Del Mar Fairgrounds affordable housing proposal questioned by developer
DEL MAR, Calif. (FOX 5/KUSI) — The developers of a contested affordable housing complex in Del Mar have put in their two cents on the city’s efforts to pursue placing half of its required low-income units at the fairgrounds.
Darren Pudgil, a spokesperson for Seaside Ridge, expressed skepticism about the city’s move to begin negotiating a potential lease with the 22nd District Agricultural Association, who operates the state-owned fairgrounds, for one to two-acres of land to use for affordable housing.
If the talks are successful, Del Mar hopes to use the land to build 61 units of affordable housing, satisfying more than half of the units it is expected to create in the next six years under its housing element — a state-mandated blueprint that outlines plans to meet residents’ housing needs.
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Currently, there are no designated low-income units within the city of Del Mar’s housing portfolio.
“Finally, Del Mar — which doesn’t have a single unit of affordable housing — has stopped dragging its feet and is at least talking about affordable housing,” Pudgil said.
“But whether these talks actually lead to anything is anyone’s guess,” he continued. “If Del Mar was at all serious about meeting its state mandate, they would approve the ready-to-go Seaside Ridge project — which includes 42 low-income units — instead of hoping that something might eventually materialize at the fairgrounds many years from now.”
The Seaside Ridge development — a proposed 259-unit complex with 42 low-income units on the bluffs — has been rejected by Del Mar three times since the it was first submitted in 2022, citing missing application documents and a “lack of compliance” with local zoning regulations.
But the developers behind the project argue these rejections ran afoul of a California housing law called the “builder’s remedy,” allowing certain projects to proceed with minimal local regulation when the city does not yet have a compliant housing element. Del Mar’s 2021 housing element was not approved by state regulators until last year.
This back-and-forth came to a head in February, when the developers filed a lawsuit in state court for these alleged violations.
Del Mar officials have not commented on the litigation, but they have affirmed their rejection of the Seaside Ridge project.
Officials have argued that the hypothetical units on the fairgrounds would be enough to fulfill their housing obligations without needing to build on the bluffs, despite the site being listed as a backup option for development in its housing element.
However, board members for the 22nd District Agricultural Association seem less set on the idea of using some of the land it oversees for low-income units, insisting that it may not actually happen even with the ongoing negotiations and new backing from county leaders.
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“Providing space for 61 affordable housing units is no small task for an event center like this one … particularly doing so in a way that doesn’t impede our master planning efforts,” Michael Gelfand, vice president of the fair board, said on Tuesday. “So we don’t yet know if affordable housing will really work here.”
In a statement to FOX 5/KUSI Wednesday afternoon, Ashley Jones, Del Mar’s city manager, rebutted some of the claims by the Seaside Ridge developers, saying that the housing element “includes many strategies and programs to achieve” the required 113 low-income units.
“Regardless of any current or future private development proposals, the City will not be able to achieve the entirety of our RHNA requirement with just one project,” Jones continued. “So, we will continue to work collaboratively with 22nd DAA staff and their Board to evaluate the feasibility of and pursue a minimum of 61 affordable housing units at the Fairgrounds as described in the City’s certified Housing Element.”
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