Oceanside denies controversial Eddie Jones project

After years of pushback, the Oceanside City Council rejects a scaled-back warehouse and manufacturing project near the airport citing environmental, quality of life and other concerns

The Oceanside City Council upheld an appeal and denied the Eddie Jones Warehouse project during Wednesday’s meeting in a split vote. File photo

OCEANSIDE — A marathon meeting capped a marathon saga as the City Council voted 3-2 on Wednesday to uphold an appeal to deny the construction of the Eddie Jones Warehouse Project.

The long-running issue saw the developer, RPG, scale back its plans for a warehouse, manufacturing and light industrial use project. The proposal was for four buildings adjacent to the Oceanside Municipal Airport on two parcels, which are zoned for light industrial and require soil remediation due to the toxic material buried after the previous business ceased operations several years ago.

The main source of contention, however, was the proposal for 34 truck bays, which had been reduced twice from the originally proposed RPG.

City Hall was packed with most opposing the project as speakers pleaded their case to the council for more than two hours. The appellant, Gretchen Gary, said the project’s environmental impact report (EIR) was littered with inaccurate data regarding emissions, emergency routes, the size of the project, hours of operation and jeopardizing the safety of nearby residents and children, to name a few.

The project proposed four buildings at 250 Eddie Jones Way, totaling 497,822 square feet on 31.79 acres adjacent to the airport between Benet and Alex roads and north of State Route 76. Plans called for 56 docks, down from the 114 originally proposed, and 593 parking spaces for employees, although the commission sliced the number of docks to 34.

RPG was also to invest $5 million to remediate contaminated soil left over from the previous business operating on the site.

“I was shocked at the actions of the Planning Commission,” said Gary, who lives in the nearby neighborhood. “How was the (final) FEIR for this project approved? It’s hard for people to wrap their heads around how big this project is.”

Gary, along with dozens of other residents, noted how they received more than 5,000 signatures opposing the project through the resident group Oceanside Speaks Out. They also railed against the proposal for creating negative impacts with the environment, traffic, noise and others.