Del Mar throws support to California housing initiative

The Del Mar City Council voted unanimously on Monday to support an initiative that would give the city more control over issues they've been grappling with - like where to put 113 low-income housing units.

Oceanside, Encinitas, San Marcos and other cities have already signed on to the “Brand-Huang-Mendoza Tripartisan Land Use Initiative,” a measure filed last summer that will require 1 million signatures in order to qualify for the ballot next November.

Its goal: amend the state constitution to override state laws that conflict with local land-use and zoning regulations.

"Zoning is not one size fits all," said Del Mar deputy mayor Tracy Martinez, who proposed the resolution along with Councilmember Terry Gaasterland.

Over 244 cities have already supported the initiative, including the city of Los Angeles, Martinez said. The petition has received $200,000 from the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, along with funding from the group Our Neighborhood Voices.

At the center of the fight over local zoning are two new state laws, SB 9 and 10, which tackle the housing shortage by allowing more units per lot. Way too many, as opponents see it; up to six, counting the existing home.

The new laws are seen by critics as the death of single-family zoning, drawing investors and developers who they say will turn entire neighborhoods into apartment zones. SB 9, for instance, would allow up to four new units as well as a granny flat on most single family properties.

Additional parking would not be required, since the units would be encouraged near transit lines and job centers through fewer zoning limitations.

The new laws don't mandate any affordable housing - but cities are supposed to be building their fair share of regional housing needs. Del Mar added just one affordable unit in its previous housing cycle (2013-2020). Its current, 6th Cycle Housing Element, has not yet been certified by the state.

Plans for where to put such housing are now aimed toward the state-owned fairgrounds. That land would hold about half the 113 units the San Diego Association of Governments determined is the city's fair share; the rest to go in downtown Del Mar.

Mayor Worden said the city has been through a long, grueling process trying to bring the housing element into compliance with state law. "We're putting ADUs in various places." Now, in addition, there's SB 9 and 10, allowing four units where there used to be 2, he said.

"I'd rather live with the mistakes we make than mistakes made by the state."

Housing isn't the only battle over community control. The city is struggling to assert its local coastal plan, which centers on adaptation measures that don't involve the Coastal Commission's managed retreat - moving houses away from the rising sea. It, too, remains uncertified by the state.

Trains, on the other hand, they do want to see moved inland, miles from the eroding bluffs; another topic with complicated jurisdiction.

Neither will be helped by the citizens initiative, which doesn't cover every local issue. State law would prevail in three areas of statewide importance: coastal zones, power plant sites, and infrastructure projects.