The 22nd District Agricultural Association board voted 5-3 Tuesday, Aug. 18, to terminate its affordable housing agreement with Del Mar, eliminating the city's primary site for 61 lower-income units it must accommodate by 2029.
The vote ends years of negotiation over the Exclusive Negotiating Rights Agreement and puts roughly $800,000 in state grant money already spent by the fair board on feasibility studies in question. Del Mar Mayor Tracy Martinez called the decision "very disappointing" in a formal statement, saying it runs counter to the state's housing goals and is "puzzling given the project's strong support from the Governor's office and elected officials at every level of government."
Martinez said two years of progress and the critical need for affordable housing west of Interstate 5 made the board's action unnecessary.
What was at stake
Del Mar had been counting on the fairgrounds to host 61 of the 113 affordable units the city must accommodate under the state's sixth-cycle Regional Housing Needs Allocation. The city secured $1.7 million in State Housing Acceleration Program grant funds for feasibility work, and 20 studies completed since June 2022 all concluded the project was viable, according to the mayor's statement.
The agreement, most recently amended by a 4-0 council vote April 7, had been scheduled to run through April 2027 with a November 2026 deadline for the city to secure a lease. But a termination-at-any-time clause gave the board an exit.
Why the board voted to end it
Board member Ted Miyahara made the motion to terminate. He told the board the core problem was jurisdictional: the fair board's preferred site, Surf and Turf RV Park, sits within San Diego city limits, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported. Del Mar would likely need to annex the land before receiving state credit for any housing built there, and San Diego has its own housing obligations.
"This issue is really around RHNA credit. It's why the city of Del Mar has approached us to pursue housing on fairgrounds property," Miyahara said at the meeting, according to the Union-Tribune. "Will they actually give up RHNA credit? That creates a legitimate policy question for the future San Diego elected officials and I don't think we can assume the answer will be yes."
Board member Mark Arabo recused himself from the vote. In early August, the Del Mar City Council asked prosecutors to investigate Arabo for potential conflicts of interest related to the fairgrounds housing negotiations, according to the Union-Tribune. Arabo denied wrongdoing, and his attorney, Randy Grossman, sent a letter Aug. 13 demanding the city retract the referrals.
Solana Beach Mayor Lesa Heebner also made a last-minute appeal to keep the agreement in place. It did not succeed.
What comes next for Del Mar
The city's housing element backup plan is to upzone north and south bluff properties, land where officials and residents have long opposed multi-unit housing. As of May, Del Mar had met 77% of its overall housing target (135 of 175 units), but most of those are moderate- or above-moderate-income units, leaving the lower-income requirement largely unmet.
Whether the $800,000 in state funds spent by the 22nd DAA must be returned has not been addressed publicly. The California Department of Housing and Community Development had not responded to media requests for comment as of Aug. 19. No next public meeting on the city's housing response has been announced.
