Surf Cup Run Amok
- Jeff Barnouw | Amphitheatre Drive
On September 28, the Coalition to Preserve the Polo Fields Neighborhood held a meeting at La Valle Coastal Club, in furtherance of their goal is to stop and reverse the commercial development of Surf Cup Sports, on the open land known as the “Polo Fields” located in the San Dieguito River Valley, east of Del Mar.
Over 100 people attended to hear Coast Law Group attorney David Peck’s update of the Coalition’s lawsuit against Surf Cup and the City of San Diego for violating and failing to enforce the grant deed restrictions on the 114-acre property that was granted to the City in 1983 under a deed restricting its use to rural, public open space, passive recreation and a strict limit of 25 event days per year.
Surf Cup Sports, acquiring the lease in 2016, has continued to extend the scope and nature of its activities. The record of alleged violations of the restrictions is overwhelming, yet the City of San Diego looks the other way, intent on the revenue from the Surf Club. The value of open space is trumped by the compulsion to monetize the property.
In April 2023 Fairbanks Polo Club Homes, successors to the grant deed, filed a suit against the City for failure to enforce the grant deed restrictions. To undermine the standing of the litigants and void the suit, the San Diego City Council voted in October 2025 to terminate portions of the grant deed protections and amend the Surf Cup lease to exempt its commercial activities from the California Environmental Quality Act. This sparked an expansion of the suit as well as a parallel suit by the Sierra Club. Recently the City, Surf, and former owner Ocean Industries asked a judge to throw out the lawsuit without a trial, On September 9 the judge, Victor Torres of San Diego Superior Court, refused, adding that Ocean’s actions in helping the city end the 1983 deed protections “do not appear to be in good faith.”
As an example of the City’s acquiescence to the violations, the City Council raised the annual event limit from 25 to 40 days. While Surf claimed 25 events, many stretching over several days, and their public 2026 calendar shows 29 events across more than 80 days. The traffic jams that disrupt the neighborhood are more serious than mere inconvenience. since Surf and the City have ignored or dodged the requirement of an evacuation plan. Surf regularly has approx. 3000 cars parked ($20 a day) with only a single, complicated exit route. On October 3-4, Surf hosted the Del Mar Wine and Food Festival (owned by Surf’s owner), and October 22-25, the USA Ultimate Frisbee Tournament.
Judge Torres’s ruling is limited to his rejection of the defendants’ motion for “judgement on the pleadings.” Future proceedings are likely to address the substantive merits of the lawsuit. At this point, chalk one up for those trying to enforce the deed restrictions intended to limit the property’s use to rural, public open space, with a limit of 25 event days per year.