A local developer has proposed building 83 single-family homes on about 10 acres of mostly vacant property along Guajome Lake Road, south of state Route 76 near Oceanside’s border with Vista.
“Some of the primary concerns from nearby residents include potential impacts to Guajome Regional Park, increased traffic and safety concerns with the existing conditions of Guajome Lake Road,” said Rob Dmohowski, Oceanside’s principal planner.
“Guajome Lake Road is unpaved from Albright Street to the border of Vista,” Dmohowski said. “The applicant would be required to pave and construct road improvements along the project frontage and an offsite paved connection to Albright Street.”
The project’s draft environmental report, which the Oceanside Planning Division released Nov. 20, states that the concerns raised so far were not significant or could be reduced by mitigation measures to a “less-than-significant level.”
Public comments on the draft report will be accepted by the city through Jan. 10 for inclusion with responses to the comments in the final environmental document.
Lots in the development will average 3,200 square feet, with homes ranging from 1,869 to 2,220 square feet, according to the draft report. Four of the homes will be designated as deed-restricted affordable housing.
The site is along the northeastern side of San Diego County’s 394-acre Guajome Regional Park, which has a 12-acre lake, a campground and hiking trails set in a rolling expanse of woodland, chaparral, wetlands and mixed grasslands.
Rincon Homes of Carlsbad, the developer, has built other single-family homes and multi-unit townhome buildings in Newport Beach and coastal North County, mostly in Carlsbad.
“Our partners live here, we work here, and we do the vast majority of our business in North County,” said Jonathan Frankel of the Atlantis Group, who represents the developer.
The project will be one of the few in the region that sells its affordable homes to qualified low-income buyers, Frankel said. Most developments only include rental affordable units.
Along with paving Guajome Lake Road, Rincon will add curbs, gutters and other improvements, he said.
“We are excited about the project,” Frankel said. “We think it’s a nice design, and it will fit a need. We are hoping that construction will begin by the end of 2025.”
Completion of the project will take about three years, he said.
The project is consistent with the city’s general plan and is expected to go to the Oceanside Planning Commission for approval early next year. The Planning Commission’s approval is final unless appealed to the Oceanside City Council.
The site is zoned for single-family residential development with a “scenic park and equestrian overlay” to allow those uses, Dmohowski said.
Construction will avoid a riparian corridor at the northernmost portion of the site, preserving approximately 6.92 acres of the 16.78-acre project site as open space, he said.
