Editorial: Lessons Learned

The decision of the 22nd District Agricultural Association Board to end discussions with Del Mar about affordable housing after more than two years of negotiations was shocking but not surprising. The 22nd DAA Board (“the Board”) often signaled that it was unlikely to support an agreement for a specific site on the timetable required by the State.

The Board unanimously approved the Exclusive Negotiating Rights Agreement (ENRA) between Del Mar and the 22nd DAA in April 2024. But it “paused” housing negotiations in February 2025 because of public comments by then-Mayor Gaasterland supportive of a rail realignment through the fairgrounds. Although ENRA negotiations resumed, Board members showed little appetite for actually reaching an agreement with Del Mar by the November 2026 deadline, even as they regularly proclaimed their support for affordable housing.

After Del Mar used more than half of a $1.8M state grant to fund a feasibility report analyzing specific fairgrounds sites for affordable housing, the Board largely ignored the report’s findings, and took all the potential sites located in the City of Del Mar off the table, designating the lowest ranking and most difficult to implement site, the Surf & Turf RV Park, located in the City of San Diego, as the only alternative. On August 18, the Board majority decided that site had too many obstacles to develop, and ended the “collaboration” with Del Mar.

Fairgrounds housing is a key program in Del Mar’s certified Housing Element (HE). The State housing agency required Del Mar to include “contingency” sites in the HE, to be upzoned for affordable housing if no agreement for fairgrounds housing is secured by November 2026. Those contingency sites are North Bluff, where Seaside Ridge is proposed (pending litigation), and the Staver “South Bluff” property.

There were lots of flashing yellow lights warning Del Mar that the negotiations with the 22nd DAA Board would fail. Some Board members stated that no site could be agreed to until after the 22nd DAA’s Master Plan is adopted, a decision that is years away. Del Mar should have been open to negotiations with the Seaside Ridge developers for project modifications to reduce the project size and mitigate impacts. There is still an opening for those negotiations.

For years, we have been warned that just saying “No” to our affordable housing obligations would result in a loss of local control. That day has come: the Fair Board, two developers, the courts, the State, and the Attorney General have more leverage than the City. We need leaders who know how to think strategically about how to achieve our housing obligations, not just naysayers