City Council - Regular Meeting

Hello, my name's Jamie Peltier, planning supervisor in the community development department, presenting the Avalon Homes project planning and zoning applications coastal development permit number 16-400-02 tentative subdivision map number 16-300-03 and environmental impact report number 2016-01 at the May 19th, 2026 City Council meeting. The applicant on behalf of the property owner is Tanner Shelton of The project request consists of two major components, a residential development and preserved open space. The proposed subdivision divides the vacant properties into 10 lots, three of which will be for the residential development totaling about 8.75 acres and the remaining seven lots on about 30 acres are for open space and also have other improvements such as roads and parking lots. The coastal development permit request is for the development of 56 single-family residential dwelling units with a private street and infrastructure, private community park space and surface parking lot on the private street within the development area. The open space on the north side of the property is proposed as a dedicated preserved and restored open space that will be privately maintained with a public walking path and public parking lot for visitors. The entire project was reviewed and analyzed under the California Environmental Quality Act, known as CEQA and an environmental impact report was prepared. The proposed project is located on the west side of the city within the coastal

zone and the California Coastal Commission appeal jurisdiction between Fifth Street, Wooley Road, Harbor Boulevard, and the Edison Canal. The properties are located within the Oxnard Dunes neighborhood adjacent to the existing developed neighborhood that consists of single-family residential units, duplexes, and other multi-family development. The proposed residential development is along the north side of the neighborhood continuous with Canal Street wrapping around to Dune Street. The proposed open space will remain as dune habitat that will be privately preserved, maintained, and restored with public walking paths. The site is vacant and undeveloped land containing a variety of plant species species and on the northern part of the site contains a dune habitat including habitat such as mock heather scrub, Arroyo willow thicket, ice plant mats, and other ornamental landscaping. The site is generally level where the residential development is proposed which can be seen in the images looking north on Canal Street in the top right corner and looking east from Dune Street in the bottom right corner. The topography changes in the northern portion of the property ranging from approximately 10 to 11 ft upwards to 25 to 30 ft above sea level with the dunes. The project site has land use designations of resource protection and residential existing. The zoning designations are also

resource protection and the zoning for the residential area is coastal coastal multiple family R2C. The existing surrounding land uses are residential existing, coastal recreation, and agriculture with the corresponding zonings of R2C, resource protection, community reserve, and county agriculture. [snorts]

The existing developed areas consist of residential single family and small commercial areas um at Harbor and Woolly. The proposed site plan for the open space will contain a public passive recreational area with walking loops and a public parking lot for visitors. Within this 30-acre area, replanting, restoration, and preservation of the vegetation communities will also occur to offset the development of the residential area just towards the south. The vegetation that will be removed due to the development will be mitigated to a 4:1 ratio within this open space area. This area will be privately maintained, restored, and preserved by either a homeowners association or a nonprofit agency. The proposed residential development will abut the backyards of the residences on Catamaran Street, curving to connect the existing public streets at Dune Street and Canal Street, but will be a privately owned street where the development occurs. The 56 detached single family dwelling units line the private street with four units within each cluster that will have one shared driveway accessing the individual private garages. The private street will have sidewalks and landscape parkway that will connect to the public streets along with a private community park and small visitor parking lot. The development will form a homeowners association that will maintain the

private amenities and infrastructure within this development area. Here is another viewpoint of the site plan where the uh clustered units within the four um the four clusters share a driveway and each have their own private open space in the backyards. Some background to the project and location. The project [snorts] was submitted in 2016 for a 65 um unit project. The project was then analyzed with the draft environmental impact report in 2019. Within the 2019 draft EIR there was an alternative analyzed for a 56-unit project. In 2021, the applicant changed the scope from a 65-unit project to a 56 unit project selecting that alternative number five that was analyzed in the EIR. Subsequently, the applicant resubmitted the plans for a 56-unit project to the city for review. After that, the applicant requested a pre-application pursuant to the inclusionary housing ordinance that the city council would review to review the in-lieu fee rather than providing the 10% affordable on-site. In 2024, the draft environmental impact report

