City officials are contemplating opening up downtown to a lot of new businesses – and making it easier for them to get started, the monthly Morning Meeting of MainStreet Oceanside was told Tuesday.
Senior City Planner Scott Nightingale showed a list of 28 types of businesses, from day spas to tobacco shops, and indicated where they could be located.
Many, he said, could open after getting an administrative permit from city staff without having to go through the long and cumbersome process of obtaining a conditional-use permit from the city Planning Commission. Also at the meeting, a newly required food scraps recycling program was explained. Plus, City Councilwoman Esther Sanchez told of the steps being taken to help the homeless find housing.
Rick Wright, MainStreet Executive Director, said there are businesses anxious to locate in downtown Oceanside, but they can’t find a place with the proper zoning. The proposal will provide new zoning regulations. “This makes it much more flexible,” he said. Nightingale said the City Council directed the staff on Aug. 7 to study downtown zoning regulations with a goal of streamlining the process.
The Downtown Advisory Committee approved the changes on Jan. 22, Nightingale said. “Downtown uses were very limited,” he said, and changes are needed “to revitalize the district.” “The market has changed,” Nightingale said.
Regulated uses (requiring the use permit) should be clearly defined, he said. But, he said, less-controversial uses can be granted by right. He gave an ATM as an example of a noncontroversial use. However, Nightingale said, residents within 1,500 feet of a proposed use still will be notified and a permit granted administratively can be appealed to the city council. The plan locates fast foods, drive-thru’s and repair shops north of Neptune Way.
Pawn shops and payday-loan establishments would not be permitted, although current ones would be allowed to remain. Cannabis sales will not be allowed downtown.
Wright said the MainStreet board recommended the changes unanimously.
Jeff Hunt, City Planning Director, said the city’s Economic Development Commission will hear the proposal Feb. 11 and the City Council on Feb. 26 with the matter probably going before the State Coastal Commission during the summer.
Colleen Foster, the city’s Environmental Officer, and Daniel Butler, Public Sector Manager for Waste Management, the city’s refuse hauler, presented the information about the new requirement to recycle food scraps and keep them out of the landfills.
Foster said new regulations for commercial enterprises went into effect Jan. 1. Oceanside, she said, was the first city in the nation to set a zero-waste goal. “There are no exceptions” to the new requirements, Foster said.
“Each and every business” is affected, not just restaurants, she said, At even an auto-repair shop, for instance, Foster said, “employees are creating food-scrap waste” (with their lunches and snacks).
Organics, Foster said, make up 30-40 percent of the waste stream and are a “most significant” contributor to methane-gas emissions. The state goal, she said, is a 70-percent reduction by 2025.
Last September, Foster said, the city amended its contract with Waste Management to take into account the additional recycling service for 1,800 commercial businesses.
Brown 64-gallon bins and two-cubic-yard containers for this new recycling will be delivered in March, she said. The color, she said, is mandated by the state.
A slide shown by Butler listed acceptable recycle items as meat, bones, dairy, bread, fruits, vegetables, peelings, pits, cobs and coffee grounds. Butler said food-soiled paper is acceptable as well. But wax-or- plastic-coated paper cups, food-soiled pizza boxes, rubber, rope, and green waste or glass (there’s separate recycling for those) are not acceptable.
A slurry from the materials is sent to a “digestion plant” in Orange County., Butler said, and a green “biogas” results. Even with the transportation to Orange County, Foster said. “this has the lowest gas emission available to us in San Diego.” There’s additional cost, she said, but there are savings as well over the cost of taking materials 100 miles to the landfill and that “should incentivize to do the right thing.” Often, she said, the person who pays the bills at a company is not the person who takes out the trash, so there’s a technical-assistance team available to meet with every business. And, she said, a lot of times they find a cost savings. She gave the example of a business that might be paying $1,279 monthly for trash collection/recycling now and could pay $1,191 even with food-scrap recycling. However, she admitted “that’s not a scenario for every business,” and some will end up paying more.
