Fair board wants Del Mar to explain ‘contradicting’ stance on affordable housing

The Del Mar Fairgrounds board of directors agreed July 23 to continue discussions with the city of Del Mar on a proposed affordable housing project on fairgrounds property, but they think the city has taken “contradicting” positions and want an explanation in September.

On one hand, the city wants the fair board to allow 61 units of affordable housing on fairgrounds property, owned by California’s 22nd District Agricultural Association, to help the city comply with a state mandate known as the Regional Housing Needs Allocation. The two sides have an agreement to negotiate through April 2026, but ultimately the fair board has unilateral authority to accept or reject any housing proposal.

On the other hand, the Del Mar City Council called it an “arbitrary and capricious state mandate” that forces the city to build too much housing in places “inappropriate and/or potentially dangerous,” according to a July 7 council agenda report.

In that meeting, Del Mar became the latest city to adopt a resolution in support of a proposed 2026 state ballot measure that would allow local zoning to override state housing laws, including laws that require Del Mar to fulfill its RHNA assignment of 175 new housing units across all income levels between 2021 and 2029. The proposed housing at the fairgrounds is a key piece of the city’s plan to reach its requirement of 113 units for lower-income tenants.

“I think we’re kind of at a standstill now until that gets rectified,” fair board member Lisa Barkett said. “We’re going to be sitting ducks until that’s decided upon, so there’s really no need to have any discussions because that’s going to come first.”

The ballot measure is being organized by a committee called Our Neighborhood Voices, which still has to start the signature-gathering process to qualify for 2026.

Supporters of the ballot measure say it would prevent a “one-size-fits-all” approach by state lawmakers who have authored hundreds of housing bills that don’t accommodate the needs of individual communities.

Critics say that local control, particularly along the coast where most of the state’s economy is based, has historically resulted in overly restrictive zoning laws that limit new development and exacerbate the housing crisis.

“I don’t know how the city can say, ‘We support an initiative that’s anti-affordable housing, but we want the fairgrounds to help us with this housing crisis and we really care about it,’” said fair board member Mark Arabo, adding that city leaders are “contradicting themselves.”

Arabo initially made a motion to discontinue housing negotiations with the city. Following board discussion, he amended it to continue negotiating and ask city officials to appear at their September board meeting to explain their support for the ballot measure and its implications on potential fairgrounds housing. The fair board unanimously agreed.

Del Mar Mayor Terry Gaasterland said in an interview that the city will fulfill its current housing element, which is the planning document that outlines how it will accommodate the 175 units, regardless of the ballot measure’s outcome. If it is approved by voters, she said she expects legal challenges between cities and the state that would establish the new expansions of local control, which cities could apply in the next RHNA cycle.

“It’s a long, hard slog and in the meantime we cannot afford to have our housing element be decertified or a future housing element not be certified,” Gaasterland said.

On fairgrounds housing, she added, “This is state land, and we have state-mandated housing that we must do, and there is nowhere in Del Mar to put it without massively bending local control. And local control for the fair board as well is what that ballot measure would restore.”

If the fairgrounds housing plan fails, the city’s housing element requires a backup plan of rezoning north and south bluff properties. The north bluff property is the proposed site of Seaside Ridge, a 259-unit project that has repeatedly been rejected as “incomplete” by city planners because the applications didn’t include the necessary documents to rezone the property.

Property owner Carol Lazier filed a court petition last year, arguing that the project is eligible for streamlined approval because the initial application was submitted before the city received state certification of its housing element. A judge dismissed the petition last month because Lazier had not exhausted her “administrative remedies” with the city, up to and including an appeal to the City Council. Pending that outcome, she could take the petition back to court.

Del Mar City Manager Ashley Jones said in an email “it appears that the Board has been misinformed as to the intent of the ballot initiative and the basis for the City’s support.”

“The City looks forward to the opportunity to present accurate, fact-based information to the Fair Board regarding the City’s housing element requirements, development studies currently being undertaken using State housing grant funds in conjunction with Fairgrounds staff related to affordable housing on the Fairgrounds, and to be able to provide information about the state ballot initiative being supported by municipalities all over the state, not just Del Mar, to preserve local control,” Jones said.

Fair board members, who are undertaking a master planning process for the future of the fairgrounds, have not yet decided whether they want housing on the property.

Michael Gelfand, first vice president of the fair board, said he wants the city to “attempt to justify why we would put housing in the middle of Central Park in New York, which is what I think they’re trying to do here.”