A San Diego Superior Court judge will hear arguments Friday, Oct. 30, on whether to combine two homeowner lawsuits challenging the use of the former polo fields in the San Dieguito River Valley as a commercial soccer complex.
Judge Victor M. Torres set the 1:30 p.m. hearing in a Sept. 9 order that also denied motions by the city of San Diego, Surf Cup Sports and Ocean Industries to dismiss the cases before trial. The San Diego Union-Tribune first reported on the ruling and upcoming hearing.
The two cases stem from the same dispute. Fairbanks Polo Club Homes, the homeowners association representing roughly 55 homes near the fields, sued San Diego in April 2023. The HOA alleged the city violated a 1983 grant deed requiring the roughly 115-acre property to remain open space. The association filed a second lawsuit against Ocean Industries, the successor to original developer Watt Industries, seeking to correct what the homeowners called a drafting error in a 2017 document that assigned the developer's grant-deed rights to the association.
"In light of the intertwinement of the cases, this court issues an order to show cause (regarding) consolidation in both cases," Torres wrote in his 12-page order.
The property sits along Via de la Valle, the primary road connecting Fairbanks Ranch and parts of Rancho Santa Fe to the coast. Residents say Surf Cup's tournaments and events have overwhelmed the narrow two-lane corridor.
Polly Wheatley, who lives in the Whispering Palms area of Rancho Santa Fe, told the Union-Tribune that what was once occasional tournament activity has become a daily disruption, with traffic backups, blocked driveways and litter.
The grant deed dates to the early 1980s, when Los Angeles developer Ray Watt transferred more than 600 acres of San Dieguito River Valley floodplain to San Diego in exchange for permission to build Fairbanks Ranch. The deed required the city to keep the land "as open space in a natural condition as near as possible" and permitted only agricultural and non-commercial recreational uses "not involving large assemblages of people or automobiles."
Surf Cup won the master lease in 2016 and expanded operations to include dozens of tournaments, festivals and other events each year. The San Diego City Council voted 6-2 in October 2025 to terminate the original grant deed restrictions and amend the lease, limiting large events to 40 days per year, according to San Dieguito Planning Group minutes.
That vote did not end the fight. The Sierra Club filed its own lawsuit challenging the removal of the deed restrictions, the Union-Tribune reported.
Livia Borak Beaudin, an attorney for the homeowners, told the Union-Tribune that consolidation could delay a remedy for her clients. Discovery in the second lawsuit is largely complete and that case is set for trial in January. The initial case against the city likely will not go to trial for a year or longer, she said.
Surf Cup CEO Jeremy McDonald said in a statement to the Union-Tribune that the lease amendment followed "a thorough and transparent public process." A spokesperson for San Diego City Attorney Heather Ferbert told the Union-Tribune the office does not comment on pending lawsuits.
The hearing is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Friday in Department N-31 of the North County division of San Diego Superior Court.
