OCEANSIDE — The Oceanside Planning Commission has approved a 140-unit townhome project to replace the former Garrison Elementary School site.
Garrison Townhomes will be built on an 8.3-acre property at 333 Garrison Street in the Loma Alta community. Plans call for 140 three-story townhomes, divided into 22 buildings. The units will range from 1,364 to 2,093 square feet, with 30 two-bedroom, 71 three-bedroom and 39 four-bedroom options.
Each home will include a two-car garage, some tandem, and all-electric appliances.
The project will feature a private road with secondary emergency access, 280 resident parking spaces, 38 guest spaces, and a 10,900-square-foot public park with a tot lot, recreation area and seating. Additional amenities include a walking path and a dog run.
Fourteen units, or 10%, will be reserved for moderate-income households earning 80% to 120% of the area median income. Because the city’s inclusionary housing policy requires 15%, the developer will make up the remaining 5% with a $1.8 million in-lieu fee to support future affordable housing projects.
“We believe this hybrid solution is ideal because it benefits multiple income groups,” said Dave Stern with True Life Companies, the project’s developer, at the Aug. 25 planning commission meeting.
Stern said the city’s inclusionary program funds tax-credit projects that “almost exclusively” serve households earning 30% to 80% of the area median income.
Although the project qualifies for the state’s density bonus law — which would allow additional units and unlimited waivers of development standards — the developer chose not to use it, a rare move compared to most projects in Oceanside’s pipeline. The plan proposes nearly 17 units per acre, below the site’s 21-unit-per-acre limit.
The townhomes will include 45,507 square feet of open space, exceeding the 42,000-square-foot requirement. Approximately 12,200 square feet will be allocated from private balconies. A slope behind the former school will be preserved as a sensitive habitat mitigation area.
Garrison Elementary closed in 2019 due to declining enrollment and costly repairs tied to a sinkhole caused by a failed storm drain. A geotechnical report later confirmed that there were no soil stability issues. Of the 10-acre property, the school district sold 8.3 acres to True Life Companies and a smaller portion to the city for a sewer lift station.
The developer has several other projects in North County, including a 51-unit townhome project in East Vista and a 34-unit single-family project on Melrose Drive in Vista. Additional projects in Escondido, Vista and San Diego are in the entitlement process.
The Garrison Townhomes will be for-sale units. Stern said the location is “fantastic” because of its proximity to El Corazon Park and the new Frontwave Arena. The company also agreed to pay half the cost of an access road to the sewer lift station.
City planners said the townhomes will generate less traffic than the school once did. The project is expected to contribute nearly $115,000 annually to the city’s general fund, compared to the school site’s annual deficit of $7,875.
Still, some residents raised concerns.
Resident Diane Nygaard said that while the project “isn’t terrible,” several issues still need to be addressed.
Nygaard argued the developer’s $110,000 contribution to the city’s thoroughfare fees let it “off the hook” for making real-time improvements to the surrounding road network. She also said the project should complete a transportation demand management plan that considers alternatives to single-occupancy vehicles, such as biking, walking and public transit.
Nygaard further suggested relocating the on-site sensitive habitat mitigation plan to El Corazon, incorporating bird-friendly design features, and including a clause to ensure the developer does not later invoke the density bonus law.
The developer stated that it would work with the North County Transit District and was open to considering bird-friendly designs and revising the habitat mitigation plan.
Cathy Cronce, who lives near the slope behind the former school site and whose daughter once attended Garrison Elementary, questioned why the city “felt the need to fill more open space with multiunit housing,” citing the school’s enrollment decline, lower birthrates nationwide and the number of people leaving California.
“I would like to keep Oceanside as Oceanside and not turn it into another LA,” she said.
Nate Tracy, who lives on nearby Bluff Way, said the project set a “dangerous precedent” by allowing the “permanent loss of a civic site.” He said the project required a full environmental report and that the community should help decide what replaces the school.
“Once we hand land over to private development, it’s gone forever,” Tracy said. “We’re not just deciding on one project, we’re deciding on whether school closures and civic failures should automatically open the door to rezoning.”
Planning Commissioner Louise Balma said while a park would have been nice, it wasn’t realistic.
“The developer isn’t just going to make a park out of an old school,” she said. “This is kind of the right thing to do.”
The commission unanimously approved the project, with two members absent.
