Council to Weigh Housing Plan for Ormond Beach

The first in a series of projects proposed for Ormond Beach, one of the most coveted pieces of undeveloped property in the city, is scheduled to be considered by the Oxnard City Council today.

The Baldwin Co., an Orange County developer, has proposed building 480 units over a 35-acre area on the northeast edge of the beach.

The council is also to consider a proposal to build a marina on city-owned property at the ecologically sensitive beach.

Ormond Beach--home to hundreds of species of birds, fish and small animals, some of them endangered--has long been the object of dispute among developers, environmentalists and city officials.

The area houses a number of industries, which environmentalists say are destroying natural habitats. In addition to the possible industrial contamination, in recent years the wetlands have been littered with trash and scarred by all-terrain vehicles.

In the past, developers have proposed a number of projects to replace the industries--from a golf course to a racetrack to a futuristic theme park--only to be turned down by city planners.

Since then, Baldwin Co. has obtained control over a 1,000-acre area encompassing two-thirds of Ormond Beach.

Last year, the development company proposed using 400 acres to build a 4,000-unit housing complex, a shopping center and a school.

City officials agreed to consider the project, provided that it formed part of the development Master Plan for the area. Under the Master Plan, scheduled to be completed this month, Baldwin would restore and maintain 200 acres of wetlands in exchange for permission to build the housing project, said Steve Zimmer, a Baldwin Co. spokesman.

Village West, the project up for consideration today, is outside the city’s Master Plan boundaries. It would combine Spanish-Mediterranean-style condominiums and Craftsman-style townhouses, complete with attached garages, Zimmer said.

If tentative approval is granted today, the project would face an environmental review and then be submitted to the council for final consideration.

But opinions are divided on whether the Baldwin Co. should be allowed to begin building before the council approves the Master Plan for the area. “Because it is not part of the Specific Plan area . . . Village West is likely to become the first area of new construction in Ormond Beach,” Redevelopment Director Steve Kinney said.

However, City Councilman Michael Plisky said the development should be delayed until the Master Plan for the entire area is approved. “I don’t think we should allow piecemeal development,” he said. “This kind of development always leads to problems.”

The council is also to consider whether to build and operate the marina on the western edge of the beach. The Baldwin Co. dropped plans to build a 1,600-slip marina in July because of community opposition.

The new marina would be half the size of what Baldwin originally proposed and would generate less opposition, city officials said.

But a spokesman for the Sierra Club said any marina would be unacceptable.

“We believe the wetlands should be preserved,” said Scott Weiss of the Sierra Club. “There are hardly any wetlands left in all of California and if a marina were built, it would threaten a number of rare and endangered species.”