Critics voice opposition to fairgrounds expansion
by Tanya Mannes, San Diego Union-Tribune
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Publication: San Diego Union Tribune, © 2009
Date published: November 12, 2009
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A plan to expand the Del Mar Fairgrounds with convention-center facilities is raising concerns among North County residents who say it would bring unwelcome crowds, traffic and noise.
Fairgrounds officials want to build a condominium-hotel, new exhibit halls, an office building, a parking garage and other public facilities over the next 15 years. The dirt lots now used for overflow parking would be paved. A seasonal train platform also is planned, but that wouldn't be built for years.
More than a dozen people spoke in public comments to criticize the plan at Tuesday's meeting of the 22nd District Agricultural Association, the agency that governs the state-owned fairgrounds.
“This project will bring a large amount of people, noise, traffic and bright lights to our neighborhood and to a sensitive habitat that $86 million has been spent to restore,” said Del Mar resident John Graybill.
“Your project is not just a renovation of the fairgrounds,” Graybill said. “It is a massive development project which will function like a large convention center.”
Last month, the fairgrounds released an environmental impact report for the plan, which described “significant, unavoidable adverse impacts” to traffic, air quality and noise.
The 4,555-page report, by consultant LSA Associates Inc., is available at sdfair.com. The consultant, hired by the fairgrounds, worked on the report for the past 18 months. It now goes through a public review. The deadline for written comments is Jan. 8.
Most of the people at Tuesday's meeting were Del Mar residents. They urged the fair board members to revise the plan and scale it back, with many expressing concerns about the San Dieguito Lagoon.
Major concerns included the effect of noise and traffic. People also criticized a plan for a 48-foot, lighted sign on the fairgrounds property along Interstate 5. Graybill said the freeway sign “has no place in a natural setting.”
“We don't want a gaudy, Las Vegas-ish convention center,” he said.
Several people expressed concern about noise and visible lights from rooftop sports fields that would be built on top of one of the exhibit halls.
Traffic congestion is a major issue, said Del Mar resident Bettie Youngs. She's worried about being able to leave her community in an emergency, such as a fire, amid bumper-to-bumper traffic.
The report states that the fairgrounds would pay a share of costs to improve certain streets and intersections in Del Mar, San Diego and Solana Beach, and provide funding to Caltrans for Interstate 5 ramp improvements. But the report notes that the fairgrounds won't have control over approving and implementing those projects.
Lee Haydu, a Del Mar resident, said that fairgrounds activities are already so loud that she keeps her windows closed at night in the summer.
“You think of this as a money-making thing for the fairgrounds, and I understand that,” Haydu said, “but you also have to understand that you're in the middle of small communities.”
Fairgrounds board member Barry Nussbaum briefly responded to the remarks, saying that the master plan for expansion has been in progress for a decade and reflects comments from hundreds of people. He said nothing would be built until funding is established.
Nussbaum encouraged people to put their comments in writing so they will be considered. |
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