Industrial Firms Fear Homes Could Evict Them : Ormond Beach: Oxnard officials must specify allowable land uses before letting anyone build near the sensitive area.

Plans to develop 1,200 acres in the Ormond Beach area of south Oxnard have nearby industrial firms afraid that they eventually will be forced out by new homeowners.

As the City Council listened Tuesday to a consultant’s view of what such development would offer the city, representatives of several nearby industries complained that new residents would sooner or later pressure them to leave.

“We are a big, rough, dirty industry,” said Dave Gable, the general manager of Halaco Engineering, which recycles aluminum cans at its Perkins Road facility.

“There’s going to be a lot of politics going on to get us out of there” if homes are allowed, Gable told the council. “We’re concerned that we’re going to be shoved out of business.”

Gable was not alone.

Bud Bierhaus, service manager for the Halliburton Energy Systems plant just up the street from Halaco, complained that city staff never consulted them about a separate plan to build more than 470 townhouses on 34 acres at Perkins and Hueneme roads.

That development plan, dubbed the Village West project, is not part of the 1,200-acre Ormond Beach area. But Bierhaus said developing either area raises problems.

“Anytime you mix industry with a family and people living in a house, you’re going to have problems,” Bierhaus said. “To have houses a stone’s throw (from Halliburton) is an inappropriate land use application.”

The council met Tuesday for the second time in as many months to consider what to do with the sensitive Ormond Beach area, which is home to migrating least terns and other endangered species.

Before any development is allowed in the privately owned Ormond Beach area, the city must adopt a Specific Plan detailing allowable land uses.

In September, the council toyed with such development alternatives as a beachfront resort hotel, a 27-hole golf course, a Disneyland-style theme park, a 600-slip marina or other possible projects.

None of those alternatives have been eliminated, but council members rattled off a series of goals that any development at Ormond Beach ideally would achieve, including generating revenue for the city, relocating the Halaco plant and protecting wetlands.

Council members on Tuesday told consultants to go ahead with an environmental assessment, which would be required before any project could begin. But two council members also said the Ormond Beach area may not be the best place to build more homes.

“There is not today an overwhelming demand for more housing,” in Oxnard, Councilman Michael Plisky said. “If we’re going to open up Ormond Beach to development, there’s got to be some specific benefit to Oxnard, not just another 5,000 new homes.”

Councilman Tom Holden also questioned allowing thousands of homes at Ormond Beach. “We have a lot of areas to develop housing,” he said. “Is this the area we want to go?”

Bob Burns of the Baldwin Co., which owns hundreds of acres in the targeted area and has spent millions of dollars preparing to break ground on a residential and commercial development, urged the council not to delay further the Ormond Beach Specific Plan.

“The whole concept is to provide a project that makes money for the city,” he said.

The Baldwin Co. plan would create two waterfront communities containing 3,500 single-family homes. A hotel and other commercial developments also would be constructed near the homes.

Last month, several environmental groups complained that they were left out of the planning process for Ormond Beach, even though they participated in a task force designed to solicit information from each party concerned about the area.

Oxnard Community Development Director Richard Maggio told the council Tuesday that he had done the best he could to incorporate everyone’s concerns into his presentation.

Maggio said he expects a draft environmental report to be completed by July.