Judge Upholds Oceanside’s Growth Limits : Law: Developers lose a four-year legal battle to overturn the voter-approved initiative that set a maximum of 800 new units a year.

After a four-year legal wrangle, a Superior Court judge Tuesday upheld Oceanside’s slow-growth initiative, ruling it a reasonable safeguard of the residents’ “health, safety and welfare.”

In a 39-page decision, Judge Herbert B. Hoffman ruled that “real and substantial problems” affect the city’s ability to protect the public at large from the excesses of overdevelopment and that Proposition A is a lawful effort to provide such protection.

“I couldn’t be happier,” said Deputy Mayor Melba Bishop, who co-authored the ordinance that voters approved in April of 1987. “I debated everybody under the sun to get the thing passed, and now it feels like watching your kid graduate from college. I’m elated.”

Mayor Larry Bagley, who opposed the proposition, said he was happy the city had been vindicated in a court action that cost taxpayers more than $2 million in legal fees.

But, in Bagley’s view, nothing can stem the tide of people moving to Oceanside and the ruling will have no impact.

“None,” he said. “It was a monstrous waste of time and money. It cost at least $2 million just for court fees and will hit the taxpayers of Oceanside for another $1.5 million just to keep it going. What effect will it have? None. Not a bit. It was a total waste.”

The ordinance, now in effect for more than three years, limits residential construction to 800 units a year. The city is allowed by the proposition to increase or decrease the annual allotment by 10% during any year to correct an imbalance from the previous year.

In August of last year, in what constituted a preliminary victory for developers, Hoffman ruled that Proposition A failed to guarantee that the city could provide a suitable amount of low-income housing.

In that first phase of litigation, brought by the Building Industry Assn. of San Diego and developer Del Oro Hills, Huffman said Proposition A “has resulted in an increase in larger-size and higher-priced homes not affordable by low-income families.”

But, in Tuesday’s ruling, in what constitutes the trial phase of the two-part action, Hoffman said that, in the long run, the benefits of Proposition A far outweigh any impact on low-income housing.

The judge termed the city’s growth rate “unhealthy” and said the plaintiffs’ attack on Proposition A had been “mostly speculative and without merit.”

Jennifer Treese Wilson, the attorney for the Building Industry Assn. of San Diego, said late Tuesday that she had not had time to review the decision but that the plaintiffs probably will appeal.

“I think an appellate ruling would be beneficial in giving us some guidance in this area,” Wilson said. “We’ll look at it carefully and make our determination later in the week.”

Soon after Proposition A passed, 10 developers sued. Nine eventually dropped their suits, leaving the association and Del Oro Hills to join forces. Another developer, Cromwell Ranch, also was suing the city but has agreed to abide by Hoffman’s decision.

Dan Hentschke, the interim city attorney for the city of Oceanside, applauded the judge’s decision, calling it “a clear signal that growth controls can be implemented in Southern California.”

Hentschke said the judge’s ruling in the first phase would now have no bearing, “since this was the real phase--the actual trial--and that has bearing on everyone. That’s the decision.”

Deputy Mayor Bishop, who championed the slow-growth crusade, said the accusation that Oceanside had failed to provide low-income housing was a tactic “drummed up” by developers.

“Right now, the city is trying to come up with inclusionary policies, vis-a-vis low-income housing, and these same developers are crying the blues because they don’t want to build them,” Bishop said. “They were phonies from the get-go.

“Look, growth has hurt us terribly, so this was more than a moral victory. Our traffic problems are horrendous. Our schools are overcrowded. Our water and sewer systems are stressed as much as they possibly can be. Every aspect of what all of us came to Oceanside for has changed.

“We should develop in an orderly manner and slowly, so that new residents can enjoy the qualify of life that we’ve come to expect. This ordinance is all that makes it possible.”

Times staff writer Tom Gorman contributed to this report.