Seaside Ridge applicant files appeal to Del Mar City Council

The Del Mar City Council will consider an appeal of the Seaside Ridge application in September, following a Superior Court decision earlier this summer that required the applicant to continue working with the city on the proposed 259-unit project.

City Manager Ashley Jones said the appeal is “in the process” of being scheduled for Sept. 22.

“The City and Seaside are also starting joint planning discussions next week,” Jones said via email the week of Aug. 4.

The city has rejected four versions of the Seaside Ridge application that were submitted throughout 2023 as “incomplete” since property owner Carol Lazier submitted a preliminary development application in October 2022. A Seaside Ridge spokesperson announced on Aug. 1 that the appeal to the council has been filed.

Lazier has argued that the project should be eligible for streamlined approvals under a state law known as the Builder’s Remedy, which can override local zoning sometimes if a project application is submitted while the city does not have a state-certified housing element. Del Mar did not have its housing element, which lays out how the city will accommodate 175 housing units from 2021 to 2029, certified by the Department of Housing and Community Development until about two months after the first Seaside Ridge application had been submitted.

City planners in Del Mar have said the applications were incomplete because they did not include necessary documents to start the process of rezoning the proposed Seaside Ridge site, on the north bluff property at the city’s northern border near Dog Beach, for multiunit housing.

Lazier filed a court petition in 2024 that would have cleared the way for the project to continue.

Last June, San Diego County Superior Court Judge Wendy Behan approved a motion filed by the city of Del Mar to dismiss the petition. Behan said Lazier needed to exhaust all “administrative remedies” with the city, including an appeal to the Del Mar City Council, before the court could determine whether the city had unlawfully prevented the application from advancing.

Pending the outcome of the city council appeal and planning discussions, Lazier could bring the petition back to court.

“Unfortunately, city staff has needlessly held up this wonderful project,” Seaside Ridge spokesperson Darren Pudgil said in a statement. “We need the Del Mar City Council to review this entire matter and make a final decision one way or the other.”