Oceanside to Challenge Plans to Build Farm Labor Camp

Bowing to the pleas of residents angered by a proposed farm labor camp near their homes, the Oceanside City Council agreed Wednesday to challenge plans for the 352-bed complex in unincorporated territory on the city’s eastern flank.

The council voted unanimously to dispatch a letter to county officials asking that an upcoming hearing on the proposal by Singh Farms be delayed because of questions about environmental reviews of the project.

County planners deemed the project to have an insignificant effect on the environment, but Oceanside residents near the 49-acre parcel in the unincorporated community of Bonsall contend that the labor camp would have a dramatic impact on their rustic neighborhood.

Officials with Singh, which farms about 700 acres in the county, contend the camp is needed as a fringe benefit to keep long-time employees who have qualified under the new federal amnesty program from leaving farming for restaurant or construction work.

The plan, one of the most extensive farm-labor housing proposals in the state in recent years, has received hearty support from other county growers, but officials with the United Farm Workers and other advocacy groups have complained that such labor camps can lead to exploitation of migrant workers.

Nearby residents, meanwhile, say the camp would cause numerous neighborhood headaches, among them increased foot and car traffic as well as parking problems. Some even suggested the camp could create a more favorable climate for crime in the area.

Heeding those complaints, Oceanside council members said they would like to see the potential effects of the camp more thoroughly studied before the county gives its stamp of approval. The matter is set to go before the county zoning administrator April 13 for a final decision.

Council members questioned why the county granted the project a so-called negative declaration, a proclamation that the camp would not profoundly disturb the surrounding environment. In addition, they suggested that the labor camp, which was subjected to a minor-use review by county planners, should have come under more procedural scrutiny.

“Why should we jump off the deep end before we have all the particulars?” asked Councilwoman Lucy Chavez, who brought the issue before her colleagues. “This is just the first of many others.”

Mayor Uncomfortable

Mayor Larry Bagley said he was “uncomfortable putting ourselves in the middle of the county process,” but argued that such steps were necessary because the Singh project would be “out of scale with the neighborhood” surrounding it.

If the city staff had reached the same conclusion as county planners did on a project with the scope of the camp, “I think we would have run them out of town,” Bagley declared.

The Singh company is proposing construction of a pair of two-story residential buildings, each with 44 sleeping rooms outfitted with eight bunks. Other rooms would be used for dining, laundry, storage and bathrooms. The site will be surrounded by a six-foot chain-link fence and be subject to 24-hour security. An operations and maintenance staff also would be employed, Singh officials say.

George Williamson, a planning consultant for Singh Farms, noted that the $1.5-million proposal had been unanimously approved by the Bonsall planning group. The company wants to have “these documented workers coming back” so the firm “can continue the tradition of family farming” that has been its mainstay for decades, he said.

But residents in the Oceanside neighborhood adjacent to the camp site complained that the project would only cause problems. Although these residents insisted that farm laborers should not have to hunker down, as many now do, in the fields and arroyos of North County, they argued that a sprawling labor camp in a bucolic neighborhood is an unacceptable alternative.

Dennis Martinek, an area resident, said studies have shown that large-scale farm worker camps often breed an environment in which the employees are more vulnerable to criminals and employer abuse.

“This project is much too large,” Martinek said. “It has the potential to create problems both for the farm workers and the citizens of Oceanside.”

Dorothy Frederiksen, who presented the council with a petition bearing 100 names of residents opposed to the camp, said she believed the facility would only prompt more assaults and burglaries in the neighborhood.

Another resident, Wendell VanAtta, argued that the proposal would establish “a very, very dangerous and outrageous precedent,” opening the door for farm labor camps to spring up in other rural sections of the county without proper scrutiny.

“They wanted to slip it through before it came to the attention of the general public,” VanAtta complained.

Residents turned to the Oceanside council for help largely to put political pressure on county officials who are reviewing the project. But the North County’s representative on the Board of Supervisors, John MacDonald, is “generally supportive” of the Singh proposal, according to Ted Marioncelli, a staff assistant to the supervisor.

Court Issue Raised

“We think it may not be the best answer in the world, but at least it’s a step in the right direction,” Marioncelli said.