Builder Faces New Delay in Oxnard Development

A developer who has waited more than four years for the Oxnard City Council to decide whether to approve a 77-acre development on the northeast corner of Oxnard Boulevard and Gonzales Road will just have to wait a little longer.

After three hours of debate, the City Council voted 3 to 2 late Tuesday to amend the General Plan and approve the Warmington Homes project, which would include 132 single-family houses, 154 condominiums and a 4 1/2-acre office complex.

However, the council then referred the proposal to the Planning Commission for further review and for approval of a zone change and a special use permit. The move will delay a final decision by the council on the project until late summer, city officials said.

Mayor Nao Takasugi and council members Dorothy Maron and Manuel Lopez supported the project, while council members Ann Johs and Geraldine (Gerry) Furr opposed it.

Johs and Furr said they voted against the project because they believe that the office complex would create too much traffic for the neighborhood. Johs also said she opposed the project because she believes that Oxnard should first adopt its new General Plan, which it is scheduled to do next month.

Last month, the council was prepared to make a final decision on the project. But after residents near the site objected to a 51,275-square-foot retail center, the developer asked the council to delay a decision to consider two alternatives.

Hardy Strozier, a consultant for Warmington Homes of Agoura Hills, asked the council to consider substituting a 4 1/2-acre office building complex or 54 additional condominium units.

On Tuesday, the council supported replacing the retail center with an office complex. However, because the project has been substantially altered, it requires further review by the Planning Commission.

Although representatives of the developer have been discussing the project with neighbors for 4 1/2 years, it continued Tuesday to be harshly criticized by residents.

“We do not need another housing project in Oxnard at this time,” said Scott Weiss, chairman of Citizens to Protect Oxnard, a grass-roots, slow-growth organization. “Despite what you have been told about supply and demand, this proposal will not make housing in Oxnard affordable.”

Elenor Branthoover, chairwoman of the Rio Lindo Neighborhood Council, which has criticized the project, asked the council to delay a decision until the city resolves allegations that planning officials gave it preferential treatment. The allegations, which were raised in a local newspaper, have tainted the project, she said.

The council Tuesday did not address the allegations.

In an interview Wednesday, City Manager David Mora dismissed the allegations, noting that the project has been “in the hopper for 4 1/2 years.”

However, he said he sent a memo to Community Development Director Richard Maggio last year asking that the project not be delayed. Mora said he did so because the project had been delayed for years and he was worried that waiting for approval of the new General Plan would delay it further.

Last month, the project’s retail center was criticized by members of the Rio Lindo Neighborhood Council. Members of the group said they feared that it would increase traffic congestion.

Strozier said that by replacing the retail center with offices, the number of traffic trips to and from the site would drop to about 6,000 a day from about 8,000. The number of trips would drop to about 4,000 a day if the retail center is replaced with residential units, he said.

In response to the group’s concerns, the developer has agreed to ban gas stations, fast-food restaurants, convenience stores, video arcades and liquor stores from the site.