Proposed Asphalt Plant in Oceanside Divides Community

Plans to bring a 500,000-square-foot asphalt plant to Oceanside is currently being discussed by the Oceanside City Council. 

George Weir, who owns George Weir Asphalt Construction in Escondido, hopes to bring a smaller plant to the city's Loma Alta neighborhood. The plant would bring jobs to the city, generate additional tax revenue, and would reduce the city's need to transport asphalt from the Escondido facility.

“George’s desire is to create a small, boutique (asphalt) plant in Oceanside that would meet the needs of Oceanside,” Pete Pouwels, a consultant for the project, told U-T San Diego.

The proposal is merely in its infancy, and the company has not applied for any permits. To this point, Weir representatives have only discussed the idea with city staff, according to the newspaper. 

While the asphalt plant would bring jobs, some residents argue that it would also bring additional noise and pollution to the area just south of Oceanside Boulevard between Fire Mountain and Loma Alta. 

“We don’t want any more heavy-duty industry in our neighborhood,” Nadine Scott, a local community activist, told U-T San Diego. 

Scott's views on the project seem in line with a 2007 task force report on the community vision for the Oceanside Boulevard corridor. In that report, it states, "the heavy industrial uses currently present in the area do not reflect the community’s vision for the future of the corridor and need to be converted into a mixture of light industrial, office and retail uses."

However, city officials might see the proposed plant as too good to pass up. 

“We need businesses,” city councilmember Jack Feller told U-T San Diego. “We need jobs, and every business isn’t going to be a windmill manufacturer or a solar panel manufacturer.”