The future is uncertain for a string of partially built luxury homes in Oceanside that are turning a weathered gray with age on a hillside overlooking Rancho Del Oro Drive just north of Vista Way.
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The developer of what’s called the Vista Pacific project is fighting a $411,475 fine levied Sept. 13, 2023, by the Regional Water Quality Control Board for failing to control stormwater runoff from the property.
Officials at the Regional Water Quality Control Board declined to comment because of pending litigation. According to the board’s website, a legal case related to the Vista Pacific site was discussed in closed session as recently as June 10.
A real estate agent for the property, Sean Caddell of Encinitas, said Tuesday he knew nothing about the water board’s penalty. He said construction stopped because the owner had trouble with financing, but a new loan was approved recently and construction should resume soon.
A color poster on the fence around the site says the 16 units are available in two floor plans, one at 1,984 square feet and the other at 2,256 square feet, with prices starting at a little more than $1.6 million. Caddell said the construction is about 30% complete and that some reservations for purchases were taken before work was suspended.
An Oceanside Planning Division official said Tuesday there are hurdles to clear before work can resume.
The city issued a “stop work” order for the project and is requiring the developer to obtain a new grading permit before any work resumes, City Planner Oscar Romero said in an email Tuesday.
“City staff are aware of the violations and will not permit future work until conditions are resolved,” Romero said.
The regional water board works with federal, state and local governments as well as environmental agencies to protect human health and the environment.
The Vista Pacific property owner is Quality Investors, a limited liability corporation managed by David G. Epstein of Laguna Beach, according to the water board’s order. Attempts to contact Epstein were unsuccessful.
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Epstein and Quality Investors have a history of noncompliance with city storm controls required at the site, the water board’s order states.
“Between March 10, 2021, and August 13, 2021, the City issued five administrative citations and other enforcement actions to the (developer) for their repeated failure to implement erosion and sediment control (management practices) at the Site, and failure to control run-on from the Buena Hills neighborhood to the east,” it states.
The San Diego Superior Court website shows Epstein filed a writ of mandate Jan. 16, 2024, seeking to overturn the water board’s decision.
The 3.5-acre site is on a previously undeveloped, steep hillside bisected by a small, natural creek that leads to the Buena Vista Creek and the Buena Vista Lagoon, the order states.
The developer “failed to install the storm drain infrastructure, or alternative run-on management strategy, ahead of the 2021-2022 rainy season,” the order states. Intense storms in December 2021 resulted in significant erosion, flooding nearby streets with water and sediment.
“The Dec. 14, 2021, discharge was so large that the city deployed emergency traffic control measures at the flooded intersection of Rancho Del Oro Drive and Vista Way to ensure public safety,” the order states.
Plans for the project required the installation of city-approved, 30-inch-diameter storm drain pipe and infrastructure to replace what was once a natural creek across the site, it states.
The underground pipe would have carried storm runoff to a city drain along Rancho Del Oro Drive, but it was not installed, according to the regional agency’s order.
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