Planners Move Toward OK of 77-Acre Plan

The Oxnard Planning Commission voted unanimously Thursday night to rezone a large vacant lot at the corner of Gonzales Road and Oxnard Boulevard, a vital step toward approval of a controversial 77-acre residential and office development.

The zone change approved by the commission would allow for a mixture of houses, condominiums and office buildings on 80 acres of vacant land near the La Colonia neighborhood. The project is expected to be considered for final approval by the City Council next month.

If it meets final approval, the project would include 246 single-family houses, 154 condominiums and a 4 1/2-acre office complex. Under the proposal approved by the Planning Commission, 58 acres would be zoned for single-family planned development, 14 acres for multifamily planned development and five acres for commercial offices.

The vacant land is now zoned mostly for single-family residential and multi-residential planned development.

After the vote, Commissioner Selma Dressler criticized the City Council for limiting the density of the project before the commission had a chance to make its recommendations. In May, the council approved an amendment to the city’s General Plan that reduced the number of single-family units by 54.

“The commission was not given many options,” Dressler said. “I hope in the future the council would refer all conditions to the commission first.”

Although no residents criticized the project at Thursday’s meeting, in the past residents’ concerns over density and traffic have brought significant changes to the project, which was initially proposed more than four years ago.

At one point the developer, Warmington Homes of Agoura Hills, proposed including a 51,275-square-foot retail center on the site. But in the face of protests from residents, the developer offered to substitute the retail center for the office building plan.

City officials said the change would reduce the number of traffic trips to about 6,000 a day from about 8,000.

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

The project sparked much controversy in May when Councilwoman Ann Johs accused a representative of Warmington Homes of offering her a bribe during an informal meeting on April 2.

In that meeting, Johs said a Warmington Homes representative asked her to approve the project and in exchange Warmington Homes would ask its public relations firm to help pass Measure C, a proposed 5% utility tax increase designed to solve the city’s financial crisis.

The measure was rejected by the voters in the June 5 election. Representatives of Warmington Homes denied the allegation, saying the tax measure was never brought up at the meeting.

Councilwoman Geraldine (Gerry) Furr, who was also at the meeting with Johs, said she does not remember hearing the measure discussed.