VISTA — The Vista City Council approved a 38-unit townhome project off Sunset Drive this week despite major concerns among residents of an adjacent mobile home park about negative impacts on traffic and access.
The Sunset Drive Townhomes project proposes 38 two-story homes ranging from two to three bedrooms, split between 10 different buildings.
The 4.3-acre site near the Pavilion Shopping Center is divided into two parcels by the driveway to the Vista Green Valley Mobile Home Park, which abuts the property to the southwest.
Leaders at Legacy Partners, the project developer, said the project will add needed homes to the area.
“We’re excited to deliver a much-needed supply of housing to the 78 corridor,” said David Pinto, vice president of Legacy’s Southern California office.
The City Council’s Nov. 14 meeting marked the third time Legacy Partners has sought approval for the project. City officials sent an earlier version, which included a larger design with 55 townhomes up to three stories tall, back to the drawing board.
This time, the council approved the project 4-1, with Councilmember Katie Melendez dissenting.
Several mobile home park residents spoke against the project at the meeting, stating that traffic and speeding are already problems along Sunset Drive and sharing worries about safely entering and exiting the park with the added cars from the project.
“When we’re trying to get out of our park, Monday to Friday during school times, it can take us up to 15 minutes to leave the park, and with the additional residents on either side of us, that’s just going to add more time to us being able to access roadways,” said Green Valley resident Suzanne McMurchie.
Other residents said the project is too dense for the site.
“For you to imply that it fits the area is ludicrous,” said Steve Harvey. “I believe we, the 155 residents in the park, deserve more consideration than just going forward with this project. On paper, it looks beautiful; in reality, it’s going to be a nightmare.”
The council also had reservations about the project, saying more traffic calming measures were needed beyond the planned two-way left turn lane near the project entrance and speed radar feedback signs along Sunset Drive.
Council members Corinna Contreras and Dan O’Donnell started the discussion on the fence about approving the project. Eventually, they agreed to do so after the council added several conditions to limit negative impacts on traffic and mobile home park residents.
“We’ve just got to make a decision on it. We’ve already seen this project so many times,” Contreras said.
The conditions included an all-way stop on Sunset Drive, a protected bike lane, security cameras and signs prohibiting non-resident parking at the mobile home park, a brick wall around the park perimeter, an HOA sticker parking program, and electric vehicle chargers in guest parking spots.
Councilmember Joe Green said there is a stop light planned for Sunset Drive and Sky Haven Lane as a condition of another approved housing project just across the road — the 48-unit Emerald Ridge townhome project — which will also help traffic.
However, it is unclear when that stop light would be active, as Oceanside planners said the Emerald Ridge project may be changing from what was originally approved to a 150-unit affordable senior community.
Councilmember Dan O’Donnell said he believed a four-way stop would be sufficient for now but would like to see a stoplight at some point in the future.
The history of landslides in the area was also a concern. In March of this year, several mobile home park residents were displaced following a landslide on the steep hillside along Sky Haven Lane, believed to be caused by the heavy rains at the time.
Geotechnical engineer Sean Weeden of Geocon, Inc. said they surveyed the land and determined that the slope facing the park on the project site is much less steep than the slope where the landslide occurred.
Grading operations will also be performed to improve the safety factor on the project site’s slope, he said.
“The site will have a better, safer condition than what’s out there today, and the adjacent properties, roadways and mobile home park will not be affected,” Weeden said.
Under Vista’s inclusionary housing policy, developments with over 20 units must have 9% of the units affordable, or the developer can pay an in-lieu fee to the city to fund future affordable housing projects.
This project would mean either making three of the 38 units affordable or paying an approximately $1 million in-lieu fee. Pinto said Legacy Partners has not yet decided which option they will take, which frustrated Melendez.
“At this stage, usually the developer would say one or other,” Melendez said.
Mayor John Franklin favored the project but demanded that the developer remove plans to include corrugated metal as a material, repeatedly emphasizing that it looked “third-world.” Pinto said they intended to use recycled materials but agreed to remove them.
The project will also add frontage improvements along Sunset Drive, including a sidewalk, curb, gutter and greenery.
The council’s approval also allows for rezoning one of the parcels from commercial to residential, with the other parcel already zoned as residential.
