Downtown Housing Plan Ready for Council : Oxnard: Twenty-eight townhouses would be built and priced to sell. Some oppose the idea as not worth the money.

Looking for a good deal on some downtown real estate? Try Oxnard.

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The Oxnard City Council on Tuesday will consider selling a half block downtown for $100--with the condition that the developer build 28 townhouses and sell nine of them to low- and moderate-income families.

Under the agreement, the three-bedroom homes would be priced to move fast: Between $94,000 and $127,000 apiece. If they sell for more, the developer, Heritage Park Partners, would share 50% of the excess money with the city.

Oxnard officials were unable to say Friday how much the land was worth. But Fred Ferro of Grubb and Ellis Commercial Real Estate said the property was valued at about $660,000.

“We’re investing in this project because we want to have more residents downtown,” said Councilman Andres Herrera. “It’s part of our effort to bring people to the area and make it more attractive.”

Low-cost housing advocates, however, say the project would benefit few people for the money it would cost Oxnard. In addition to handing over the land for practically nothing, the city would pay for roughly $257,000 in sewer- and water-system improvements, according to a city report.

Moreover, the undeveloped 1.9-acre parcel between 6th and 7th streets and west of B Street is the current site of the Oxnard Farmers’ Market.

If the project is approved, the market would be moved near Plaza Park on North 5th Street, said Oxnard Community Development Director Richard Maggio.

“That has always been a temporary location for the Farmers’ Market,” Maggio said. “It has only been there three years.”

The Heritage Park Townhomes, as the development would be named, would be next to the renovated homes that make up the Heritage Square office complex and would have similar architecture, said City Manager Tom Frutchey.

He said Oxnard is handing over the land to Heritage Park Partners to make the homes more affordable for the city’s poorer residents.

But Barbara Macri-Ortiz of Channel Counties Legal Services Assn. has said that more units should be designated for the poor if building low-cost housing is the goal of the project.

“If the city is going to subsidize a housing project, there should be more affordable housing,” Macri-Ortiz said earlier this month when the project was set to go before the City Council.

Under the proposed agreement, Heritage Park Partners would provide the minimum nine low- and moderate-income housing units required by law in a redevelopment zone like downtown Oxnard’s. Heritage Park Partners is a venture between Dennis Howarth and Associates of Ventura and Orange County architect David Ball.

Oxnard Mayor Manuel Lopez said he would not be able to take part in Tuesday’s discussion because of a possible conflict of interest: He owned the land with several partners before the city took it over through a condemnation proceeding several years ago. But he said the plan made sense for Oxnard.

“It goes along with the idea of having high density downtown,” Lopez said. “It’s good use of land. The infrastructure is already there.”