Dwight Worden

The drawing for the bluff-top Marisol condo/hotel project in Del Mar.

Politics can get rough in the county’s smallest city where just 3450 voters decide who runs the five-person Del Mar city council. In last month’s election, two different slates were running to occupy three seats. Each slate was derided by the opposition on how it will deal with the April deadline to prove to the state that it providing new, cheap housing.

Voters were told of two scary outcomes should the other team get in. Both scenarios were unthinkable for many in this idyllic beach town.

Tracy Martinez – part of the winning slate

If incumbent David Druker, investment advisor David Quirk, and registered nurse Tracy Martinez got elected, Del Martians were warned it could trigger the state of California to re-zone valuable property overlooking the Pacific for low-income apartments. The breathtaking expanse was proposed for the Marisol condo/hotel development but was denied by the voters and now sits undeveloped.

Opponents of the trio of Phil Blair (founder of the Manpower employment agency), Bob Gans (attorney), and Glenn Warren (retired diplomat) claimed their election would lead to ugly, high-density housing on the San Dieguito lagoon causing environmental harm and severe summertime traffic congestion.

A city councilman since 2014, Dwight Worden sided with the Blair/Gans/Warren trio. The 40-year Del Mar resident is one of Del Mar’s most recognized locals. He served as Del Mar’s city attorney from 1977-83 (immediately following Roger Hedgecock when Hedgecock was elected to the county board of supervisors). He’s long maintained his image as a champion of the environment as a high-profile member of the Sierra Club and Surfrider Foundation.

The Worden-backed trio lost. And one longtime local wonders if Worden has lost his enviro credibility.

Thirty-year resident Arnie Wiesel says that Worden and two outgoing councilmembers voted to ignore Del Mar’s general plan by illegally voting to change zoning laws and allow high density in the North Commercial area along the San Dieguito river. “They did it with a 3 to 2 vote when any change to the [General Plan] needs a super majority or 4 to 1 vote.”

Wiesel spearheaded a referendum drive to overturn that vote. “With a referendum you have 30 days get the signatures [after the law is passed]. We wanted to wait until after the election so as not to confuse anyone. Bottom line was we only had 12 days.”

Wiesel and 20 Del Mar neighbors needed 345 signatures or ten percent of the electorate. “It was not easy doing that during Covid. But the response was overwhelming. We got over 600.”

Once the signatures are verified in January, the council can vote to reverse the October 19 vote or put it on the ballot. Wiesel is confident the new council will dump the zoning change to build on the San Dieguito lagoon.

Wiesel claims Worden launched “a full-bore attack” against his referendum effort. “He told anyone who would listen that they don’t dare sign this. He painted a doom and gloom attack against us. He sent out an article with a demeaning attack on the future city council.”

Worden’s position was that if the referendum succeeded, the state’s Housing and Community Development Agency could come in and rezone any Del Mar property for affordable housing including the highly valuable Marisol bluff top.

But Wiesel says the Worden-backed rezoning plan is wrong. “Not only would his development impact the lagoon and the wetlands, it would create a traffic gridlock in the summer. Now during the summer it sometimes takes an hour to drive from one end of Del Mar to the other. This extra traffic would make it impossible to drive through Del Mar. If there is a fire, people aren’t getting out.”

Wiesel says the 500-plus low-income units mandated by the state could be created without paving over the banks of the San Dieguito. He says serious efforts to work with the fairgrounds management to site low-income housing on the fairgrounds has never been seriously pursued.

Councilmember Terry Gaasterland often voted in the minority with Drucker, often losing key votes to Worden's majority. She becomes mayor of Del Mar at the next council meeting December 7.

A UCSD professor, Gaasterland says Worden and outgoing mayor Ellie Haviland would meet often with the city of Del Mar planning department, vetting and refining projects before they came before the council. “That is not a normal way to do business.” She says Worden often voted in support of Marisol before it was killed at the ballot box in 2018 with a 59 per cent voter rejection.

Gaasterland says she is confident Del Mar’s new council can find a way to meet the April deadline set by the state’s housing agency. She says she wanted to meet with the agency but was blocked by Worden and his majority which voted to have city staff only meet with the agency.

Worden responds: “Amendments to the general plan require four affirmative votes. Changes to the zoning require a simple majority which requires three.” Regarding Gaasterland not being allowed to speak with the housing agency: “For our city to have success, the [agency] had discussions with our staff. That was our path to success and we wanted to continue on that path. If you interject elected officials and disrupt that path, that may not be productive…This was not for one councilmember to go off on her own.”

Worden says it is crucial to show the state agency that Del Mar is complying with the law. “We are require by state law to provide affordable housing at a minimum of 20 units per acre.... Let’s get the housing done on the fairgrounds.” He says he sees a way to get the fairgrounds to agree to host 51 units, but he says in order to pull that off the city needs to spend $1million dollars for lawyers and planning. “We don’t have that money. We need state grants.” Worden says the results of the referendum is that it may decertify Del Mar from getting that grant money. “I think the city’s position is now substantially weaker.”

Worden agrees that he regularly met with Del Mar planning staff. “We did not deal with big policy issues. It was more to provide a sounding board on mundane issues. To portray it that we were cutting deals in smoke-filled rooms is way off base.” And regarding Marisol: “My position was very public and very simple: It was appropriate for the community to vote on this. If the community doesn’t want it, I was totally happy with l with the existing low density zoning.”

Worden says the council election results and the referendum rebuff will not signal his end in politics. “I am absolutely not throwing in the towel. I’m not going anywhere. I love my little city. I will adapt to the lay of the land. I am now in minority. I don’t expect everyone will agree with me, but they will continue to hear from me.”

The Blair/Gans/Warren trio were called The Sandpipers because of their support by the monthly Del Mar newsletter. Longtime locals know that the Sandpiper was started in the mid-90s by the group of environmental-minded Del Mar politicos who identified as “greens.” They stood in contrast to the pro-business Del Mar candidates known as the “grays.” The greens versus grays conflict does not exist as it did two decades ago, and the Sandpiper carries a less strident pro-green stance.

Del Mar city council hopeful Phil Blair says he lost because of the unfair way his trio was portrayed. “If you supported Marisol, you were portrayed as pro-developer. They said if we won there would be high-rises in downtown Del Mar… The irony is the three of us are not developers.”

Blair says Del Mar has simply run out of time to show the state it means business. “We have avoided the [state-mandated, low-income housing requirement] for 16 years, and the fact is we can’t avoid it anymore.”