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Boost
in inspections pays off in Oceanside
Focus on corridor
yields violations
By Lola Sherman
STAFF WRITER
January 5, 2007
OCEANSIDE – City inspectors visited nearly two dozen businesses on the Oceanside Boulevard-Industry Street
corridor and found something amiss at just about all of them. With the help of the Police Department,
they also cleaned out two illegal
encampments along Loma
Alta Creek
and promised more inspections.
A report to the City
Council prepared by city
code-enforcement officer David Manley also includes notifications to the
North County Transit District to do a better job cleaning up debris from its
Sprinter rail line construction and diverting drainage to prevent flooding on
city streets.
As for the businesses,
most have promised to make
corrections. In only three cases has a
citation been issued – for
violations such as dust control or a patio deck built without a permit.
The inspections, conducted in mid-October and early December, are a result
of a commitment by city officials, especially in the code enforcement
division and the clean-water program, to conduct quarterly checks of
businesses in the Oceanside
Boulevard corridor. Previously, inspections were conducted annually.
Residents of the adjoining Loma Alta neighborhood have
made an issue of the conduct of businesses in the area, as part of their efforts to persuade the city not to allow a
concrete batch plant to open on Industry
Street.
The plant is to be discussed
at a meeting of the Loma Alta Neighborhood Association at 7 p.m. Tuesday in
the Apostolic Assembly, 2904
MacDonald St.
Manley listed 23 sites (two belonging to the same business)
plus the transit district and the encampments in his latest summary to the
City Council, dated Dec. 22. “There will be more (inspections),” Manley
said yesterday. “We're trying to do it methodically.”
In all, there are 487
commercial and industrial businesses in the seven-mile corridor along Loma Alta
Creek, according to Mo Lahsaie, the city's clean-water program coordinator.
Manley's report to the
council is in the form of a chart, listing the business, its address, its
city business license number, the issues – screening portable toilets from
public view, for instance – found on the property and the status of any
corrections or enforcement action. Residents
have been particularly concerned
about runoff of pollutants through drains into the creek.
But Manley said that “most
of the issues are not storm-water related.” His report says Argo Stone and Supply, 2809 Industry St.,
was cited for lack of dust control
and also had an issue with outdoor storage.
In response, Manley said, the company will install a sprinkler system
over its aggregate to control dust and has screened
its outdoor storage area. It also is replacing a broken and cracked driveway.
Manley said Evergreen
Nursery, 3231 Oceanside Blvd.,
has corrected the problems that
caused it to be cited for storm-water maintenance issues.
The third citation was
issued to the Red Rooster lounge at 1985 Oceanside Blvd. for constructing a
patio deck without a building permit. Other issues on the property, like the
presence of construction debris, have been corrected,
Manley's report states.
 Lola
Sherman: (760) 476-8241; lola.sherman@uniontrib.com
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