Oceanside OKs last pieces of 25-year-old plan for ‘the jewel of our city’

Plans for the final buildings in Oceanside’s 25-year-old, nine-block downtown master plan were approved on a 3-2 vote Wednesday after the developer agreed to widen the distance between the two structures.

More space between the upper floors of the of the eight- and seven-story buildings on the lots known as Blocks 5 and 20 will help preserve views looking west along Pier View Way toward the ocean, said Daniel Bertao of Ryan Companies, the developer.

The lowest two floors will be 90 feet apart as initially proposed, Bertao said. From the third floor up, the plans will be adjusted to match the distance, estimated at 106 feet, between the Mission Pacific Resort Hotel and the Club Wyndham Resort that face Pacific Street and the Oceanside Municipal Pier at the end of Pier View Way.

Pier View Way, like Mission Avenue, is one of several east-west downtown “view corridors” that the city tries to keep open so people can see the ocean as they approach the beach. Blocks 5 and 20 are on either side of Pier View Way, separated by one end of a pedestrian underpass beneath the railroad.

Mayor Esther Sanchez and Councilmember Eric Joyce voted against approval, after unsuccessfully proposing to postpone the decision a month. Sanchez and Joyce said they wanted more time to discuss the buildings’ spacing and the developer’s plans for the area around a public plaza on Myers Street at the western end of the underpass.

“This is the jewel of our city … where pe...