DEL MAR — The developers of the Seaside Ridge housing project in Del Mar are delaying their lawsuit accusing the city of violating state housing law while awaiting the outcome of a similar court case playing out in Los Angeles.
Seaside Ridge is a 259-unit project planned for Del Mar’s North Bluff. Landowner and San Diego philanthropist Carol Lazier first proposed the development to the city in the fall of 2022. The nine-building development would include 85 units designated as affordable, including 42 for low- to extremely low-income households.
Despite Del Mar’s desperate need for affordable housing, the city’s relationship with Seaside Ridge developers has been extremely fraught due to disagreements over housing law.
Project representatives have argued that the city is required to approve the project under the state law known as the builder’s remedy because its 6th Cycle Housing Element was not certified when the project was proposed. While the law has been on the books for decades, developers have used it more recently to push through affordable housing projects in cities that are out of compliance with state housing laws.
Del Mar, like many cities facing builder’s remedy projects, has fought back, arguing that the law does not apply in this situation. After the city denied multiple project submittals, Lazier sued the city in February in San Diego County Superior Court.
In March, builder’s remedy prevailed in a Los Angeles Superior Court ruling against the small city of La Cañada Flintridge. The ruling stated that the city violated housing law by refusing to process an application for an affordable housing project that was submitted before the city’s Housing Element was in compliance.
The city has since appealed the ruling in California’s 2nd Appellate District Court. If the appellate court upholds the lower court’s decision, it could set a precedent for other cities like Del Mar.
On Aug. 21, a Seaside Ridge representative said upcoming hearings in their Del Mar lawsuit would be postponed pending the outcome of the case.
“We requested this continuance to give time for the La Cañada Flintridge case to play out and to give the city of Del Mar another chance to reconsider its position before the courts decide for them,” said Seaside Ridge spokesperson, Darren Pudgil. “The final determination of the suit against La Cañada Flintridge could have far-reaching impacts. Not only could it have a substantial bearing on our project, but also many others throughout California.”
Del Mar officials did not respond to a request for comment from The Coast News about the postponement or the La Cañada Flintridge decision.
The Los Angeles Superior Court ruling concluded that the builder’s remedy applies “if the local agency does not have a substantially compliant housing element at the time a complete preliminary application … is submitted and ‘deemed complete.’”
Similarly to the city of La Cañada Flintridge, Del Mar did not have a certified Housing Element at the time when the Seaside Ridge project was proposed. Del Mar obtained certification from the state Housing and Community Development Department in June 2023, around eight months after the project was submitted.
City officials have denied that the builder’s remedy applies to this project, partially because Seaside Ridge’s application was never deemed “complete” due to missing materials, including rezoning, Local Coastal Program Amendment, coastal development permit, and conditional use permit applications.
Seaside Ridge has stated that these application materials are not necessary, as the project’s affordable units and the builder’s remedy law prevent them from having to comply with local development standards applied to other projects.
City officials also claimed that the project application changed substantially over the months.
Del Mar and Seaside Ridge developers also disagree on the issue of rezoning. Years prior, the 929 Border Ave. property was identified as one of several backup sites to be rezoned for housing if the city was unable to find sufficient areas to meet their housing numbers.
To prevent this rezone, the state said the city would need to reach an affordable housing agreement with the Del Mar Fairgrounds for the development of 61 units on their property by April 2024. The two parties did reach an exclusive negotiating rights agreement by the deadline, saving the city from having to rezone the other sites at this point.
However, Seaside Ridge claims that this has no bearing on their project, and that HCD made a mistake in certifying the city’s 6th Cycle Housing Element before this rezoning had taken place.
They cited existing law that requires cities that miss the statutory deadline for bringing their Housing Element into compliance by a year or more to rezone certain sites for affordable housing.
Complicating things further is the fact that last month, the Fairgrounds board voted to pause all affordable housing discussions with Del Mar until the City Council formally opposes a proposed rail route that would run through the Fairgrounds property.
“While we are supportive of housing at the fairgrounds, that proposal now appears to be in jeopardy,” said Pudgil. “Seaside Ridge, on the other hand, is ready-to-go and would be completed far sooner than the fairgrounds proposal — several years sooner, in fact.”
According to Pudgil, the two parties will still appear in court for a scheduled hearing in October, but proceedings after that will be delayed until the spring.
