OXNARD : Council to Review Development Plan

A long-delayed developer’s plan to build 3,500 residences on 1,300 acres near Ormond Beach will be reviewed Tuesday by the Oxnard City Council.

The study session will allow three new members of the council, meeting as the Oxnard Redevelopment Agency, to review the history of the project that was first proposed in 1987 by the Orange County-based Baldwin Co.

Baldwin initially had proposed building 10,000 homes, office buildings, a 1,600-slip marina and a golf course on 2,700 acres, but the project has since been scaled back.

Planning for the massive project was delayed when Baldwin stopped making payments last year to the city for an environmental review and for an option to buy 214 acres.

Last month, the company worked out a new schedule of payments that will allow the preparation of a draft environmental study.

Under terms of the new agreement, Baldwin has agreed to pay $228,000 to the city immediately and the remaining $780,000 by the end of 1995.

After the project was proposed, local environmentalists formed a watchdog group called the Ormond Beach Observers to monitor the condition of the area’s fragile wetlands.

The study session will be held in the Oxnard City Hall after 1:30 p.m.