The Del Mar situation looks like a local procedural dispute, but it's actually a lesson in how California's state housing law can be nullified by county-level politics and overlapping administrative boundaries—something anyone investing in or developing real estate under the state's housing laws needs to see.
If an agreement backed by the governor can still collapse because of an election that hasn't happened yet, the legal risk is real, not theoretical.
An Agreement Dead Because of Administrative Boundaries
According to Voice of San Diego, the only parcel within the Fairgrounds that was deemed viable for a housing project—an RV parking lot—actually sits within San Diego city's jurisdiction, not Del Mar's, even though the land is state-owned. For Del Mar to receive RHNA (Regional Housing Needs Allocation) credits for the project, San Diego would have to agree to annex the parcel. Council member Ted Miyahara, who brought the motion to terminate the agreement, cited the fact that four San Diego city council seats and one congressional seat will be up for election in 2026, making the annexation process precarious. According to San Diego Union-Tribune, Miyahara bluntly questioned whether San Diego would actually give up its own RHNA credits—a policy question that, he argued, cannot be assumed to have a yes answer.
Not all council members agreed. Member Phil Blair argued the Fairgrounds should take the lead, saying if the landowner backed the project, San Diego and other agencies would likely follow. Member Frederick Schenk reminded the council that it was tasked by the governor to facilitate affordable housing, especially on public land. But the opposition had three votes.
Conflict of Interest Claims Cast Shadow Over Vote
The decision came less than two weeks after Del Mar City Council requested county and federal prosecutors investigate Attorney General Rob Bonta and Fairgrounds board member Mark Arabo. According to a resident letter from Debrah Barnes that KPBS obtained, Arabo's real estate broker—Brian Guiltinan—was part of the development team for Seaside Ridge, a 259-unit housing project that Del Mar has rejected multiple times and which is now suing the city. Campaign finance records show both Arabo and Guiltinan each donated $18,200 to Bonta's reelection campaign. Both Arabo and the Seaside Ridge side deny any wrongdoing, and a city official clarified this was simply a referral of residents' complaints to authorities, not an official accusation. Arabo voluntarily recused himself from Tuesday's vote.
Why Vietnamese American Investors Should Pay Attention
The Del Mar story doesn't directly affect Little Saigon or densely Vietnamese-settled areas, but it's a vivid example of how the Builder's Remedy mechanism (a provision allowing developers to bypass local zoning if a city fails to meet housing targets) and RHNA credits can get stuck between administrative boundaries and local political interests—a legal risk that any Vietnamese American real estate investor considering an affordable housing project in California, from Orange County to the Bay Area, needs to account for before signing agreements with local authorities. If even an agreement with the governor's public backing can collapse because of a city council election that hasn't happened yet, then the timing and legal risk in similar projects is real, not theoretical.
What to Watch Next
Without a project at the Fairgrounds, Del Mar's backup plan is to move to the North Bluff area—precisely where Seaside Ridge is being sued—a scenario that, according to the New York Post, could directly benefit Seaside Ridge's developers if the affordable housing project at the Fairgrounds doesn't get completed in time. Whether prosecutors open an investigation into Bonta and Arabo, and whether San Diego agrees to annex the land, will determine the rest of the story.
Bảo Nguyễn
Bảo Nguyễn founded Saigon Sentinel to give the Vietnamese diaspora truly independent, in-depth community coverage at a time when misinformation moves faster than fact-checks and the language barrier makes verification harder than it should be. He sets the editorial standards and quality controls that govern the reporting, chooses the subjects, writes and edits each article, reads it against its sources before publication, audits published output, and handles corrections.