A Fair Share? Housing & Rail Woes

Is Del Mar’s plan to meet a significant portion of its affordable housing obligations with units on Fairgrounds property at risk of failure? Recent clashes between the City and the Fairground’s governing body, the 22nd DAA, have resulted in a “pause” and a missed deadline in housing negotiations, and two positions taken by the City may put a housing deal at risk.

 

The City has asked SANDAG to continue studying a potential Fairgrounds alignment for rail relocation, and also has urged SANDAG to delay a project that is a high priority for the 22nd DAA: replacement of the San Dieguito Railway River Bridge, a project that includes a Special Events Platform for the Fairgrounds. SANDAG has projected that it will advertise for construction bids by June 2025 for the fully-funded Bridge project, and begin construction in early 2026.

 

Del Mar’s state-certified 6th Cycle Housing Element, setting out how it will comply with its affordable housing obligations, is heavily reliant on Fairgrounds housing; “Program 3A” requires the City to secure an agreement with the 22nd DAA for at least 54 lower income units on the Fairgrounds property.

 

A big hammer hangs over Del Mar: if Program 3A fails, a contingency (Program 1E) kicks in, requiring the city to upzone vacant land on North Bluff and/or South Stratford properties to 20-25 dwelling units per acre by right.

Photo: Betty Wheeler

The City asserts it has complied with Program 3A by securing an “Exclusive Negotiating Rights Agreement” (ENRA) with the 22nd DAA, and thus, Program 1E is no longer at issue. However, the ENRA does not appear to meet the 6th Cycle HE’s requirement of “a binding agreement to allow for development of at least 54 lower income units at a specific location on the Fairgrounds property.” Rather, it is simply an agreement giving the City an exclusive right to negotiate for as-of-yet unspecified housing site(s), and does not bind the 22nd DAA to allow development. The ENRA states, “this Agreement in itself does not (i) obligate any party to acquire or convey any portion of the Property, [or] (ii) grant the City the right to develop the Affordable Development….” When the 22nd DAA’s Board approved the ENRA, it emphasized that the agreement does not obligate the 22nd DAA to provide a site for Del Mar’s housing program. And later in 2024, the 22nd DAA Board directed that negotiations under ENRA be paused, based on perceived support from Del Mar for a Fairgrounds alignment for track relocation.

 

Notably, the State’s Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD), which certifies and oversees Housing Elements, sent the City a letter on Dec. 11 stating, “Should the ENRA…be suspended or terminated, or development of the Fairgrounds project within the planning period be rendered infeasible, or any other action taken or not taken that is inconsistent with the schedule noted above, then Program 1E will be required.”

 

Meanwhile, ENRA’s deadline of December 31, 2024 for the 22nd DAA “to provide City with prospective development sites” has passed, with no prospective sites identified.  According to City Manager Ashley Jones, an amendment to the ENRA schedule to extend the deadline for the 22nd DAA’s provision of potential development sites to the City “is underway,” but a revised date for the provision of development sites has not yet been established.

 


 

Editor Don Mosier serves on the Board of Directors of the 22nd District Agricultural Association, better known as the Fair Board. He does not contribute to any articles in the Sandpiper concerning negotiations between the City of Del Mar and the Del Mar Fairgrounds about affordable housing or the potential alignment of railway tunnels under the Fairgrounds, nor does he try to influence the content of such articles.