Coastal Commission Delays Mandalay Bay Project : Oxnard: The 156-house Harbor Pointe subdivision provokes fears of too many boats and damaging tidal flows.

Construction of a 156-house waterfront subdivision at Mandalay Bay in Oxnard has been put on hold until at least near the end of the year.

Ventura County officials asked the California Coastal Commission last week to delay construction on the project, which had been approved by Oxnard in June, fearing that the new subdivision could put too many boats in the harbor and create damaging tidal flows.

Responding to those concerns, the commission undertook a review of the Mandalay Bay project that revealed gaps in the approvals process for the subdivision. Saying it was premature to consider the environmental questions, the coastal panel ordered Oxnard staff members to petition to amend the planning document guiding waterfront development in the city. Current Coastal Commission guidelines do not allow for projects such as the Mandalay Bay subdivision.

“We felt like the city was putting the cart before the horse,” said Coastal Commission planner Virginia Johnson. “They amended the Specific Plan to accommodate the development, but they didn’t run it by the commission.”

The amendment process will delay the project at least 60 to 90 days, said Oxnard Planning Director Richard Maggio.

When the proposed amendment is completed, the Coastal Commission will decide whether to approve it and whether the housing project should be allowed.

“The council’s approval will remain in abeyance until those issues can be resolved,” Maggio said.

The Oxnard City Council in June approved the Harbor Pointe project to replace an earlier proposal to build four 10-story condominium buildings near Mandalay Bay.

The subdivision, a joint venture involving Shamrock Holdings of Burbank and Voss Construction Co. of Oxnard, is planned for 58 acres along newly dug canals leading to Channel Islands Harbor. The plan includes a waterfront park, a bicycle and hiking path and open land for future commercial and recreational use.

Voss Construction recently completed a 129-unit condominium project on 23 acres at the end of Hemlock Street, where it joins the Edison Co. canal. The $45-million development created new waterways and dozens of new boat slips.

Because the developer scaled back the second phase, Oxnard officials said they readily endorsed the project.

But harbor officials worried that cutting new water channels would influence tidal flows that could damage the harbor’s docks and wharves. Even worse, they feared that the new development would create traffic jams in the county boatyard.

The Mandalay Bay subdivision project would introduce at least 795 new boats into a harbor that already has 3,000 vessels now on the water or in dry storage, harbor officials said.

County officials protested approval of the project and asked for construction to be delayed until completion of a study to see how the harbor would be affected.