More than 500 Rancho Santa Fe residents have organized to block a proposed 148-unit senior living community they say violates the community's century-old Protective Covenant.

The opposition group Protect Rancho Santa Fe is challenging Silvergate Rancho Santa Fe, a retirement community proposed by Solana Beach-based AmeriCare Health and Retirement Inc. on a 30-acre site at Calzada del Bosque, off Via de la Valle. The project would include 94 apartments, 30 cottages and 24 memory care units for residents 60 and older, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.

The Rancho Santa Fe Association's Art Jury voted 5-0 on Aug. 25 to approve the project's Phase 2 landscape and lighting review. But that vote only advances Silvergate to a final review stage.

The project still needs Art Jury final approval, a recommendation from the full Association Board of Directors and a separate Major Use Permit from San Diego County.

Protect RSF held a standing-room-only town hall at the Secret Garden on Aug. 27, drawing more than 120 people, according to group president Russ Penniman, a retired U.S. Navy rear admiral. Penniman told the Union-Tribune in its Sept. 1 report: "If approved as is, 5% of the population of Rancho Santa Fe would live on less than half of 1% of Rancho Santa Fe land. Nobody contemplated that kind of density … All we ask is that the board represent things fairly and honestly and follow the rules."

Covenant and code disputes

At the heart of the opposition are two arguments rooted in the Association's governing documents.

First, Protect RSF contends that Paragraph 1 of the Protective Covenant prohibits institutions for the care of the mentally impaired. The group argues Silvergate's 24 memory care suites exceed California's six-resident residential safe harbor, making the use institutional rather than residential. Under Paragraph 164, changing that restriction would require two-thirds owner consent, according to Protect RSF's town hall follow-up.

Second, opponents say the project's apartment units fall short of the Association's own size requirements. A July 20 memo from consultant Peter Smith of Ekard Smith & Associates found that 52 apartments measure 1,440 square feet and 24 memory care units measure 375 square feet. The Association's Regulatory Code Section 43.0301 requires a minimum of 1,750 square feet per multifamily unit. Smith served 18 years as the Association's general manager.

The Art Jury itself flagged the size issue in October 2024, directing the developer to either seek a variance or redesign the units to meet the minimum. The Aug. 25 approval included a requirement that a variance hearing take place before final review.

Association's position

The Association Board adopted Resolution 2025-102 in February 2025, determining that Silvergate's proposed uses are consistent with the site's Class C zoning designation. The resolution stated that uses "integral to senior living and memory care are likely entitled to a reasonable accommodation consistent with state and federal Fair Housing Law regardless of whether they comply with Class C."

Protect RSF consultant Dag Bunnemeyer, who spent 20 years as head of zoning for San Diego County Planning and Development Services, pushed back at the Aug. 27 town hall. Fair housing laws protect the right of people with disabilities to live in housing, Bunnemeyer said, but do not override land use rules that prohibit institutional facilities or require changes that would fundamentally alter zoning.

County review ahead

The county has not yet received an application.

Once filed, the project will require a Major Use Permit and California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) review, including studies of traffic, noise, hydrology and water quality, the Union-Tribune reported.

Over two years and roughly nine Art Jury meetings, AmeriCare reduced the cottage count from 44 to 30, added more than 400 trees for perimeter screening and added a second emergency-only entrance. AmeriCare president Greg Petree said the company has worked within the established process to create a project appropriate for Rancho Santa Fe, according to the Union-Tribune.

AmeriCare anticipates a possible 2030 opening, and more than 200 families have joined the project's waiting list, according to SanDiegoVille.

Before the Art Jury's final review, a notice of the variance hearing will be mailed to all Covenant property owners within 500 feet of the site, according to Association Building Commissioner Joel Levanetz. The next Art Jury meeting on the 2026 schedule is Sept. 22.