"There's no question that the issues of flood, fire and water conservation are reaching critical mass," Sanchez told the council before presentations by the Mission Resource Conservation District, the Buena Vista Native Plant Club and from Oceanside fire Chief Terry Garrison.

The council voted unanimously to have city staff compile more information on the species and Sanchez's proposal and have the matter brought back in 30 days.

Also Wednesday the council unanimously approved two conditions that clear the way for the controversial expansion of Eternal Hills Memorial Park.

The vote followed a compromise reached by the park and its surrounding homeowners earlier this month that would allow the cemetery to expand while preserving an American Indian site and giving neighbors a way to weigh in on the design of future mausoleums.

The 18-acre expansion would add capacity for 17,800 more burial plots and up to seven mausoleum buildings on land that the park owns at El Camino Real and Fire Mountain Drive in Oceanside.

"This is a very unique site," said Deputy Mayor Rocky Chavez, before commending residents, members of the San Luis Rey Band of Mission Indians and the park for finding a balance. "I'm glad we protected it. Eternal Hills is clearly a neighbor to the city."

With regard to the ban on invasive plants, Councilmen Jerry Kern, Jack Feller and Chavez debated whether having the city enforce the ban was a duplication of work already done by the state. They also questioned where the money to pay for such enforcement would come from.

"I don't see paying code enforcement to go into people's backyards to rip up plants," Kern said. "We're going down a path I don't think we should be going down. I don't mind education, but I don't think an ordinance is needed right now."

Chavez said that while he thought it was important to discuss such a ban, he needed more information.

"I'm not in favor of spending the city's dollars for a new program," he said. "I think the economic argument is, we're spending millions now and this would prevent future problems."

In a separate but related issue, the council voted 3-2 to turn down a plea by North Pacific Street resident Pamela Myers and residents of nearby North Coast Village condominiums to include giant timber bamboo in the plant ban.

A group from the condominium complex carried a 25-foot stalk of the bamboo into the council chambers, then told the council that bamboo is a hazard to human health, that its roots affect natural resources and that it decreases property values.

"This is a major issue," Myers told the council. "This bamboo can grow 100 feet tall. Please support Esther's item here, but we ask that you add this bamboo to it and ban it in the coastal zone."

Sanchez said that with respect to the bamboo, she would support asking staff to come back with a proposal to ban it along the coast so that the council could then consider it.

However, Sanchez and Mayor Jim Wood were on the losing end of the vote.

In other business the council unanimously approved:

- A one-year extension of a contract with Camp Pendleton that allows up to 3.6 million gallons of wastewater per day to pass through Oceanside's ocean outfall from five Camp Pendleton wastewater treatment plants.

The extension would be the final one-year extension allowed for the contract, first agreed to in 1999.

- The allocation of $50,000 in Community Development Block Grant contingency money for development of a preschool proposed by Camp Fire USA in the Crown Heights neighborhood and $10,000 to buy 10 graffiti cameras. The cameras will be placed primarily in commercial areas where excessive graffiti occurs.