was reanalyzed after some time had passed and the sequa guidelines have changed. In 2025, the draft EIR was recirculated for public review and public comments were incorporated into the draft into the final EIR. After the EIR was circulated, the project was scheduled for planning commission on March 5th, 2026. The planning commission approved the project with modifications to the affordable housing plan, which I will go in in the future slide. Um on March 16th, 2026, staff requested that the city council review via a appeal of the coast development permit to allow the city council to review and take action on the entire project as a whole. Some background on the inclusionary housing plan. The inclusionary housing ordinance 2980 requires 10% affordable low-income units or the applicant can request an in-lieu fee. A pre-application, as mentioned, was submitted in 2021 and presented to the city council on July 20th, 2021. There were discussions on equitable affordable housing throughout the city including the coastal zones. Acknowledgement that an in lieu fee could go towards a higher quantity of units. Um and the discussion did not warrant an action because it is just a report item. Where the applicant can receive comments

from the city council and it is then just received and filed. After 2021 hearing where the city council provided comments, the applicant and staff pursued the in lieu fee and provided a condition of approval within the resolution that was presented to the planning commission. The planning commission approved the coastal development permit 6-0 modifying the condition of approval for an in lieu fee and thus requiring the affordable units, the 10% on site. Planning commission's modification required the units to be on site and the conditions of approval have been adjusted in the coastal development permit attached to the planning of the city council attachments. The city council can consider the recommendations of the planning commission. However, they have the ability to take an action that may differ from the planning commission's recommendations. If the council chooses instead to allow the payment of an in lieu fee as requested originally, the conditions of approval uh addressed as 80 through 92 in the coastal development permit would be would be replaced with the one following condition. That the ordinance in effect at the time of building permits are issued that the developer shall pay the in lieu fee to be calculated at the time of building permit issuance. This language was originally presented to the planning commission on March 5th, 2026,

and the city council has the option to replace the affordable housing on site with this in lieu condition. Some more details on the environmental determination. The environmental impact report began in 2016 as mentioned, and went through a series of reviews as the sequa guidelines and city guidelines were updated. The project then was reanalyzed to the updated guidelines. Within the updated guidelines, the transportation section of sequa then required review of vehicle miles traveled. Vehicle miles traveled, known as VMT, was updated in 2020 within the sequa guidelines. And the project was recirculated in 2025 identifying a class one impact that cannot be mitigated based on VMT. Because of the threshold that this area um currently contains the project requires a statement of overriding considerations. The city finds that there are certain mitigation measures that can be incorporated into the project for the following sections, but as mentioned, a statement of overriding considerations is required for the transportation section due to a significant impact.

The transportation impact cannot be mitigated to a less than significant impact like the rest of the other sections analyzed, thus requiring that statement of overriding considerations. This area of the city exceeds the thresholds for vehicle miles traveled, meaning residents drive more miles to get to goods and services and to work. Any new development, including just one single-family dwelling, would be a class-1 significant impact because there are no feasible mitigation measures that would reduce the number of vehicle miles traveled due to the location within this area. The statement of overriding considerations are discussed in the EIR and the mitigation measures for the following listed items have been incorporated into the resolution. On March 5th, 2026, Planning Commission conducted a public hearing to consider coastal development permit, tentative subdivision map, and the EIR. At the hearing, one written comment was received with concerns of traffic impacts and impacts to biological resources on the site. One person spoke in person and also provided a comment letter which discussed the public safety concerns for fire and police, homelessness within the area, and potential impacts to bird habitats. The Planning Commission made a motion to require the developer to provide six affordable residence residential units rather than pay the in-lieu fee. The final motion carried 6-0.

And no other modifications were proposed to the other applications. The recommendation is that the City Council conduct a public hearing, adopt a resolution certifying final environmental impact report number 2016-01, adopt a resolution approving planning and zoning permit 16-300-03 for tentative subdivision map according to uh certain findings and conditions of approval, and adopt a resolution upholding the Planning Commission's decision to approve the planning and zoning permit 16-400-02 for a coastal development permit subject to modified conditions of approval. This concludes staff's presentation. Thank you.