Townhomes recommended for former Oceanside school site

The Oceanside Planning Commission has recommended approval for 140 townhomes in 22 buildings to be built on the former Garrison Elementary School campus, which closed because of declining enrollment and excessive maintenance costs.

The now-abandoned school opened in 1970 on 8.3 acres at the end of Garrison Street, north of Oceanside Boulevard, south of Mesa Drive and west of El Camino Real. It closed in 2019 soon after the discovery of sinkholes on the property.

Studies showed the sinkholes were caused by a faulty drainage system and not by soil conditions, said Dane Thompson, an associate planner for the city, at Monday’s meeting. The property will be regraded and new drainage will be installed along with landscaping and other improvements as part of the residential project.

All of the buildings will be three stories tall, with flat roofs and no rooftop decks, Thompson said. The complex will include 14 townhouses reserved for low-income buyers, or 10% of the total, and the developer will pay in-lieu housing fees for an additional 5% of the units. Oceanside recently increased its minimum affordable housing requirement from 10% to 15%.

Traffic from the development would be less than the levels formerly produced by the school, Thompson said.

Also, the density of construction on the property would be “well within the range” of densities in the surrounding neighborhood of apartment and condominium buildings, he said.

“To me, it feels like a really great place for a community of for-sale townhouses,” said Gordon Jones, regional vice president of the developer, The True Life Companies.

The Planning Commission unanimously recommended the Oceanside City Council approve the project at a meeting later this year.

The townhomes will range from 1,320 square feet to 2,100 square feet with two, three or four bedrooms, according to the plans. Each unit will have a deck or balcony and a two-car garage, and the complex will have 38 guest parking spaces distributed among the buildings.

Six people spoke to the commission about the project. Two were nearby residents who opposed it. One of them said the former school property should be preserved as a public space, and the other said the homes would help turn Oceanside “into another Los Angeles.

Others said the proposal is acceptable but could be improved by things such as a transportation management program, using more native plants for landscaping, and by efforts to protect birds by limiting outdoor lighting and reflective windows.

A representative of the developer said some of those things are covered by building codes, and that the company would consider the issues further as the project proceeds.