OXNARD : Council OKs Office, Residential Project

Ending more than four years of planning and deliberation, the Oxnard City Council gave a green light Tuesday to a 77-acre residential and office development at Gonzales Road and Oxnard Boulevard.

The council voted 3 to 1 to approve a permit and zone change application by Warmington Homes of Agoura Hills, allowing a mixture of houses, condominiums and an office building on 80 acres of vacant land near La Colonia.

Councilwoman Ann Johs voted against the application, saying she opposes the office building because of the traffic it would generate. Council members Dorothy Maron, Manuel Lopez and Mayor Nao Takasugi voted for the project.

Before the project can be built, Warmington is required to receive council approval of a final tract map, a step that city staff members consider routine.

The project will include 246 single-family houses, 154 condominiums and a 4 1/2-acre area for an office complex. Under the zone change approved by the council, 58 acres can be used for single-family planned development, 14 acres for multifamily planned development and five acres for offices.

The land had been zoned mostly for single-family residential and multi-residential planned development.

Numerous complaints from residents about density and traffic generated by the project has forced Warmington to delay and alter the project several times.

However, Scott Weiss, founder of Citizens to Protect Oxnard, a grass-roots, slow-growth organization, said he has collected about 100 signatures from neighbors opposed to the project. Weiss, a candidate for City Council in the November election, said he opposes the project because it will add too much traffic.

The project also sparked controversy in May when Johs accused a Warmington representative of offering her a bribe during an informal meeting April 2, an allegation that the developer has denied.