Del Mar will not vote Tuesday, Oct. 20, on a deal to move forward with affordable housing on 10th Street.

The City Council postponed the item to Nov. 10 after staff communicated with the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD), according to a city notice posted Monday, Oct. 19. Staff recommended the delay to evaluate whether upcoming actions comply with the city's Housing Element, the notice stated.

The council had been scheduled to consider awarding an Exclusive Negotiating Rights Agreement and Predevelopment Funding Agreement to Gangi Development. The agreements would have established a negotiating period and timeline for predevelopment plans, studies, community outreach, environmental review and entitlements on the site.

The vote would not have approved any specific development proposal, according to the city notice.

What's at stake

Del Mar must develop at least four units of affordable housing on the vacant, 0.10-acre parcel at the southwest corner of the Civic Center complex to meet its state Housing Element obligations.

The 10th Street site is one piece of a broader housing puzzle for the city. The 22nd District Agricultural Association board voted 5-3 in August to terminate an exclusive negotiating agreement it had signed in 2024 with Del Mar to locate part of an affordable housing project on fairgrounds land, as Voice of San Diego reported. Board members cited economic and political uncertainties.

That deal collapsed.

After the fairgrounds pullout, the council voted unanimously on Sept. 22 to approve a contract with Moore Iacofano Goltsman for environmental and planning work to rezone the city's north bluff property, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune. The city committed to rezone the north bluff as a backup plan. Brooke Miller, an attorney representing north bluff property owner Carol Lazier, urged the city in a letter to streamline the rezoning to comply with the Housing Element, the Union-Tribune reported.

A May 19 city staff presentation showed Del Mar had reached 77% of its overall target of 175 dwelling units through 2029, according to city records. Most of those 135 units fell in the moderate- and above moderate-income categories. At least 113 of the 175 units must be set aside for low-income households.

What comes next

Future proposals for the 10th Street site, including the total number of units, parking and design, will go through community outreach and review by the Design Review Board and Planning Commission before reaching the council for final approval, according to the city notice.

The council is scheduled to take up the Gangi Development agreements Tuesday, Nov. 10.