The neighborhood residential community of Fire Mountain is extremely concerned about the proposed 295 unit apartment complex plus retail at the corner of Crouch Street and Oceanside Boulevard known as "Ocean Creek". This project will cause significant traffic and safety impacts to the existing Fire Mountain community.

The JPI project proposal to build a 4 story, 50 foot tall, 295 unit apartment complex and 3,000 square feet of retail space at the Crouch Street Sprinter station, is located in Fire Mountain. Fire Mountain has been a respected, safe, friendly neighborhood for over a century. According to the Oceanside Historical Society, earliest references to Fire Mountain were found on topographical maps from before incorporation of the City of Oceanside. Downs Street was named after a resident, and is a common route which runs north / south from Oceanside & Crouch to Vista Way & Jefferson.

Fire Mountain area residents, and neighboring communities alike, use Ivy / Downs street to access the commercial areas surrounding Fire Mountain. The Fire Mountain community was annexed into Oceanside in the 1960s, after being known for decades as North Carlsbad, an unincorporated island surrounded by Oceanside. Realtors find it easy to sell in Fire Mountain since it has a great reputation and is well known. The area has been defined as upscale neighborhood with a mix of higher end and more affordable homes. The Oceanside community of Fire Mountain is a great place to raise a family or enjoy the feel of semi rural living. With a mix of imposing mini mansions and modest homes and winding, hilly streets, most without sidewalks, Fire Mountain is one of our most distinctive neighborhoods.

Our safety is an issue, and will become a bigger issue with increased traffic. Fire Mountain residents object to the vast increase in traffic, congestion, pollution, noise, and speeding through our peaceful neighborhood with this new high density development. The little two lane streets of Downs Street and Ivy Road cannot be widened. There is one lane going north and one lane going south. If you drive the posted speed limits on Downs / Ivy and slow down for the speed bumps, people jogging, taking their dogs for a walk, kids walking on the edge of the street, and vehicles attempting to pull into or out of the nearly 70 driveways in a stretch of about one mile on this narrow street, you will find this is a dangerous situation. Taking into consideration the hundreds, maybe thousands of homes that connect into the Ivy / Downs corridor for access to and from their neighborhoods with very limited ingress / egress, the traffic will be unbearable. 

Would you want that traffic increase approved in your area? Unless traffic (which includes noise, air pollution, sound, and trash being thrown out the window) plus safety impacts can be mitigated by appropriate Conditions of Approval, we would urge the Planning Commission and City Council to deny the project.