On June 24th the Oceanside City Council approved placing a referendum on the November 3 ballot that empowers voters to decide if rezoning of farmland to high density housing is in the city’s best interest. A NO vote would reverse the “spot zoning” of farmland approved by just the votes of appointed Mayor Weiss and city council members Feller and Rodriguez.
Background:
This project is called North River Farms. It is not a farm. It is a 585 housing development.
City staff recommended against the project and the Planning Commission rejected the project. Numerous city council hearings were held where citizens expressed strong opposition to the project based on its potential for creating more traffic congestion, increasing taxes to pay for increased city services and increasing fire risk. Ignoring city staff recommendations, the Planning Commission’s votes and neighborhood opposition appointed Mayor Weiss and City Council Members Feller and Rodriguez voted to “spot zone” the project.
In response, neighborhood volunteers gathered 12,000 signatures for a petition to allow a referendum to be placed on the November 3 ballot that will empower Oceanside Voters to decide on this rezoning. A NO vote will overturn the spot rezoning and deny the needed zoning for high density development.
-Bill Roth