OCEANSIDE, Calif. — Some neighbors in Oceanside are calling it a 'David-versus-Goliath' fight.
A local developer is hoping to get the green light for a massive new warehouse project which it says will bring hundreds of well-paying jobs to the area.
But residents who live nearby want to put the brakes on this proposal and are organizing their opposition.
The proposed warehouse project would be located on a 31-acre vacant lot near the Oceanside Municipal Airport. It's the project's other neighbors, though -- hundreds of residents who live nearby -- who are voicing their concerns, from traffic to pollution to emergency access during wildfires.
"Shock and revulsion. I think it's an affront to our quality of life, our safety," said Oceanside resident Scott Becker, who lives just north of the Eddie Jones Project, a warehouse, manufacturing and distribution center proposed to be built on Eddie Jones Way just off State Route 76.
The facility would include 114 semi-truck loading bays, nearly 600 parking spaces, and a nearly 600,000-square-foot building.
"As proposed...it's just way too big!" said Dee Keck. She also lives near the proposed project and has intense concerns over the traffic impacts.
"We worry about traffic currently on a day-to-day basis," Keck told CBS 8. "You can barely move at certain times of the day when the 76 is impacted because of people coming to and from the 5 and 15."
Keck said that adding the slower-moving semi-truck traffic generated by this project would further clog the already congested roadways, especially Benet Road off the 76, which residents would share with the facility.
"That is going to impact our traffic tremendously," she added.
"It's a big site, it's a big site," said Arlene Tendick, a spokesperson for the developer, RPG.
"Thirty-one acres is a very large project site," she added. "For context, it is about a third of the size of the San Diego Zoo, so we have a lot of space to work with out here."
Tendick pointed out that this land is already zoned for industrial purposes, and has been used in that capacity stretching back to the early 1960s, well before the residential neighborhood was built.
She is aware of the concerns over the potential impact on traffic and said a dedicated right-turn lane off of Benet Road would be added to allow project traffic to get out of the way of traffic heading north into the residential neighborhood.
"I think it's easy to see the number of truck bays that are proposed to make that assumption, but it really is not going to function that way," she told CBS 8.
Even though there are over 100 truck bays, she said that would not translate to hundreds of semi-trucks coming and going at all times of the day, adding that a traffic study by the developer shows that during peak traffic times, there would be an average of 13 semi's in the morning and nine in the evening.
"Those peak times that people are concerned about," Tendick said. "How does it impact getting to work or taking my kids to school? Those are pretty minimal with thirteen and nine respectively."
"The fire issues up here we are very, very concerned about," Keck said.
Residents opposed to the project also worry about emergency access, pointing to a 75-acre wildfire last year in their community, forcing some evacuations.
"There was difficulty with that getting the emergency vehicles up the hill to us and those residents out," Keck added.
"It will be a monumental chore to evacuate," Becker said. "EMS, fire, even for ordinary house fires, someone calling 911 could be an issue."
Tendick said that as part of the application process, the Oceanside Fire Department must first sign off.
"Fire has reviewed our plans," Tendick said, "and that has not come up as a concern that has been shared with us."
As for evacuations, Tendick said that in the event of a wildfire, the concrete construction of the building would allow those at the facility to shelter in place.
"So we wouldn't have hundreds of semi-trucks evacuating with the community at large," she added. "They would most likely shelter in place and the the community could evacuate the way they would evacuate regardless of whether this project is built."
"I think it's the right project, wrong place," said Becker. "Neighbors are also concerned about the unknown: while the project could provide space for four to six tenants, no tenant has yet been identified, although Tendick said that it is highly unlikely that this would be an Amazon facility.
"If we're approved and once we get built, we don't anticipate it stating vacant for long," she told CBS 8.
In the meantime, the draft Environmental Impact Report for this proposal is anticipated in late summer, providing the public a chance to weigh in before the final report is complete.
The Oceanside Planning Commission would then review the proposal later this year or early next year.
"I think we can elevate that land and make it something beautiful, bring high-quality jobs and really ultimately have something that is additive to Oceanside," Tendick said.
But many residents are not sold, and plan to keep fighting. They have already gathered thousands of signatures on a petition opposing the project.
"When the shovels start digging up, it is too late!" Becker said. "We're not anti-development, but this is a monumental expansion of the use permit, and that's the bone of contention."
"Our idea is it may or may not go," Keck added, "but we need to be able to say that we have done everything within our power to make a change, make a difference and to oppose this, because it is not suitable for four our neighborhood."
For more detailed information on this project, click here.
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