Farm-Worker Housing OKd in San Marcos : Real Estate: Residents voice angry protests during four-hour council session before the $4.2-million, low-income apartment complex is approved.

After a four-hour hearing, the San Marcos City Council voted to approve a $4.2-million housing project for low-income agricultural workers--the first such project in San Diego County to win approval.

In the past year, an Oceanside grower’s plans to provide trailers for his workers was denied and a proposal to buy an Encinitas motel to house migrant workers was rejected by the Encinitas City Council.

Of the 160 or so people in the audience Tuesday night, the clear majority--more than 100--was made up of Latino farm workers with their wives and children.

But, by 11 p.m., after hours of impassioned testimony, the crowd had thinned to about 40 as the council voted, 4 to 1, to overturn a city Planning Commission denial of the 38-unit apartment complex proposed by the county.

The housing project will be built in a deteriorating neighborhood of apartments and older homes in the center of San Marcos a few blocks from City Hall. County housing officials said it will be at least 1 1/2 years before the project will be ready to accept tenants.

Many of the Latino farm workers in the audience remained impassive while Anglo residents voiced fierce opposition to the project. They complained that the influx of more low-income Latino residents into the neighborhood would cause property values to plummet and crime rates to rise.

The low-rent housing “would act like a magnet,” drawing “hordes of future immigrants to the city seeking housing,” one resident said. Others protested that the low-rent units would turn the area into a ghetto, full of junked cars and gang graffiti.

Opponents described the area where the public housing project will be built as “the armpit of San Marcos” and as “a graffiti-ridden barrio with drugs and gangs,” which gets little attention from city officials or law-enforcement officers.

“It’s bad enough that they use my taxes for something like this, but now they are taking my property away from me,” said Bob Preston, who lives near the project site. “I’m going to fight this.”

Preston and his wife, Kelly, along with their two children, live in a townhouse they purchased four years ago for $85,000. They now fear it will drop in value by at least $15,000 with the advent of low-income farm-workers’ housing nearby.

“I moved out of Southeast San Diego six years ago to get out of the ghetto, and now they are bringing the ghetto here to me,” Preston said.

A few of the farm workers who testified through interpreters told of the economic hardships they face in trying to earn enough to house, feed and clothe themselves and their families on wages that average $4.25 an hour.

Rents in the farm-worker housing complex would range from $361 to $681 monthly. A family of eight with a yearly income of less than $27,250 would qualify for a five-bedroom unit and would pay the maximum monthly rental of $681. A couple with an income of less than $16,500 would pay a monthly rent of $413 for a smaller apartment.

Firebird Manor, as the farm-worker housing will be called, will contain 30 three-bedroom, six four-bedroom and two five-bedroom units designed to house about 200 persons whose chief source of income is from agriculture. The site was selected by county officials from among 50 countywide because of its price and the availability of urban services, such as transportation and schools, required by federal regulations.

The 7.9-acre site will be screened from neighbors by 6-foot-high walls and extensive landscaping, according to Gabriel Rodriguez, director of the county’s affordable housing programs. The project also will have an on-site laundry room, a community center, three tot lots, a half-court basketball court and a full-time resident manager, he said.

Rodriguez said an estimated 1,500 farm workers live in the San Marcos area.

Under a proposed city-county agreement, the city will commit $500,000 from its redevelopment agency funds; the county has contributed $160,000; the state Department of Housing and Community Development contributes $400,000, and the rest of the funds will come from a $2.9-million federal low-interest loan.

Residency in the project would be limited to legal U.S. residents earning at least half the family income from agricultural pursuits, and any applicant with a criminal history would be rejected.

Several property owners said they had invested in rental units in anticipation of the area becoming a student housing complex for the new university to the south--Cal State San Marcos--and for Palomar Community College to the west.

Mike Horwath, president of the San Diego Farm Bureau, chastised the project’s opponents for their attitudes toward farm workers, pointing out that agriculture is the fourth-largest source of revenue in the county “and the time for NIMBYs (Not In My Back Yard) is past.”

One neighbor who was opposed to the project suggested that, if it were approved, a neighborhood council should be set up to monitor the situation and attempt to improve the neighborhood image.

Despite the angry overtones, Anglos and Latinos sat together politely throughout the meeting, prompting Mayor Lee Thibadeau to compliment the speakers and audience on their demeanor. He also pledged that the “city will no longer ignore the problems in this neighborhood.”

Councilman F.H. (Corky) Smith, the only vote against the housing project, gave no reason for his opposition but in earlier comments said that he felt the housing funds should go to other segments of the community in need of affordable housing such as the young, who cannot afford to buy a home, and the elderly.

City Manager Paul Malone said the misconception that the project would be occupied by migrant workers--those who worked in the area a few months, then moved northward as other crops were ready for harvest--caused most of the concerns among residents. Tenants in the project would be year-round residents and agricultural workers, he said.

A county-hired management firm will be required to provide security and management personnel for the complex. Income from the rentals will cover the cost of operation, maintenance and repayment of low-interest construction loans, county housing authorities said.

San Marcos has failed to meet its required quota of affordable housing--15% of all new units--and has been sued by the North County Legal Aid Society for its failure to meet the low-income housing guidelines. The farm-worker housing complex will qualify as part of the city’s quota of affordable housing, according to Malone.

Despite the approval, some opponents said they will not accept the farm-worker housing.

Preston said he is investigating legal action against the city, the possibility of a referendum to rescind the council’s action and a recall action against the four council members who voted for the project.

And, as the four-hour session drew to an end and it became clear from council members’ statements that the project would be approved, a disgruntled young man stalked noisily from the meeting room, calling to the mayor: “See you in court, Lee.”