Gaasterland to continue as Del Mar’s SANDAG rep after mayor disputes her reappointment

On Jan. 6, Del Mar City Council members carried out their typically uneventful annual process of deciding who will represent the city on various boards and committees that help govern the region. Except this year there was a dispute over the San Diego Association of Governments Board of Directors seat.

One of the top projects in front of SANDAG, the regional planning agency, is relocating two miles of rail off the Del Mar bluffs, including a so far contentious process of selecting a new route.

Councilmember Terry Gaasterland, who has held the role since 2021, wanted to continue. Mayor Tracy Martinez, who has been the first alternate, said five years was long enough and wanted a chance to serve.

“I don’t plan on wanting this for years, I would take it for a year,” Martinez said during the council meeting. “I think it’s important to have different representations and not one person for multiple years.”

The conversation eventually stalled without a motion to either re-up Gaasterland for a year or appoint Martinez. City Attorney Leslie Devaney said the indecision would leave Del Mar without a representative at SANDAG.

But on Jan. 9, Gaasterland continued serving on SANDAG’s Board of Directors during its first meeting of the new year. She told the Del Mar Times in an email before the meeting that legal counsel from SANDAG informed her that the seat is still hers unless the Del Mar City Council votes to recall or replace her, based on state law.

A SANDAG spokesperson confirmed the agency’s position that the seat is still rightfully Gaasterland’s. Del Mar City Manager Ashley Jones said in an email that the city has since deferred to SANDAG.

Gaasterland said during the council meeting that she was “not interested” in giving up the SANDAG seat and argued for continuity.

“I have been an incredible cheerleader for our executive director, for the SANDAG projects and for their importance to the region,” she said. “It’s been nonpartisan, it’s been objective and it’s been with wisdom that has built up over the years.”

Gaasterland added in a phone interview that “it would have been really bad for Del Mar” if the council’s inaction left the SANDAG seat vacant while the rest of the board, consisting of members from the county government and every city, deliberated on Del Mar’s fate in the rail relocation process.

The Del Mar City Council still only has four members after the sudden resignation of Dwight Worden in September 2024 due to health issues, occasionally leaving the council without a decisive fifth vote (including when there were multiple 2-2 deadlocks on making an appointment to replace Worden or to call a special election).

Council members Dan Quirk and John Spelich were similarly divided over the SANDAG appointment.

Spelich, who remains the city’s second alternate to the SANDAG board, said “It’s probably useful to make a change after five years.”

Quirk said the SANDAG rep is responsible for advancing the city’s collective interests, as opposed to an individual agenda, so he didn’t necessarily see the value in making a change. He asked Martinez what she would do differently on the board.

“Do I know everything that’s in front of SANDAG? No, I don’t know,” Martinez said. “I know there will be some budget constraints, as we all know. I have a very good relationship with the CEO, I have a very good relationship with some of the members on the SANDAG board.”

Quirk asked what would happen to Del Mar’s representation on SANDAG if the council could not break a 2-2 tie.

“We don’t have a representative,” Devaney, the city attorney, said.

The council ultimately didn’t take a vote before resolving to possibly revisit the issue later.