Another phase in the development of Oceanside’s El Corazon Park, the grading of 83 acres to create lots for industrial, commercial and office sites, got the go-ahead this week from the city’s Planning Commission.
New streets, curbs and gutters, along with infrastructure such as water and electricity lines will be included in the work on a corner of the 465 acres that was an open-pit sand mine for more than 60 years and is now owned by the city.
Final approval is expected in December from the Oceanside City Council. The proposed commercial development at the northwest corner of Oceanside Boulevard and Rancho Del Oro Boulevard is among several projects now taking shape after decades of planning at El Corazon.
The grading could begin as early as next year and probably will proceed in phases. The work will be financed by Sudberry Properties, the company selected by the City Council in 2011 as the master developer to turn the El Corazon property into a public park, civic, residential and commercial complex. At the time, Sudberry said it would invest more than $50 million in the project.
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The property’s former owner, U.S. Silica, donated the land to Oceanside in 1994. It was a huge windfall for the city, but one burdened by the need for years of environmental cleanup. The fine-grained sand mined there was used to make products such as plaster, stucco and glass. But the production required pits to clean the product, which left behind ponds full of residue called tailings.
“The entire site looked like the surface of the moon,” Jim Knowlton, a city consultant, said Wednesday. “There was not a blade of grass.”
Sand mining is not necessarily toxic, but it disrupts the environment, causes erosion and leaves the site unstable. One of the first operations the city approved on the property was a green waste recycling and composting project that started in 1995 and continues today, in part to help rehabilitate the land.
“There are still some significant soil issues that remain on the site,” said Jonathan Borrego, the city’s development services director. “There is still a lot of work ahead.”
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Comprehensive tests of soil throughout the entire El Corazon property are needed, he said. So far, the tests have only been done in a few sites where specific projects were planned.
Soil stability depends in part on what sort of mining activities took place on the site combined with the natural state of the ground.
“Certain parts are more stable,” Borrego said. “A high clay content can be a problem.”
Representatives of the nonprofit Friends of El Corazon raised concerns at a Planning Commission meeting Monday about the additional traffic that will come from the development and how the movement and storage of fill material created by grading could affect nearby protected habitat.
Staffers responded that the increased traffic is accounted for in the city’s General Plan, and traffic concerns also will be considered along with construction plans for individual lot developments.
Also, staffers pointed out that none of the site is undisturbed natural habitat. Much of it was hydro-seeded with non-native plants to prevent erosion soon after the city acquired the property.
Another complaint at times has been that the development has proceeded in a “piecemeal” fashion. Staffers responded this week that the work is done as proposals come forward and money becomes available.
“It’s a puzzle,” Borrego said, “but things are going to start falling into place.”
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About 120 acres of El Corazon is off-limits to development because of lingering environmental concerns resulting from the mining. Most of that portion of the property will be restored to its natural state and preserved as habitat for native plants and animals.
The city’s second senior center opened on about six acres at El Corazon 10 years ago, and a soccer complex with 20 fields operated by SoCal Sports on 54 acres opened in 2014.
Construction is under way on a 70-unit townhouse project, called The Park Villas at El Corazon, on 4.8 acres along Rancho Del Oro Drive.
A larger residential project is in the planning stages, but not yet approved. It calls for 278 apartments to be built by Sudberry Properties just north of the The Park Villas.
Also coming soon is the long-awaited El Corazon Aquatics Center to be built next to the senior center, with a 56-meter competition pool, an instructional pool, diving boards, administrative offices, meeting rooms and a large multipurpose hall.
Earlier this month, the City Council approved the sale of up to $28 million in bonds, awarded a construction contract and scheduled a groundbreaking for the aquatics center, which will have the city’s first new swimming pools in more than 50 years. A groundbreaking is set for Oct. 30, with a grand opening expected in June 2021.
Another project, which could go to the Planning Commission early next year, is an 8,000-seat indoor arena that would be built near the senior center and aquatics complex to host concerts and sporting events.
Also planned for the park is a 137-room Hilton Home2Suites hotel proposed for 2.7 acres at the eastern end of the park.
https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/communities/north-county/story/2019-10-27/grading-planned-for-commercial-properties-at-former-oceanside-sand-mine
2019-10-27 12:22:02Z
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