Fairgrounds Housing in Jeopardy

At their March 10th meeting, the Del Mar Fair Board had a prolonged discussion about meeting the timeline that the state Housing and Community Development (HCD) Department has established for the City of Del Mar to execute a lease agreement with the Fairgrounds for a site for affordable housing units. That deadline is set as November 15, 2026, and the board took action to extend the negotiation period with Del Mar to that date.

Additional changes to the Exclusive Negotiation Rights Agreement (ENRA) were approved by the Fair Board on March 10th. These amendments included:

• Adding language to specifically align the ENRA with the requirements of state housing laws (minor change)
• Requiring that all actions and milestones be presented to and approved by the Board  (clarification of prior ENRA agreement)
• Removing the language regarding exclusivity (major change)
• Additionally, the Finance Committee proposed amending the ENRA to clarify that the 22nd DAA Board will have the final say on any potential site location, if the Board moves forward with affordable housing (no change from prior ENRA updates)

Director Mark Arabo expressed concern that the HCD timeline for Del Mar does not align with the Master Planning effort of the Fairgrounds, and other Directors opined that it might take years to decide if affordable housing can be located on Fairground’s property.

Del Mar City Manager Ashley Jones responded to the Fair Board comments: “The Fair Board will be presented with the results of multiple site due diligence studies in the coming months, which will help inform whether and where affordable housing on Fairgrounds property would be possible.  It will ultimately be up to the Board to determine whether to move forward and the timing to do so.”