A nonprofit resource center distributing free food and other resources in a strip mall near the back gate to Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton has suspended its services after Oceanside officials said the operation needs a business permit.
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Oscarin Ortego, founder of the Lived Experiences center, said he’s working through the process of obtaining the required city permits. He continues to use the building on North Redondo Drive as an office, but other activities there have ceased.
“We are planning, organizing, and developing new ideas so that we are ready to reopen and continue serving the community as soon as we receive approval,” said Ortega, who is a candidate for the District 2 Oceanside City Council seat in November.
Ortega created Lived Experiences in 2019. He established a mobile food program in 2020 and a mobile laundry in 2021 to help the homeless and poverty-stricken. The program moved to its current location in May 2025, he said.
“When we transferred our business license, the city informed us that we needed to obtain a building permit,” Ortega said in an email.
“We were told we would need to submit architectural plans, environmental studies, water usage analyses, and other technical reports,” he said. “I explained that we had taken over an existing building that already had the infrastructure we needed and that we were not constructing a new facility. Despite this, the city still required us to pay a $3,000 application fee for a permit that was not guaranteed to be approved.”
He continued to operate on Redondo Drive until a few weeks ago when the city issued a notice of violation, he said. It stated that the center failed to comply with the zoning on the property and would need a conditional use permit.
“We have since submitted the application and are now waiting for the city’s next steps in the review process,” Ortega said Wednesday.
City Manager Jonathan Borrego, in a recent memo to the Oceanside City Council, said that despite some reports otherwise the center has not been “shut down” by the city.
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“Staff has not asked the operator to completely cease operations,” Borrego said in the memo.
“Rather, the operator of Lived Experiences was informed of the need to obtain an Administrative Conditional Use Permit (ACUP) in order to obtain a business license (which they do not have),” he said. “They were informed of the need for a business license approximately one year ago but have yet to comply with this requirement.”
Ortega has paid the $3,000 filing fee for the permit, Borrego said. However, the application is incomplete and additional information is needed. An administrative conditional use permit can be approved by city staff, unlike a regular conditional use permit that must be approved by the City Council.
“It is also important to note that the City has received complaints from other businesses in the shopping center regarding some of the unpermitted outdoor events that have been held in the parking lot,” Borrego said.
One recent outdoor event held by Lived Experiences was a World Cup watch party June 20, when Mexico played Ecuador.
“As a result, staff has asked the operator to cease holding any further outdoor events until such time that an ACUP is granted,” Borrego said. “The parameters of future outdoor activities should be evaluated and possibly regulated as part of the ACUP process.”
The strip mall where the center is located contains about a dozen small businesses including the Semper Fi Florist, a barber shop, a check cashing operation, an insurance office, several markets and the Rising Star Missionary Baptist Church.
Many of the businesses were closed or empty Friday morning, and a work crew was mulching and replacing landscaping around the parking lot. Employees at the dry cleaners and the insurance office said they knew of no problems with Lived Experiences.
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