VISTA -- The city's Planning Commission will meet tonight to consider a developer's plan to put 59 homes on a piece of what is now city-owned property along Buena Vista Creek.

Selling the blighted 13.26-acre site, which formerly housed the Sycamore Creek Mobile Home Park, would help the city recoup some of the money spent to acquire the land years ago and would mark a significant step in the area's revitalization, officials have said.

But the proposal has frustrated some residents, who feel Vista would be better served with a park or other public use.

"Putting homes on it does absolutely nothing," said retired San Diego County supervisor Paul Eckert, who has been distributing fliers urging like-minded residents to meet outside City Hall at 6:30 p.m. tonight to rally against the development plan.

The Planning Commission will meet at 7 p.m. at City Hall, 600 Eucalyptus Ave.

Vista purchased the mobile home park at 751 E. Vista Way in 1990 to maintain it as affordable housing, and perhaps eventually turn it into a commercial development, said Mayor Morris Vance, who was city manager at the time the land was purchased.

The city ran the park for years, but revenue didn't cover the operating costs and debt payments, so the city decided to redevelop the property with help from the private sector, acting Community Development Director John Conley said.

Vista paid to relocate the residents, and the last mobile homes were removed from the property in 2005. The park's abandoned clubhouse burned down in an arson fire in December 2005.

The cost of property acquisition and resident relocation was about $5.3 million, according to a city report.

The site is now fenced off, with grass poking out between concrete pads.

Jeff Zinner, the city's redevelopment and housing manager, declined to disclose the current value of the land, citing ongoing talks with the potential buyer, California West Homes, a company affiliated with Carlsbad-based homebuilder Lucas & Mercier.

The city is in negotiations to redevelop the property with California West.

In addition to the sale of property, the city expects to make money through a profit-participation arrangement with the builder and from the property-tax revenue it will collect on the homes, Zinner said.

Although it's unlikely Vista will immediately turn a profit, "in the long run, the city is going to come out far, far ahead," he said.

Eckert, 73, has argued for years that the Sycamore Creek site should be preserved as a natural area, perhaps with a drought-tolerant garden and a lake.

But public spaces don't come cheap. A city report from 2004 estimated the cost of a "passive park" at $10.3 million.

"It would be great to have it as a park," Vance said Monday, "but we just don't have the money to do it. And with Brengle Terrace Park being so close I'm not sure there's really an outstanding need to have a park right there."

The Sycamore Creek property's location and unique topography also limit the types of development that could work there, Conley said.

"It's a strange site," he said. "It doesn't have a lot of visibility; it's kind of down in a hole. Considering the factors that surround this property, the single-family residential use, we think, is probably the best option."

Contact staff writer Craig TenBroeck at (760) 631-6621 or ctenbroeck@nctimes.com.