OCEANSIDE
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The Planning Commission on Monday will consider approving one of the largest shopping centers ever built here.
The proposed Pavilion at Oceanside is to be constructed on the 92-acre site of the Valley Drive-In Theaters, now used as a weekend swap meet, at Mission Avenue and Foussat Road, about two miles west of Interstate 5.
It's near state Route 76 and Oceanside Municipal Airport.
By comparison, the latest large shopping center built in Oceanside, Quarry Creek on College Boulevard, contains just under 60 acres.
Pavilion, with 950,000 square feet of buildings, plans to be different.
It is proposed by Thomas Enterprises of Georgia, a company specializing in upscale malls, such as its Forum mall in Carlsbad.
“We fully intend to go ahead” despite the economic downturn, Mel Kuhnel, vice president for development for Thomas Enterprises, said yesterday. “If we get the final approval at the commission Monday, we can start construction in December.”
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Oceanside Planning Commission
When: 7 p.m. Monday
Where: City Hall, 300 N. Coast Highway.
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If commission approval were to be appealed to the City Council, Kuhnel said he would expect construction to start in January.
An analysis of the project by Keyser Marston Associates, whose economic data is often included in environmental reports on large proposed projects, said it will help Oceanside recapture some of the sales tax its residents now spend in neighboring cities.
The financial consultants estimated the project would employ about 2,800 people and bring in almost $3.8 million in new sales, property and business-license taxes annually.
With Target as an anchor, Pavilion would not be exactly like The Forum, which is a mix of restaurants and smaller, pricier shops.
Other potential tenants for the Pavilion have not been identified.
The center is proposed to be pedestrian-friendly, with a focal plaza. It would have restaurants and stores, large and small. It also would feature an American Indian theme in front of a multiplex movie theater.
It would include a 100-foot-wide wildlife corridor adjacent to an existing corridor for a total width of 200 feet on the east side of the project.
The commission is to consider the environmental-impact report, as well as a development plan and conditional-use permits required for the cinema, a proposed health club and three drive-throughs.
The environmental report states that traffic and greenhouse-gas emissions would be significant.
About 32,000 vehicle trips a day are expected. Almost 4,500 parking spaces are provided.
City Planner Jerry Hittleman, who recommends commissioners approve the project, said the commissioners will need to find benefits, such as jobs and sales-tax revenues, that override the negative effects.
The center faces some opposition.
One resident, Joseph Worth, wrote commissioners that “I think it's a huge waste of money to add new shopping centers when adjacent centers stand vacant just ½-mile away along Mission Avenue.”
“Why would anyone want to come to this blighted area?” he asked.
One of the touchiest subjects among neighbors has not been the center itself but the possibility of completing Pala Road, which dead ends north of the proposed center.
Residents have been adamant in the past that they don't want through traffic on that street.
Hittleman recommends the extension of Pala, saying it would alleviate traffic on other streets, but plans have been prepared for the project with or without the Pala connection.
Lola Sherman: (760) 476-8241; lola.sherman@uniontrib.com
