OCEANSIDE -- The owner of an aging (almost 40 years) Carlsbad mall has challenged a developer's plan to build a huge shopping center in northern Oceanside.

On Wednesday, Westfield Corp. requested that Oceanside's City Council overturn the Planning Commission's recent approval of a 92-acre Pavilion at Oceanside.

Westfield owns Plaza Camino Real mall in north Carlsbad, about five miles from the Pavilion site.

In a two-page appeal letter, Westfield's attorney stated that planning commissioners relied on a flawed analysis of the project's environmental impacts.

The attorney did not return a call seeking comment Wednesday afternoon.

Mayor Jim Wood called the challenge "unbelievable."

"I guess they're concerned about competition," he said Wednesday.

The City Council is tentatively slated to hear the appeal Nov. 19.

The Pavilion site, a defunct drive-in movie theater near Highway 76 and Foussat Road, is one of the last large chunks of developable commercial real estate in Oceanside.

Plaza Camino Real is a 90-acre mall just south of Highway 78 and the Oceanside border.

The Pavilion is the brainchild of Georgia-based developer Thomas Enterprises, which built the Forum, an upscale mall in Carlsbad's La Costa neighborhood.

Plans call for a movie theater, health club, restaurants, big-box stores and a central plaza.

So far, the developer has confirmed just two tenants: Target and Best Buy. But the company's Web site promises "a strategic balance of upscale, specialty boutique retailers and larger value-oriented stores."

When construction is complete, the Pavilion could create 2,800 jobs and generate $3.8 million annually in sales, property and business-license tax revenues for the city, according to an analysis by consulting firm Keyser Marston Associates.

Last week, Mel Kuhnel, vice president of development for Thomas Enterprises, said he expected to break ground in December.

An appeal to the council, he estimated, would push the start date to January.

Kuhnel did not return a call seeking comment Wednesday.

Westfield Corp. owns several malls in San Diego County. Plaza Camino Real, which was built in phases starting in 1969, is one of the oldest of those properties. That two-story mall has more than 150 stores.

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