Druker, Martinez and Quirk lead in race for three council seats

Del Mar City Council candidates Dave Druker, Tracy Martinez and Dan Quirk are leading the three-seat, atlarge council race, according to unofficial results released by the county registrar of voters.

Druker, the lone incumbent in the race, served on the council from 1996 to 2008 and 2016 to present. He ran as part of a slate with Martinez, a registered nurse and health care director.

The two have focused their campaign in part on criticizing the current council majority for acquiescing to a state-housing mandate that calls for Del Mar to accommodate 175 new housing units, including 113 affordable units, as well as some recent zoning decisions designed to meet that mandate. With Martinez, Druker and Deputy Mayor Terry Gaasterland, the council would have a new three-member bloc that might decide to change course on the city’s approach to adding more housing.

Quirk, an adviser for an investment firm, has also based his campaign in part on preventing overdevelopment and making sure the city maintains its small beachtown roots. Quirk previously served on Del Mar’s Finance Committee, and helped lead a 2016 campaign for a city ballot measure that added a sales tax to raise money for infrastructure projects. He has also campaigned on decreasing expenditures and joined all the other candidates in opposing managed retreat as a response to sea level rise.

Candidates Bob Gans, Phil Blair and Glenn Warren were in the bottom three, according to the unofficial results.

Del Mar Mayor Ellie Haviland and Councilwoman Sherryl Parks did not run for re-election. Haviland was first elected to the council in 2016. Over the past year, she and Gaasterland were the first two women in Del Mar to serve simultaneously as mayor and deputy mayor in nearly 30 years. Parks, who has served as president of the Del Mar Foundation and on the Design Review Board, was first elected to the council in 2012.