Disputes Stall Oceanside Redevelopment : Development: Coastal Commission delays lifting ban on building until battle over whether businesses will be allowed on rebuilt beachfront is resolved.

Disagreement over how to develop a blighted Oceanside beachfront area kept the California Coastal Commission from acting Tuesday on a proposal to end a decade-old building ban along the South Strand.

Roughly six city blocks, the enclave of funky ‘40s and ‘50s beach rentals and small houses has been literally suspended in time because beach erosion has caused the government to prohibit shoreline development.

Now that technology is solving the erosion problem, city officials and property owners at the South Strand want the area to evolve into a coastal showcase of upscale condos and other dwellings.

But the commission’s staff also wants some tourist-oriented commercial development along the South Strand to guarantee that the area remain inviting to the public rather than becoming an exclusive domain of private ownership.

Deep division over whether to require such businesses along the beach made it impossible for the commission, meeting in San Diego, to decide to lift the building ban immediately.

“If we allow this area to develop as a wholly residential area . . . eventually visitors will be less and less welcome to the coast,” Commissioner Madelyn Glickfeld said.

“Both sides need to move a little bit,” she added, and, by a 7-2 vote, the commission decided to wait for the parties to settle the dispute before lifting the development moratorium.

That wasn’t exactly what the 35 city officials, South Strand property owners and investors in the 6.3-acre coastal strip wanted to hear. For them, time is fleeting and something needs to be done soon to upgrade the area.

“It’s heartbreaking to see this beautiful area running down, deteriorating before our very eyes,” City Councilwoman Nancy York said. The ban “has made it impossible for the property owners to do anything with their property.”

The South Strand contains 51 parcels and is west of Pacific Street, north of Wisconsin Street and south of Tyson Street. It is also immediately south of the city pier.

Bill Ponder, a commission staff analyst, said a third of the South Strand should be commercially developed for visitors, noting in a report that “it is the only location in North County where the recreating public has such immediate physical and visual access to the beachfront.”

One Oceanside resident agreed with Ponder and urged the commission to require commercial development as a condition of ending the growth ban.

Anna Ferris argued that posh condo development along the North Strand virtually closed public access to the beach. “Please don’t make the same mistake again. . . . Commercial development along the South Strand would almost guarantee access,” she said.

But a majority of speakers held that coastal commercial uses such as convenience stores, specialty shops and food stands would be unattractive and sap economic vitality from the nearby downtown.

South Strand resident Rich McCormick said of the commercial development requirement, “this sort of looks like Seven-Elevens and AM-PMs. This is what most visitors come to Oceanside beaches to get away from.”

City officials maintained that limited street access and a height limitation below the coastal bluffs would make it virtually impossible for businesses to thrive.

Further, they said businesses along the South Strand would detract from a planned $325-million, 10-block Pier Plaza project a few blocks away. The project involves shops, restaurants, offices, a hotel and condos.

However, commission staff member Ponder countered that the Pier Plaza “remains highly speculative” and in planning stages, providing no assurance that there will be visitor-serving commercial uses near the South Strand.

Despite the disagreement over the development mix, both the commission staff and city officials agree that the beach erosion problem appears to be solved by a sand bypass in which sand is scooped up at Oceanside Marina and distributed along the coast by a pipeline.