Oxnard Panel OKs Plans for 435 Residences on 33 Acres

Despite critics’ concerns that duplexes and townhomes do not belong next to factories and fragile wetlands, the Oxnard Planning Commission on Thursday approved a plan to build 435 residences at Ormond Beach.

After studying a report on the environmental impact of the 33-acre Village West subdivision, commissioners said they were satisfied that the document was adequate and voted 4 to 0 to let Irvine-based Baldwin Co. move forward with its project.

“I don’t see at this point any unanswered questions,” Commissioner Dale Dean said. “. . . I am not aware of any gross inadequacies in the (report).”

Some residents of the south Oxnard area applauded the decision, saying the new subdivision is precisely what their fading community needs.

“Ormond Beach is a really nice beach area,” said Bonnie Trent, chairwoman of the Southwinds Neighborhood Council. “It would be a great place for nice homes. South Oxnard needs something nice.”

The environmental study concludes that the Baldwin project would have a significant effect on air quality, drainage, noise, traffic and public schools.

It would also generate so much sewage that city officials must formally declare that the benefits of the project outweigh its detrimental aspects before it can be built.

The Oxnard City Council must also approve the environmental report, issue a special use permit and change the zoning on the site before construction can begin, City Planner Deanna Walsh said. The City Council is set to consider the project in January.

Louis Malone, a Baldwin Co. division president, said before the vote that company officials have been frustrated by the 15-month environmental review process.

“It’s very upsetting, and we feel that it was without cause at all,” he said. “If the city doesn’t want the project, fine. Let the City Council decide.”

Baldwin is also looking to build about 5,000 homes on Ormond Beach itself. And it sees the Village West project, southeast of Hueneme and Perkins roads, as a standard-setter for its larger plans, Malone said.

Baldwin has been pitching plans to develop Ormond Beach since 1987, when it proposed building 10,500 homes along with marinas, golf courses, hotels and shops.

It has drastically reduced its proposal in recent years, trying to conform to demands of the city, which wants more entertainment facilities such as a theme park, and fewer homes.

Environmentalists insist that the effect of Village West on Ormond Beach wetlands--home to such endangered species as the California least tern and the tidewater goby--has not been fully explored. They also question whether the actual boundaries of the wetlands have ever been accurately determined.

“We’ve lost over 95% of our wetlands (statewide),” said Suzanne Tanaka, a Sierra Club spokeswoman. “We need to preserve what we have left in Ventura County.”

And the area’s industrial firms have complained that residents of the new Baldwin homes will discover that nearby factories are noisy and unattractive and will lobby to shut them down.

They are also concerned that increased traffic will obstruct their trucks.

But many residents of south Oxnard say the area has been neglected by the city for years, and they welcomed the project.

The Planning Commission last discussed the project Nov. 17, but postponed a decision after commissioners said they needed more information not only on potential harm to the wetlands but also on an old dump near the property.

Commissioner Arthur Joe Lopez said he was concerned about a 1988 city report that mentions Halaco Engineering’s plant half a mile from the Baldwin project. That waste-metal smelting plant, the target of environmentalists, was built atop an open-air landfill for which no records exist, the city found.

The landfill accepted sewer sludge and hospital waste, according to a report by the state Department of Health Services.