The city of Del Mar’s motion to dismiss a court petition that would have cleared the way for a 259-unit residential development on the city’s northern bluff was approved by a Superior Court judge June 13.
The ruling doesn’t kill the project, known as Seaside Ridge. Property owner Carol Lazier is left with the option to file an appeal with the Del Mar City Council over the multiple rejections she received from the Planning Department in 2023. Pending that outcome, she could again take her petition to court.
Judge Wendy Behan ruled that Lazier has to exhaust her “istrative remedies” with the city, referring to a City Council appeal, before the court can intervene.
Lazier first submitted a preliminary development application in October 2022 for Seaside Ridge, a 7-acre project that would include 42 units for lower-income renters. She turned in a development application in March 2023, which the city’s Planning Department rejected as “incomplete.” A letter from Del Mar’s principal planner listed multiple other applications, including an amendment to the city’s Local Coastal Program, that would have to be submitted to complete the application.
Lazier has repeatedly argued that the project should be eligible to proceed under the Builder’s Remedy, a state law that can streamline certain projects if the city doesn’t have a state-certified housing element that lays out a plan for adding new affordable housing – which Del Mar did not at the time of the first application.
Three subsequent Seaside Ridge applications that year were also deemed incomplete by the city for the same reasons. With the two sides at an ime, Lazier filed the court petition in February 2024.
Last summer, both sides agreed to delay a hearing on the petition while a similar case unfolded in the wealthy Los Angeles County suburb of La Cañada Flintridge. The city had rejected a mixed-use development before a Superior Court judge ruled it was eligible under the Builder’s Remedy. The city appealed, but withdrew its appeal three months ago after deciding “the financial cost associated with the appeals process outweighs the potential outcomes of further litigation.”
Seaside Ridge spokesperson Darren Pudgil said at the time “the city of Del Mar should follow La Cañada Flintridge’s wise decision and put down its sword.”
Last month, Del Mar filed a motion to dismiss the petition on the grounds that Lazier’s “failure to exhaust istrative remedies,” referring to a City Council appeal, meant the court does not have jurisdiction.
Lazier’s attorney, Whitney Hodges, argued during the June 13 hearing that the Planning Department’s rejection of Seaside Ridge did not amount to a formal decision that could be appealed to the council, based on the city’s municipal code. She also said the “incomplete” finding was because the city wanted to “delay this project application and hopefully wait out Ms. Lazier” to avoid the type of large-scale project on the north bluff that many residents oppose.
Hodges added that the city never informed Lazier that the “incomplete” decision could be appealed to the council.
But attorneys for Del Mar said the application would not be “stuck in a black hole” at City Hall if the court dismisses the petition.
“There was nothing prohibiting the petitioner from participating in the public process,” said William Pate, a Del Mar city attorney.
Ralph Hicks, another attorney for the city, said an appeal could be accommodated relatively quickly as an agenda item at a future City Council meeting.
Pudgil, the Seaside Ridge spokesperson, said in a statement “we are extremely disappointed in the court’s decision and are exploring our legal and legislative options.”
“The fact is Del Mar, which has yet to produce a single unit of affordable housing, has done everything possible to undermine this wonderful project, throwing up one roadblock after another, in violation of state law,” he said. “Our fight to bring affordable housing to Del Mar and to San Diego County is far from over.”
