OCEANSIDE: City OKs new downtown design standards

Design standards that would encourage new housing and condominium projects to blend in with the existing architecture in Oceanside neighborhoods along city beaches and bordering downtown were approved by the City Council this week.

“We want to provide quality houses that fit in,” said Mark Brodeur of PMC Design, the San Diego consulting firm that helped city planners prepare the guidelines.

The standards are not mandatory but are meant to give architects, builders and property owners a clearer idea of what the city is looking for as it reviews project proposals, said Redevelopment Planner Shan Babick.

Councilwoman Esther Sanchez said the guidelines showcase and preserve the character of Oceanside’s older neighborhoods.

“I’m really excited about this,” Sanchez said.

But Councilman Jack Feller, the lone council vote against the guidelines, said he feared they would limit how land owners could develop their property.

“Less regulation is where I’m headed with this,” Feller said. “It’s the property owner’s dream, not the city’s dream. Otherwise, the city better be prepared to buy a lot more property.”

Feller said he also objected to references to global warming in sections of the guidelines that encourage the use of environmentally benign materials.

“References to global warming are ridiculous. If anything, it’s global cooling,” Feller said.

The guidelines apply to neighborhoods in the city’s redevelopment area and includes The Strand and neighborhoods along Freemont, Tremont, Cleveland, Myer and Pacific streets north of Civic Center Drive and along Cleveland, Myers and Pacific streets south of Seagaze Drive.

These are “some of the best residential communities, best neighborhoods in the city,” Brodeur said.

The guidelines vary among the neighborhoods, but in general, they encourage sloping roofs, a scale and height that make new buildings appealing to pedestrians, locating garages and driveways so they aren’t the dominant feature of the structure as seen from the street and the use of underground parking where possible.

Brodeur said the guidelines also encourage the use of recyclable materials and landscaping that uses little water.

“We want character, that’s what we’re always taking about in Oceanside,” said Redevelopment Manager Kathy Baker. “In downtown, it’s very eclectic and we like to see it that way. We like to see different types of architectural style.”

The guidelines encourage “wedding cake” construction in which buildings are constructed in tiers with the upper stories stepped back from the first floor.

The idea is to make the bigger houses look less massive from the street level, Brodeur said.

Part of the concern driving the guidelines is that builders could stay within zoning regulations but wind up with buildings so massive that “the house looks like an apartment block,” Brodeur said.

“Some cities call it the masionization of properties where you’re tearing down property and building these big, humongous buildings,” said Redevelopment Manager Kathy Baker. “Every so often, we’ll see someone who just wants to maximize every square inch of a project.”

The challenge is to build homes that meet modern expectations to fit in with older neighborhoods that were built during a time when houses were more compact. Brodeur said.

When some of the older homes were built in the 1950s, the average American house was 880 square feet and most families got by with one car, Brodeur said. Today, he said the average new house is 2,300 square feet and families have two or more cars.

Builders and property owners who follow the guidelines would have “a level of reasonable expectation that their project is going to be approved in a reasonable amount of time,” Brodeur said.

Share on Facebook