Oceanside Tract Plans Get Plenty of Attention

Nearly 100 residents packed the Community Center this week to learn about the latest proposal for the 250-acre Marblehead Coastal property, one of the county’s last undeveloped oceanside tracts.

The project would include 500 single-family homes, a 750,000-square-foot commercial center and a 10-acre bluff-side ocean-view park.

The property, to be developed by Irvine-based Lusk Holding Co., is bounded by Avenida Pico and the bluffs above Pacific Coast Highway, extending one mile inland to Interstate 5.

The Thursday night meeting was the first step in a process that could last as long as four years, said Bonnie McKenna, principal planner.

Even if the proposal is approved, the project’s progress depends on whether the city can come up with the $18 million needed for an Avenida Vista Hermosa interchange to provide access to the property, McKenna said.

Some of the residents questioned the need for the project at all, citing the high vacancy rates in local shopping centers.

“It’s preposterous to think of another shopping center at this time,” real estate consultant Wayne Eggleston said. “The point is: We can’t even fill up the shopping malls that we do have in San Clemente.”

Other residents asked that the developer thoroughly explore the likely effects of the project on traffic, sewage, water drainage and the environment.

A draft environmental impact review, to be completed in June, is underway, McKenna said, and a consulting firm is preparing an analysis of the project’s effect on the local economy.

Public hearings are to begin by October, officials said.

If approved by the City Council, the proposal would then go to the California Coastal Commission for approval.