Oceanside Metes Out 1,100 Building Permits Under Strict New Law

After two days of tense scrutiny, an edgy Oceanside City Council allotted nearly 1,100 permits for new housing Friday in the first test of the city’s new slow-growth law.

As a flock of developers looked on, the council picked and chose from a list of 41 applicants who wanted to build a total of more than 4,750 housing units in the city.

The selection process was mandated under Proposition A, the landmark slow-growth law approved by Oceanside voters in April. The ballot measure was unanimously opposed by the current council, a political reality that made the selection process all the more tedious for them.

‘A Public Hanging’

“I guess it was like being in a public hanging and being one of the people hung,” Councilman Walter Gilbert said. “When you take a whole room full of businessmen, and squeeze them down to the last drop of blood, no one can be happy about it. I felt these were people we were doing that to, not because we wanted to be doing it, but because we had to be doing it.”

Each development was judged on various criteria, such as the roads, parks and other public facilities that would be provided, and the design of the project.

The biggest recipient was the developer of Ivey Ranch, a multiphase project planned on the southern edge of the San Luis Rey Valley. The project’s developer got approval for 234 units, although he had requested more than 800.

Next in line came the Riverview Villas project, also in the valley, which received permission to build 100 of the 360 units the project’s developers wanted.

Others got far less. Some developers were cut back so extensively that they told the council they would apply at another time, reasoning that it would not make good financial sense to try to build such a limited number of dwellings.

In the final tally, the council voted unanimously to issue 1,096 permits this year.

New Year’s Total Affected

Although Proposition A calls for 1,000 dwelling units to be built in 1987 and 800 in each subsequent year through 1999, the measure includes a provision that the council can issue an extra 10% as long as the additional units are subtracted from the following year’s total.

With the prospect of issuing only 704 permits next year, Gilbert said the council has “really only put off the inevitable.” Indeed, many council members would simply like to see the new voter-approved law disappear.

“I would,” Gilbert said. “But it isn’t a case of what I’d like. It’s a case of what I have to do.”

The council may not have to wait long to see if the new slow-growth law will remain in effect. A lawsuit filed by the Building Industry Assn. of San Diego challenging the constitutionality of Proposition A is slated to go to court next month.

In addition, nearly a dozen other lawsuits and claims have been filed against the city by developers who feel their property rights have been usurped by the slow-growth law. City Atty. Charles Revlett estimates that the lawsuits and claims are seeking a total about $250 million in damages.

More Lawsuits?

Gilbert and other city officials say the city probably will be hit by another rash of lawsuits from developers angered that their projects were not selected.

“I’ve been through a lot in public life, and I’ve never had anything like these past few days,” Gilbert said. “Both yesterday and today, I came home like someone had been whipped. It’s not something you can take lightly.”

Despite all the gloomy talk, 1987 has been something of a banner year for growth in Oceanside. Before the April election, developers stormed City Hall to take out permits for more than 3,000 homes.

Because of that land rush, supporters of Proposition A have argued that the council should have held off issuing any more permits this year. As the slow-growth advocates saw it, the city had already gone well beyond the 1,000 permits that were supposed to be allowed under the law during 1987, and, as a result, the council should have waited until next year before approving any more.

Council members, however, countered that the slow-growth law did not come into affect until April, and that none of the units approved before the election fell under the measure.