Foster said residential food-scrap recycling, per state law, is to begin Jan. 1, 2022.
Councilwoman Sanchez gave a “shout-out” to the Green Oceanside program. She said 10-13 years ago the city’s then Integrated Waste Commission got involved in recycling. If Oceanside didn’t comply, Sanchez said, the state could fine it daily.
“Things are happening with respect to the homeless front,” Councilwoman Sanchez said, promising to make herself available for any further questions on the subject. “As a council member,” she said, “I’m very into affordable housing.” She said it’s been hard since the retirement (Nov. 1) of Margery Pierce, the city’s community development director. “She was able to put things together” like no one else, Sanchez said.
Carlsbad city officials called, Sanchez said, to talk about a coalition of North County cities on how to end homelessness. Recent surveys show, Sanchez said, that, “believe it or not”, most Oceanside homeless are originally Oceanside residents. She said she’s ridden with the city’s Homeless Outreach Team (police backed by a social worker) and it is working very hard to reunite families. The goal, she said, is to shelter half of the homeless in two years – a goal that Greg Anglea from Interfaith Community Services, which works with the homeless, says is possible. Sanchez said that means that Oceanside should shelter 185 (half of 370 total homeless in Oceanside) in the next two years. “We can not ask someone not to camp on a sidewalk,” Sanchez said, “unless we have a bed to offer.” “If you build it, they will come,” she said. “I do believe that we can reach our goal.”
She alluded to proposed developments that could offer more than 1,000 affordable units, but said she couldn’t reveal more of the negotiations at this time. “My vision,” Sanchez said, is for a combination of so-called “bridge” (temporary shelter) and permanent housing. “I would like to see two (sites),” Sanchez said – one of them near Brother Benno’s, a support center for homeless and working poor, in the airport area.
In other business:
–This Thursday is Public Safety Night at the Sunset Market, and Cathy Nykiel, Sunset Market Manager, said representatives of the Police, Fire and Lifeguards departments will participate. The U. S. Power Squadron was added to the program a couple of weeks ago, she said . It offers classes in boating water safety. Nykiel said firefighters will bring their surf rescue team and retired fire officer Ken Matsumoto will bring memorabilia from 9/11 in New York. And, she said, the Trauma Intervention Program is a “great addition” to the event.
–Nykiel also reported that Authors Night, rained out the first week, was a success the second week with 14 writers participating.
–She also coordinates the annual Independence Parade on the Saturday before the Fourth of July. This year, she said, it will be held on June 27. The next parade- committee meeting, Nykiel said, will be at 8 a.m. Tuesday. She said she needs at least 100 volunteers on the parade day alone.
–Kathy Hamman, MainStreet Office Manager since 2004, was applauded for her service upon announcing that she is retiring (and moving to Reno) at the end of the month. Wright said she was the third or fourth employee hired by MainStreet.
–Ashley Sanchez, Oceanside Police Department Crime Prevention Specialist, told of needs for sponsors for the Oceanside Youth Partnership, a mentoring program. (See below for more information.)
–An announcement was made promoting the 8th Annual Wildcat Run car show May 16 to benefit the El Camino High School Wildcat Foundation. Some 300 cars and motorcycles are expected.
–Gumaro Escarcega, Main Street Program Manager announced that there will be a workshop from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Feb 29, to put together the glass mural by artist Don Myers.
–Linda Piña said this year’s Pride By the Beach Festival will be held June 13th – instead of the usual October. Last year, she said, 8,000 people attended, and she’s hoping for 10,000 this year.
–Jane Marshall, president of the Oceanside Coastal Neighborhood Association, said its meetings at St. Mary, Star of the Sea church have been moved from Tuesdays to the third Thursday of the month. The next meeting is at 6:30 p.m. Feb. 20.
–Christina Ortega from Oceanside American Little League said opening-day ceremonies will start at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 29. She said sponsors are still needed. (See below for sponsor information.)
The next MainStreet Morning Meeting is at 8:30 a.m. on Election Day, March 3 at 701 Mission Ave.
