Auto Racing Suit Dropped by Del Mar City Council

In the latest chapter of a bitter dispute over a proposed Grand Prix auto race at the state fairgrounds here, the City Council Monday night decided to dismiss the lawsuit that sought to block the controversial event.

After meeting in closed session, council members voted unanimously to direct their city attorney to kill the litigation against the Del Mar Fair Board.

Mayor Lew Hopkins said the council’s action “simply makes sense” because promoters of the auto race have announced they are postponing the event for one year. Hopkins added, however, that the vote does not mean council members no longer oppose the race, which they maintain would disrupt life in the coastal city.

“It’s no secret that the city of Del Mar opposes the Grand Prix, and that hasn’t changed,” Hopkins said. “But since there is no Grand Prix this year, there is no need for the lawsuit. It’s moot.”

Hopkins also noted that he hoped the council’s action would be “beneficial from a community relations standpoint.”

Council members said they hope to work with the Fair Board and race promoters--who plan to sponsor the race next fall--in the future in an effort to address local residents’ concerns over noise and other impacts.

Controversy over the race flared in late 1985 when the city first learned of the Fair Board’s plan to host the 10-day auto extravaganza in November. The Fair Board billed the event as a way to increase interim use of the state facility and boost revenues for the district--as much as $1 million over the next five years, according to predictions.

But Del Mar city officials and residents fiercely opposed the high-speed race, arguing that it would generate intolerable noise in the surrounding San Dieguito River Valley, draw unruly crowds, cause traffic problems and generally conflict with the character of the seaside village.

When lobbying efforts failed, the city sued the 22nd District Agricultural Assn., as the Fair Board is formally known, in a last-ditch effort to block the race. The lawsuit challenged the adequacy of an environmental impact report (EIR) that forecast the race’s noise levels and assessed its impacts on San Dieguito Lagoon, which borders the fairgrounds.

The legal challenge angered Fair Board members, who countered by discussing the possibility of deannexing the sprawling state facility from Del Mar. Such a move would be difficult to achieve without the city’s consent or special legislation. But if the district were successful, it would cost tiny Del Mar about $800,000 annually in service fees and taxes.

After weeks of negotiations, the two agencies struck a deal in August--just minutes before a hearing on the city’s lawsuit was scheduled to begin in San Diego Superior Court. Under the compromise, the city suspended its litigation and Fair Board members agreed to cease all discussion of deannexation.

Last week a new twist in the feud surfaced when promoters of the auto race, who also sponsor the popular Long Beach Grand Prix, announced they had been forced to cancel this year’s event because of time constraints caused by the lawsuit. Officials said that because a legal cloud hung over their event, they had been unable to line up sponsors and investors and could not meet a list of conditions imposed on the race by the California Coastal Commission before November.

The announcement triggered a new round of rhetoric and predictions that the dispute could be rekindled. In particular, Fair Board President Raymond Saatjian, who said blame for the race’s cancellation rests squarely on the city’s shoulders, suggested that the district may once again resume discussions of deannexing.

In addition, Saatjian called on Del Mar to revive its lawsuit so that “the issues the city raised can be expeditiously dismissed.” Saatjian said board members--who are confident they will win in court--feared the city might “wait in the wings with their suit,” then file it in time to interfere with or possibly block next year’s race as well.

But some residents and city officials questioned whether Del Mar would benefit by pressing forward with the lawsuit.

Even if the city were to prevail in court, the district could merely correct the deficiencies in the EIR, even prepare a new one, and proceed with the race next year as planned.

“There would be some economic advantage to not going forward (with the suit), in terms of saving dollars that would be spent on court costs,” Hopkins said. He added, however, that forcing the Fair Board to prepare a new EIR could be a fruitful exercise for the city.

“If they must do a new EIR, that helps the city because the (Fair Board) would have to readdress certain points of contention,” Hopkins said.

Even if the race does go on as planned next year, the new EIR might require “measures that would address the noise and environmental impacts we’re worried about” and make the event more palatable, he said.