To anyone stuck in traffic trying to get in or out of the Ranch Tuesday afternoon, June 25, the sight of smoke high in the sky over Del Mar could not have failed to drive home the thought that in the event of an emergency evacuation, it could have been a disaster. (See article)
What many Ranch residents may not be aware of is that the gridlock – on an off day for the County Fair – was largely due to thousands of vehicles coming and going from the Surf Cup Sports Fields entrance on Via de la Valle for the first day of a week-long soccer tournament on the 114-acre property leased from the City of San Diego.
The situation that day, as it often is, was compounded by frustrated local drivers making illegal U-turns to avoid the two-mile standstill on Via de la Valle or out-of-towners using mobile phone apps like Waze that directed them to alternate routes – mostly racing north through the Ranch on Las Planideras and Puerta del Sol to Linea del Cielo or via Sun Valley Road where they joined the bottleneck at Highland Drive near the Lomas Santa Fe Country Club. (Local resident Kimberly Hunt’s field report video)
…frustrated local drivers making illegal U-turns to avoid the two-mile standstill on Via de la Valle or out-of-towners using mobile phone apps like Waze that directed them to alternate routes – mostly racing north through the Ranch on Las Planideras and Puerta del Sol to Linea del Cielo or via Sun Valley Road where they joined the bottleneck at Highland Drive near the Lomas Santa Fe Country Club.
An Environmental Impact Report (EIR) that might have foreseen such conditions was never performed, despite a lawsuit and a 2021 appeal by the Friends of the San Dieguito River Valley (FSDRV), a local advocacy group. The appeals judge, however, made clear why: The Grant Deed that runs with the land limits the scale and frequency of events on the fields to 25 days a year. Not enough use to warrant an EIR.
Since then, as Surf Cup sporting and other events on the fields in the sensitive river valley increased exponentially, the City of San Diego looked the other way. That deliberate lack of enforcement now is the subject of a lawsuit brought by the homeowners’ association that holds the grant deed. City officials like Councilman Joe LaCava of District One refuse to address complaints and say their hands are tied because of the ongoing lawsuit. The County of San Diego, for its part, says any community concerns related to Surf events – specifically traffic on County roads – are the City’s problem.
A coalition of residents from Rancho Santa Fe, Del Mar, Solana Beach, and San Diego has been working for several years to preserve, protect, and secure the safety, peace, and rural character of the Polo Fields neighborhood by requiring the City of San Diego to enforce the Municipal Code, to address environmental concerns, and to honor the requirements of the Grant Deed. The Coalition to Preserve the Polo Fields (www.preservethepolofields.com) has created a useful website with frequent updates, a collection of official documents and letters from concerned residents, local planning groups, and other community organizations, as well as news stories related to Surf Cup activities – which now include a proposed 48,000 sq. ft. sports facility adjacent to the fields off Via de la Valle.
Perhaps now would be a good time for Rancho Santa Fe, like the San Dieguito Planning Group and neighboring HOAs already have in no uncertain terms, to weigh in on the unchecked activities on its southern border.
Jeffrey J. Carmel is a longtime Rancho Santa Fe resident and serves on the board of the Friends of the San Dieguito River Valley.