Photo of volunteer signature gatherers from Feb. 4 Reader story

The controversial North River Farms project that promises to build 585 homes on Oceanside’s last remaining agricultural district hit a serious roadblock on Thursday. The county registrar certified that the self-described “anti-sprawl” group called Let Oceanside Vote was successful in overriding the city council’s November zoning change vote that allowed the project to proceed.

Because the referendum was successful, the city council must now rescind its 3-2 vote or place the question before the voters of Oceanside. Voters would then decide the development’s fate with a yes or no decision. City clerk Zeb Navarro says that if the city council does not decide to rescind its November vote, the public vote would be held in a special election or would appear on the November 3 general election ballot.

Navarro says he does not expect the council will call for a special election because of its $750,000 price tag. “In these fiscal times I find that very unlikely.”

The project was proposed by Integral Communities, a developer with a nationwide reach that maintains an office in Encinitas. An attempt to reach Integral’s Ninia Hammond, the North River Farms project manager for a comment was unsuccessful.

The city council will decide at its March 25 meeting how to proceed. The council decided at an emergency meeting March 18 that the public will no longer be available to gather in council chambers during council meetings for the duration of the Coronavirus pandemic.

The fact that more than 12,500 signatures were collected in less than 30 days by a mostly all-volunteer group indicates that the public is ready to turn down Integral’s project at the ballot box, says Kathryn Carbone part of the Let Oceanside Vote leadership team. “When we were in the field gathering signatures, most people already knew about the issue and were ready to sign the petition. Some people even sought us out in the field. I had people coming up to me at Vons with a smile on their face saying ‘Can I sign that?’ before I even got a word out to greet them.”

County registrar Michael Vu sent a letter to Oceanside city clerk Zeb Navarro on March 19 that of the 12,623 signatures collected, 2,130 were determined to be invalid. That meant that 11,739 signatures were valid. This figure exceeded the minimum of 9,609 signatures, which is ten per cent of Oceanside’s total registered voters. It took the registrar’s office nearly three months to verify the signatures.

In January, Integral filed a lawsuit claiming “egregious violations” hoping to stop the petition. It is unclear if the court system’s inactivity due to the Corona Virus will impact the successful referendum.

“It’s important to note that according to the registrar of voters, that out of 12,623 signatures, only four were withdrawn, after a campaign by Integral which compelled people to withdrawal their signatures,” says Carbonne.

“North River Farms’ high-density housing project on Oceanside farmland has met with tremendous public opposition,” says a release from Let Oceanside Vote. “It was rejected for land rezoning three times by the Oceanside Planning Commission. If the council does not rescind its decision, Oceanside’s voters can decide at the November 3rd election if this type of sprawl is really what Oceanside needs, or create a plan will be better for the area.”