far, no tenant has been signed for the proposed warehouse, Tendick said. The building is designed to accommodate up to four tenants, or it could be leased entirely by a single company. The layout of the proposed facility is 65 percent warehouse, 28 percent manufacturing and 7 percent offices.

“The design is intended to afford maximum flexibility for future tenants and to meet market demands within the city and North County in general,” Tendick said.

Ninety-nine percent of all industrial space in Oceanside was occupied at the end of 2022, she said, so there’s a clear need for the building.

A draft environmental impact report on the project is being prepared and is expected to be released for public review in the spring, when the company will schedule additional meetings with residents. A previous community meeting was held Aug. 3, 2022.

Company officials have heard the residents’ concerns about traffic safety and are working to address them, Tendick said.

“The team is exploring opportunities to provide a dedicated right-turn lane into the project site,” she said, and a traffic study has been completed for the environmental report.

“This study includes cumulative impacts analysis of several other projects that are coming on board in the area,” she said. “The Eddie Jones Manufacturing and Distribution Center will contribute to future intersection improvements at Benet Road.”

At least two large residential developments are planned nearby that would add to traffic in the northeast Oceanside area.

One is the Ocean Kamp project proposed along Route 76 just east of Foussat Road, with up to 700 homes, a 300-room hotel and other activities around an artificial surf lagoon. The other is North River Farms, with almost 400 homes to be built in South Morro Hills about five miles to the east, which also would add traffic to Route 76.

The Planning Commission’s approval would be final unless the opponents appeal the decision to the Oceanside City Council.

It’s not the first time Oceanside residents have opposed a large warehousetype project.

The Planning Commission approved a 143,000square-foot Amazon distribution center in 2021 that was to be built in the Ocean Ranch Corporate Center on Ocean Ranch Boulevard. It would have employed about 500 people, mostly as drivers.

Nearby residents opposed to the traffic, noise and lights of Amazon’s 24hour operations appealed the decision to the City Council, which voted unanimously to overturn the project’s approval.