OCEANSIDE -- An aging but iconic stretch of North Coast Highway could become an attractive tourist destination with new hotels, a pedestrian promenade across the river, and changes to select streets, city-hired consultants said this week.

Over the course of five days this week, professional planners and city staffers crafted a long-term vision for the city's northern gateway, near Oceanside's border with Camp Pendleton.

The scope of the meetings expanded during the week.

The city initially charged the consultants with evaluating a narrow stretch of Coast Highway, from Winward Way to the city's northern border -- an area dotted with motels, restaurants, even a strip club.

Soon, however, they had pulled the marina and a nearby mobile-home park into the planning area.

On Friday, they displayed maps and concept drawings at City Hall, reflecting what they said was a realistic vision, given market conditions.

Key features included:

- Middle-rate hotels along Coast Highway and additional, perhaps higher quality hotels, along the perimeter of the marina, and on a triangular, city owned parking lot.

- a realignment of Coast Highway near the intersection with Harbor Drive.

- Thinner traffic lanes over the San Luis Rey River bridge to accommodate a bicycle-and-pedestrian promenade.

- An extension of downtown's street grid into an area now occupied by an aging mobile-home park.

- A traffic circle at the intersection of Coast Highway and Highway 76.

Neal Payton, a consultant with Torti Gallas and Partners who led the planning effort, said the vision could take shape one piece at a time over many years.

"It's a guiding light," Payton said. "Whether or not you follow it, that's a whole other thing. But you can't follow it if you don't have it."

The planning sessions were public, and residents offered mixed feedback throughout the week. Community activist Nadine Scott complained that the buildings were too cramped.

But Joe Klein, who lives nearby, said "I could picture myself strolling these streets and enjoying it very much."

Some suggested the city lose the hotel focus and think more about open space, performance venues and other amenities for locals.

Payton argued that unless a developer can make some money on a project, it isn't going to get built.

"What we're talking about is making a great destination," Payton said. "And I think that great destination here has to be able to serve the citizens of Oceanside, but it also has to be something that's going to pull somebody in because no one is going to do it just to do it."

The city has scheduled similar workshops for the middle and southern sections of Coast Highway from Aug. 25 to 29.

After that, city planners will develop a proposal on how to implement the vision plan, including when the changes could take shape, and present it to the City Council next spring.

Contact staff writer Craig TenBroeck at (760) 901-4062 or ctenbroeck@nctimes.com.