DEL MAR COUNCIL MOVES TO INVALIDATE BLUFF RESORT ENVIRONMENTAL REPORT
Action would prevent use of unfinished EIR for future project on site
DEL MAR
Opponents of the Marisol blufftop resort, which Del Mar voters defeated by 59 percent to 41 percent in March, want to make sure that the developer’s unfinished environmental documents will never be used for another project on the site.
The Del Mar City Council agreed 3-2 this week to consider a resolution to “close the file” on the Marisol project, including the 464-page draft environmental impact report that was prepared but never certified for the 17-acre site at the city’s northern edge near Solana Beach.
Done by the consulting firm Helix Environmental Planning, Inc. of La Mesa at the developer’s expense, the extensive report was released for public review in mid-december. However, the developer, Zephyr Partners, collected enough signatures to place the Marisol specific plan on the ballot, and the project was defeated at the polls before the report was completed.
Zephyr Senior Vice President Jim Mcmenamin, in a May 4 letter to the city, asked for the Marisol specific plan and the draft EIR to be kept on file for future use.
“These documents are comprehensive tools that may be used in the future,” Mcmenamin said, adding that “an alternative land use” is being considered for the site.
“For the benefit of Del Mar, the City Council should support the idea of a land use change ... and encourage the applicant to come back with revisions and pursue (an) application,” Mcmenamin said in his letter.
Council members Dave Druker and Terry Gaasterland both openly opposed the Marisol project and campaigned against it.
The local chapter of the Sierra Club, the Surfrider Founda
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tion and the San Dieguito River Park Joint Powers Authority were all critical of the project and its draft EIR.
“The study committed serious errors in its evaluation
of geologic erosion rates in the area,” Surfrider said in its written comments on the EIR, adding that as a result of the errors the resort would be built too close to the edge of the bluff.
Public access to the site would be the first thing lost to bluff erosion, future seawalls were not prohibited, and scenic views of the beach and Pacific Ocean would be obstructed by the buildings, Surfrider said.
Also, the draft EIR failed to take into account the increased storm intensity expected from climate change.
Mayor Ellie Haviland and Councilwoman Sherryl Parks voted against closing the Marisol files.
“The people of Del Mar have already clearly voted on this,” Haviland said, and “it is absurd to me” that anyone would think additional action is necessary.
“I personally am not comfortable voting on a resolution or even asking our staff to spend another minute ... on this item that has almost no value,” Haviland said.
Gaasterland responded that it’s important to the people who voted against the project, and that the resolution would be little work for the city staff. Also, she said, Zephyr’s next payment is due in August to
preserve an option to purchase the bluff-top properties, so the city should make its position clear.
Councilman Dwight Worden said that even though the EIR could be considered “a zombie at this point” because of the election, it was a good “housekeeping measure” for the city to close the file on the accounts.