Fair Board, Del Mar Agree to Try to Kiss and Make Up

Negotiators for the city and the Del Mar fair board Thursday reached an 11th-hour accord that apparently resolves a bitter dispute triggered by the board’s plans to hold a Grand Prix auto racing event at the fairgrounds this fall.

Neither city officials nor fair board members would disclose details of the agreement, but both sides confirmed it will not mean cancellation of the controversial 10-day racing event, which was fiercely opposed by Del Mar residents and prompted the City Council to sue the fair board.

In addition, both Mayor Lew Hopkins and board President Raymond Saatjian said the settlement calls for the 22nd District Agricultural Assn., the fair board’s formal name, to cease efforts to secede from the city, which relies heavily on the fairgrounds for financial support.

“I feel pretty good,” Hopkins said shortly after the council met in executive session Thursday evening and authorized him to sign the agreement. “Neither side got all they wanted, but I think everyone agrees a settlement is better than a long legal battle.”

Saatjian, who has sharply criticized the city for opposing the race and who sparked the board’s campaign to de-annex the fairgrounds from Del Mar, was also pleased. But he cautioned that differences between the two bodies are likely to continue.

“I am delighted to see a temporary resolution of the antagonism and the hostility that has grown between us over the last several months,” Saatjian said. “But this is only the beginning of our exercise in good faith. And because of our different constituencies, our problems will continue.”

The tentative agreement, which still must be signed by the mayor and by fair board directors, was struck only hours before a hearing on Del Mar’s lawsuit--designed to block the auto race--was scheduled to begin in San Diego Superior Court.

Hopkins said that if all sides formally agree to the settlement this morning, he will advise the presiding judge that the city will withdraw its lawsuit from the court calendar.

“We’re not dismissing the suit,” Hopkins noted, “we are just agreeing to hold it in abeyance until we can see precisely what problems, if any, result from the auto race.”

Although officials were tight-lipped about details of the agreement, they confirmed that it is similar to--but in some cases less stringent than--a tentative pact that was scrapped earlier this week. Under that settlement:

- The two parties agreed to establish a community relations committee to review events at the fairgrounds “where common interests are involved,” and to review actions by the Del Mar City Council under similar circumstances. Two representatives each from the fair board and the council were to be appointed to the committee, which was to meet on a bimonthly basis.

- Both sides agreed to support a “temporary, seasonal” off-ramp along Interstate 5 for access to the 330-acre fairgrounds only. The ramp, proposed to link the freeway with parking areas on the north side of the San Dieguito River, has been opposed in the past by council members who feared it would carry more cars into their traffic-plagued downtown.

District officials, meanwhile, have long sought the off-ramp as a solution to traffic snarls that occur during the summer fair and racing season at the Via de la Valle exit, the main access to the fairgrounds.

- The fair board agreed to “exercise good-faith efforts” to address the issue of noise generated by events at the fairgrounds and to control sound emitted from such events. Fears of intolerable noise generated by the Grand Prix race have been the primary concern of the City Council and other opponents of the auto extravaganza.

Also included in the earlier compromise was a stipulation that district directors will limit motor vehicle events to no more than one Grand Prix per year and will limit other noise-producing events, such as rock concerts, to no more than the average number of events in the last three years.

Saatjian indicated that the latter condition was probably scrapped from the new settlement, noting that “the district under no circumstances will surrender jurisdiction of its control over activities to any other body. We cannot do so under state law.”

While the two bodies have frequently been at odds during their 27-year marriage, tensions reached new heights in late 1985 when the city learned the fair board planned to host the high-speed auto race. Residents complained that noise from the event would be unbearable, while the council said an auto race clashed with the peaceful seaside ambiance of Del Mar.

Nevertheless, the fair board went forward, arguing that its duty was to serve people throughout San Diego County, many of whom would enjoy a day of auto racing.

The city sued, and the fair board responded by launching an investigation into the possibility of de-annexing from Del Mar and either forming its own special district or joining the city of San Diego.