Planning Commission approves 4-acre Buena Vista Audubon wetland restoration and public trail

The Oceanside Planning Commission unanimously approved a regular coastal permit for a 4-acre habitat restoration project on land owned by the Buena Vista Audubon Society, the City of Oceanside and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. The restoration and resiliency project will regrade historic fill, improve water-quality runoff controls, expand freshwater marsh habitat and create an accessible, formal nature trail with interpretive signage.

Shannon Vitale, the city’s senior planner, described the proposal as an effort to restore and enhance existing freshwater wetland areas that would be affected by a larger Buena Vista Lagoon restoration project. Vitale told commissioners the project qualifies as a statutory exemption restoration project (SERP) under state law and noted the California Department of Fish and Wildlife issued a concurrence letter for the SERP application in October 2020. The project site is adjacent to the North…