Ventana parking issue:

To whom it may concern, we the residents of Ventana at El Corazon call upon the city of Oceanside to approve street parking on the south side of Dr. Hugh La Bounty Drive and Village Commercial Drive between the hours of 6:00 p.m to 8:00 a.m. 

As the City Council of Oceanside is aware, there is very limited parking for the residents in the Ventana community. The streets within the community are not legally wide enough to park, making the parking situation dire. HOA and homeowners have done everything possible to alleviate the problem. Parking rules are enforced with each home parking 2 cars in the garage. HOA has hired Reliant Parking to enforce community parking regulations. HOA is also actively planning to create and enforce more parking rules. There has been towing of cars for parking on either side of the street as well as behind our garages. Due to this, the residents have turned to parking in other communities and catching a ride back to our community. Some have also turned to parking in commercial areas that we understand are not designated as overnight parking to the public, however, there are situations where our residents are left with no choice but to take their chances and risk getting ticketed or towed by parking there.

There are 70 homes within the community with 29 shared parking spaces between the community and the commercial buildings on Village Commercial Drive.  17 are guest parking, 10 are commercial parking, and 2 are handicap parking spaces. That’s 70 homes with 246 bedrooms. Garage spaces accommodate 140 vehicles leaving us with 176 bedrooms that could be used for adults or driving-age children. 

Upon purchasing the homes, we were aware that each home only comes with a 2 car garage but we were told that there would be additional parking opportunities in the surrounding areas due to the development of the El Corazon project. Just a block away, the City of Oceanside recently leased a lot within El Corazon that will accommodate over 600 parking spaces for the arena, however, there is no information as to whether these 600 parking spaces for the arena will be available to the residents, nor does it solve the immediate issue we are in currently.

The City Council unanimously approved $1.88 million for a 50 bed shelter one mile from our community. In addition, the city earmarked $3.5 million to affordable housing projects. We are asking that the city allows for street parking in front of our community at no cost to the city, potentially offering 176 bedrooms that could be used by the homeowners and tenants to rent or extend to family members. Again, at no charge to the city. 

We the residents at Ventana bought into the vision of El Corazon as a work, live, play neighborhood, and we feel the very limited parking available to the residents does not coincide with that vision. Below are a few key points to consider accommodating our request:

1. The cost of living has continued to rise, causing an extreme shortage of affordable housing in Oceanside and the homeless rate continues to go up. Ventana community has large 3 and 4 bedroom townhomes yet only offers the opportunity of 2 adults per household. This does not fit with the plan of any of our housing issues in Oceanside. 

2. Some residents have taken in roommates, some would like the option to take in roommates. Adult children have moved back in with their parents. Parents have moved in with their adult children. Many of the homes within Ventana have 4 or more working adults living within the same roof. Yet, there are only 2 available parking spaces per household.

3. Moreover, we also have a handful of work vans and pickup trucks within the community as travel has become limited and some offices opted to keep their employees permanently remote post-pandemic.

4. Now that the construction on the new CaliFino Arena is underway, we are continuing to see an increased number of construction workers and many other non-residents parking happening within our community during the day, further adding to the parking problem. Particularly in the evening hours of the day, when the residents who commute for work are getting home and construction workers have not yet left for the day.

This limited parking issue is making Ventana at El Corazon an unsustainable situation. It is making the community unlivable for so many of our Oceanside residents. 

With multiple adults living within the same home in Ventana, we are helping alleviate the housing problem in Oceanside. We would appreciate that the City Council helps by allowing street parking on the south side of Dr. Hugh La Bounty Drive and Village Commercial Drive between the hours of 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m. Let’s help each other. It’s a win-win situation.

We, the residents of Ventana, feel this is the best immediate solution, however, if there are any other alternative options that the City of Oceanside can provide, we are open to any and all suggestions. In the future, we hope we can work together to come up with a permanent solution to this ongoing problem. 

Sincerely,

Your neighbors at Ventana at El Corazon