The board of directors at the Del Mar Fairgrounds voted Aug. 18 to terminate an agreement with the city of Del Mar to negotiate a potential affordable housing project on fairgrounds property, ending a contentious years-long process to help the city meet a state housing mandate.
The city was counting on the fairgrounds to host 61 of the 113 affordable housing units that the city has to accommodate by 2029 for the state’s sixth cycle Regional Housing Needs Allocation. The backup plan listed in the city’s housing element is to upzone north and south bluff properties where city officials and residents have long opposed multi-unit housing.
Fair board members said they still want to pursue housing on the state-owned fairgrounds. But a 5-3 majority said they didn’t see an imminent path to get it done within the confines of an exclusive negotiating rights agreement between the two sides.
A spokesperson for the California Department of Housing and Community Development did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Following years of negotiation, fair board members identified Surf and Turf RV Park as the potential site they wanted to pursue. But the site is located on a slice of fairgrounds property within the city of San Diego, likely requiring the city of Del Mar to annex the land before it could get credit from the state for any housing built there.
City officials from Del Mar met with San Diego City Councilmember Joe LaCava, whose district includes the RV park, in July. LaCava then sent a letter to the fair board that said his staff “is looking into the legal aspects and what mayoral and city council actions would be necessary.”
Fair board member Ted Miyahara, who made the motion to end the agreement to negotiate, led the five-member majority that thought the board could develop other ways outside of the exclusive negotiating rights agreement that don’t involve a potentially long and complicated process of Del Mar annexing San Diego land.
The exclusive negotiating rights agreement between the fairgrounds and the city was scheduled to run through April 2027. Following multiple amendments, it included an upcoming November 2026 deadline for the city to secure a lease agreement. It also had a provision that allowed the fair board to terminate it at any time.
“This issue is really around RHNA credit,” Miyahara said. “It’s why the city of Del Mar has approached us to pursue housing on fairgrounds property. We should also be acknowledging that the city of San Diego has its own RHNA obligations. 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.”
Fair board members have also repeatedly said over the years that they might need a longer timeline to decide whether housing fits into their long-term master planning process for the property.
Last minute pleas to keep the negotiating agreement in place by Solana Beach Mayor Lesa Heebner and Del Mar Mayor Tracy Martinez were unsuccessful.
“You have nothing to lose by letting us pursue this,” Martinez said. “It’s a lot that you chose and my understanding was it’s that or nothing. We took those as marching orders and we went to work during a very difficult time during the recess.”
Board member Mark Arabo recused himself from the vote. Earlier this month, the Del Mar City Council called a special meeting to ask county and federal prosecutors to investigate Arabo for potential conflict of interest related to housing at the fairgrounds.
The council made that decision based on an email signed by a Debrah Barnes. The letter, sent to city staff via email, starts with a disclaimer that the letter writer doesn’t accuse Arabo or anyone else of any wrongdoing.
But it noted Arabo’s 2024 purchase of a Rancho Santa Fe home through a real estate agent who has been working with the applicants of Seaside Ridge, a 259-unit housing proposal for Del Mar’s north bluff. It also noted Arabo’s campaign contributions to California Attorney General Rob Bonta, who sent a letter earlier this year to Del Mar urging the city to advance the Seaside Ridge application, which has been at the center of an administrative and legal dispute between the property owner and city.
Based on that history, the Barnes letter alleged that Arabo has been critical of the fairground housing proposal while being more supportive of Seaside Ridge, which is located on one of the properties Del Mar has to upzone as a backup plan to fairgrounds housing. Arabo said he has no personal or business interests in Seaside Ridge, and said there were no conflicts of interest in his past comments or decisionmaking.
The Del Mar Times has been unable to verify Barnes’ identity. Nobody named Barnes owned the single family home listed in the signature of the letter before or after its sale last month, according to county records. Nobody responded to voicemails or texts at the phone number in the letter, and nobody responded to an email sent to the same Gmail address that Barnes used to communicate with City Manager Ashley Jones.
Moments before the board discussion and vote to end negotiations, Arabo again denied any wrongdoing. He said he decided to recuse himself from the discussion and vote even though the deputy attorney general who represents the 22nd District Agricultural Association, which owns and operates the fairgrounds, said he didn’t have to.
Arabo’s personal attorney sent a letter Aug. 13 to the city demanding retractions of the referrals.
“The letter itself did not allege criminal wrongdoing—or any wrongdoing at all,” wrote Randy Grossman, Arabo’s attorney. “And the City targeted public officials who it considered a threat to a City proposal to build affordable housing on fairgrounds property shortly before a vote by the DAA on that matter. Under those circumstances, it is the decision to make the referrals—not the subject of those referrals—that raises serious concerns.”