An excerpt from an article by our friend Will Carless at the voiceofsandiego.com:
It snarls up the traffic, clogs the parking, puts local police and firefighters on edge and fills the air with the fetid smell of, alternately, frying confectionery, sweaty rodeo riders and horse manure.
The Del Mar Fairgrounds is not the ideal neighbor for tony Del Mar. This small, neat community of multimillion-dollar homes and posh restaurants has always had a love-hate relationship with the fairgrounds. Residents love taking their grandchildren to the fair, but hate the descent of weapon-toting out-of-towners at the annual gun show. Restaurateurs and salespeople at fancy boutiques love the summer crowds brought by the fairgrounds, but prefer the racing clique to the fair-going hordes, who are less likely to buy expensive sirloins or designer cocktail dresses.
At first glance, it’s hard to understand why the city of Del Mar would want to purchase the fairgrounds: The proposed sale is a daunting financial deal for the county’s smallest city and it comes as even Del Mar is feeling the raw financial climate. And why, oh why, would the city want to buy an institution that its residents have so many problems with and dislike so much about?
The answer is simple: At the core of the city’s proposal is reformation.
Del Martians may not like everything about the fair now, but they certainly don’t want the site turning into a hotel ghetto or a convention center. They don’t like the current gun shows, or the traffic, or the impact on their emergency services, but these are exactly the problems that an owner — as opposed to a neighbor — has the chance to control.
For example, the plan to put a condo-hotel on the site would have a big impact on local traffic. But the agricultural association responded by shifting the responsibility for fixing the traffic problem to the city, Dernetz said. The association told the city it would have to build — and pay for — traffic signals at every intersection on Camino Del Mar, the main road through town, he said.
“Do you know how much that would cost?” Dernetz said. “That’s one example of the arrogance and insensitivity they have to the impact of their operations on this community.”
The group backing the deal — a curious hodgepodge of small-town politicians, environmentalists, business leaders and millionaire horse-owners — says the fairgrounds has been badly managed by a group of well-connected political donors appointed by the governor, who have spent the last few decades picking fights with just about every interest group, politician and gadfly in Del Mar.
For example, the plan to put a condo-hotel on the site would have a big impact on local traffic. But the agricultural association responded by shifting the responsibility for fixing the traffic problem to the city, Dernetz said. The association told the city it would have to build — and pay for — traffic signals at every intersection on Camino Del Mar, the main road through town, he said.
“Do you know how much that would cost?” Dernetz said. “That’s one example of the arrogance and insensitivity they have to the impact of their operations on this community.”
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Those who own property in the Encinitas Ranch might want to take a closer look at your Mello Roos Taxes. They are going to increase.
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