OCEANSIDE MOVES TO LIMIT DOWNTOWN HOME BUILDING
Oceanside has proposed a new cap on the number of homes per acre in the combined residential and commercial developments blossoming in downtown neighborhoods.
City staffers are suggesting a maximum of 100 dwellings per acre, a response to the Oceanside City Council’s concerns about recent state density bonus laws that encourage the construction of affordable housing.
“This is great,” said Rick Wright, a member of the city’s Downtown Advisory Committee, during a presentation on the issue Wednesday. “In the city’s defense, we couldn’t have seen all these things that came down to promote affordable housing from the state.”
Zoning laws and the city’s coastal development program control the number of homes being built. However, the city’s guidelines can be exceeded by developers who meet the state density bonus laws.
The committee voted unanimously
Wednesday to recommend approval of the 100-unit maximum when the proposal goes to the City Council, acting as the Community Development Commission, later this year.
Only Oceanside’s downtown district would be affected by the cap. The district extends from the city’s harbor south to about Wisconsin Avenue. In blocks south of Seagaze Drive, the district only goes a few blocks east from the beach to Cleveland Street, just past the railroad tracks. North of Seagaze it goes as far east as Horne Street, almost to Interstate 5.
The area was once considered Oceanside’s redevelopment district. The state dissolved redevelopment districts in 2012 because of legal problems with the tax increment funding used to finance redevelopment projects.
Oceanside’s City Council asked Planning Division staffers to prepare the density cap proposal in 2021 after the council approved an eight-story development with 115 apartments, each about 300 square feet, and 64 hotel rooms in the 600 block of Seagaze Drive.
The “realized density” on the Seagaze Drive project was 321.4 dwelling units per acre, according to a city staff report.
City officials said the project could not be denied because it included affordable housing — 12 apartments reserved for lowincome occupants — which qualified the project for the state’s density bonus law. Oceanside requires all new residential development to include at least 10 percent affordable housing.
People living in the neighborhoods near the Seagaze site widely opposed the project, saying it was too crowded, too tall and had insufficient parking. Oceanside has approved a number of other mixed-use projects despite similar objections, with council members saying their hands are tied by state law.
By adopting the 100-unit cap, the city can limit the additional units granted to developers under state law to “a new target range of 150 to 200 units per acre,” said Principal Planner Manny Baeza.
The proposed cap would regulate development and be in scale with other downtown development, Baeza said.
Oceanside’s zoning laws set a target of 5,500 residential units for its downtown district, which has about 2,300 units, he said.
The city previously had a density cap of 43 units per acre. The City Council removed that cap in 2019 with the understanding that regulations such as setbacks, building heights and parking requirements would sufficiently limit development.
However, the new state density bonus laws grant exceptions to many of those regulations for developers that include affordable housing in their projects.
Staffers proposed a 75-unit cap in June 2022. That idea was dropped after discussions with the Building Industry Association. The city agreed with the BIA that the limit would be too low and would discourage residential development.
State law also allows higher densities for developers who build affordable housing near public transit centers such as bus stops and train stations, an idea know as transit-oriented development.