OXNARD : Panel Delays Action on Development Plan

Oxnard’s land use committee postponed a decision on a plan to build 158 houses and condominiums on farmland near Oxnard Airport, asking for more details after the developer’s architect said the project would be built in phases.

Members of Oxnard’s Land Use Advisers said they were concerned that the entire 51-acre field would be plowed under, but that only a small portion would be immediately developed, turning the rest into a muddy eyesore.

The project, which would also include an office park, would be built on the southwest corner, at Patterson Road and 5th Street. Oxnard would have to annex the property from the county before building could begin.

The residential portion would consist of 33 single-family homes and 125 condominiums--a reduction from the 184 units originally proposed by the builder, Orange County-based Allwin Development Corp.

A diverse group of critics ripped into the project when it was first proposed in 1993, arguing that it would cut into the farmland, heighten the potential for disaster near the airport, strain already packed schools and fail to provide more affordable housing.

The homes would be built in a Spanish motif with stucco walls and tile roofs.

Ruth M. Johnson, a member of the conservationist group Save The Oxnard Plain, said she could not understand how prime farmland could be plowed under to build condominiums.

“To me it looks ugly, but I’m prejudiced,” said Johnson, a resident of Silver Strand Beach, as she looked at the developer’s plans. “It would take a Taj Majal to begin to justify the desecration of this beautiful farmland.

“I myself am ready to lie down on that piece of property and let myself stand in the way.”

Adviser Albert Duff said that the homes looked fine to him, but that the development would be too close to the airport. “I’m reluctant to see any more development so close to the airport when we already have so many complaints from the (neighborhoods near) there,” Duff said.