City Postpones Vote on Beach-Area Homes

Citing ongoing financial woes, a bankrupt developer has asked Oxnard’s City Council to again delay voting on a hotly debated plan to build 351 homes near Ormond Beach.

The Baldwin Co., which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization last July, was set to go before the City Council with its Village West subdivision tonight after several company-requested postponements. Oxnard agreed to reschedule the proposal for June 4.

“We are finalizing some last-minute reorganization issues,” said Nick Gorely, a Baldwin senior vice president. “We want to get those behind us before we proceed.”

Facing about $245 million in debts, the Baldwin Co. is trying to work out a solution to its financial problems with creditors in U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

Despite the trouble, Gorely said Baldwin plans to forge ahead with the Village West subdivision and a related proposal to build up to 5,000 homes near the wetlands at Ormond Beach.

Environmentalists have criticized the proposed Village West project, saying 208 duplexes and 143 houses do not belong near the Ormond Beach wetlands, which are home to several endangered species.

And area businesses have said the 33-acre parcel is a bad spot for homes because the Hueneme Road site sits within several hundred yards of an oil-field service company and Oxnard’s waste-water treatment plant.

But Baldwin cites an environmental review of the proposed project that found the development would have no major negative impacts. Many residents in the south Oxnard neighborhood near the site have backed the project, saying it would improve the quality of life of the community.

Gorely played down rumors that the Baldwin Co. was contemplating selling the land.

“I am cautiously optimistic that a development can be done that would address both the industrial issues and the environmental issues,” Gorely said.