Del Mar to consider Shores Park master plan contract

The Del Mar City Council will vote on a one-year, $171,405 contract with Schmidt Design Group for the Shores Park Master Plan.

The vote on the contract has been postponed until the next meeting on Oct. 20 after the Oct. 6 council meeting was canceled because the council did not have a quorum.

The City Council restarted the master planning process earlier this year after putting it on hold in 2019. Last month, council members appointed Mayor Terry Gaasterland and Councilmember John Spelich to serve as liaisons for the newly formed Shores Park Master Plan Ad-Hoc Advisory Committee.

Schmidt Design Group worked on the master planning process from 2014 to 2019. A council agenda report says that the firm will “review all previous studies, community feedback, and Council direction to build on the goals established during the initial outreach and design phases.”

Schmidt Design Group will be tasked in part with developing three master plan concepts “that reflect the guiding principles, current site conditions, and preferred park amenities,” according to the agenda report.

“Schmidt will develop concepts that include both shared and separate off-leash dog areas, and an alternative that incorporates the Alvarado House into the Shores Park site,” it says.

From those three, one will be selected based on City Council direction.

“Due to their prior work on the project and satisfactory performance, there is sufficient justification to exempt the agreement from public bidding requirements under Del Mar Municipal Code,” according to the council agenda report. “Re-bidding completion of the Master Plan and potentially awarding an agreement to another firm puts the City at risk of duplicating prior work, inefficiencies, and incurring higher overall costs.”