Del Mar’s City Council voted unanimously this week to ask the 22nd District Agricultural Association to resume negotiations for building affordable housing on the fairgrounds.
The 22nd DAA, also known as the fair board, suspended its talks with the city last month because of disagreements over a proposal to reroute the train tracks off Del Mar’s eroding coastal bluffs to a new alignment, possibly through an inland tunnel under parts of the fairgrounds.
One reason for the spat was the Del Mar City Council’s approval of a letter asking the San Diego Association of Governments to delay construction of a $300 million railroad bridge to replace the century-old wooden trestle across the San Dieguito River, along with a second set of tracks and passenger platform that would improve access to the fairgrounds. SANDAG has since said construction of the bridge and related improvements will proceed as scheduled.
The other reason was remarks Del Mar Mayor Terry Gaasterland made in news reports that she supported a rail realignment that would cross part of the fairgrounds. Gaasterland has since said she meant no harm to the fairgrounds and spoke only in the city’s best interests.
“The ramifications of this pause are huge for this city,” Del Mar Councilmember Tracy Martinez said Monday. “It was never … our intention in any way to harm the fairgrounds.”
The fair board will consider resuming the negotiations when it meets March 11.
City officials had been talking with the fair board for more than a year about plans to build the city’s state-mandated affordable housing on the ag district’s fairgrounds, part of which is within the city limits. Affordable housing is scarce or nonexistent in Del Mar, where Zillow states the average home value is $2.3 million.
Martinez said the fairgrounds bears some of the responsibility for providing affordable shelter because of the many seasonal workers it hires for the San Diego County Fair, horse racing and other special events.
“Half of our mandated housing units are due to the fairgrounds jobs,” Martinez said.
Del Mar hopes to build as many as 61 apartments reserved for the categories of low, very low and extremely low income tenants on the fairgrounds. Otherwise, the city could be forced to allow affordable housing to be constructed on vacant bluff-top properties at the beach.
The SANDAG board agreed Friday to issue a new notice of preparation for the environmental documents needed for the tunnel project. The notice, a rewrite of one issued last year, lists four possible alignments to be considered along with a “no-build” alternative.
Three of the alternatives would include a tunnel: beneath the community’s main road known as Camino Del Mar; under the city’s Crest Canyon; or along the edge of the Del Mar Fairgrounds below the Interstate 5 right-of-way. The list also includes the possibility of leaving the tracks in place on the bluffs with no tunnel and installing a second set of rails with more seawalls and retaining walls.
Gaasterland, as Del Mar’s representative on the SANDAG board, recused herself from Friday’s discussion saying that the city intends “to keep all of its options open.” City officials have said legal action could be a resort and that any tunnel beneath homes would be devastating to Del Mar.
Del Mar so far has taken no formal position on a preferred alternative. However, council members and residents have raised concerns about noise, vibrations, pollution, property values and the likely use of eminent domain.
Even the route on the edge of the fairgrounds is too close, Del Mar resident Shirley Weiss told the City Council.
“If you have a cocktail, you will have to invite train passengers to come share it with you because they will be that close,” Weiss said.
She and other residents urged the City Council to take a stronger stance in opposing any realignment that affects Del Mar residents.
About 1.7 miles of the railroad, which dates to the 1880s, is on the coastal bluffs in Del Mar. Officials say it is essential to reroute that segment of the tracks before it collapses. Scientists say the bluffs recede an average of 6 inches a year.
The route is part of the 351-mile Los Angeles-San Diego-San Luis Obispo, or LOSSAN, corridor used by Amtrak, Coaster commuters and BNSF freight, and is part of the Defense Department’s Strategic Rail Corridor Network.
It is San Diego’s only rail connection to Los Angeles and the rest of the United States.
