Del Mar City Councilmembers interrupted their summer vacation this week to call for an investigation into two state officials – a member of the Del Mar Fairgrounds board and California’s attorney general.
The Monday special City Council meeting lasted about 10 minutes. There was one public comment and no discussion among the councilmembers, leaving some with questions about what prompted the vote.
But to those who have been following City Hall, this is the latest in a long series of dustups between the city, a housing developer and the state.
The Council voted 3-0 to ask District Attorney Summer Stephan and U.S. Attorney Adam Gordon to open potential misconduct investigations into Attorney General Rob Bonta and 22nd District Agricultural Board Member Mark Arabo. Councilmember Dan Quirk was absent.
On July 9, resident Debrah Barnes submitted a letter to the city with concerns about Bonta and Arabo’s potential conflicts of interest regarding a proposed housing project in Del Mar known as Seaside Ridge.
The city of Del Mar has repeatedly rejected Seaside Ridge’s application since its developers first submitted it in 2023 and is now locked in a legal dispute with the developer.
In her letter, Barnes wrote that she wasn’t accusing anyone of wrongdoing but wanted an investigation into the relationship between Arabo and Brian Guiltinan, a luxury real estate agent who is part of Seaside Ridge’s team.
Barnes had discovered that Guiltinan was Arabo’s real estate agent when he and his wife purchased their multi-million-dollar home in 2024. She questioned in her letter if Arabo should have publicly disclosed that.
She also wrote that Arabo has repeatedly seemed to “promote” Seaside Ridge during Fairgrounds board meetings while simultaneously being critical of an affordable housing project the city is proposing for the Fairgrounds.
Her letter goes on to say that campaign finance records show Arabo and Guiltinan made significant contributions to Bonta in 2024, which the city corroborated and included copies of in the city staff report.
Records show that Guiltinan made four donations in June 2024 to Bonta’s 2026 re-election campaign totaling $18,200. Similarly, Arabo donated a total of $18,200 to Bonta’s campaign between 2023 and 2024.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta at the University of San Diego for Politifest 2023 on Saturday, Oct. 7, 2023. / Vito Di Stefano for Voice of San Diego
In December 2025, Bonta’s office sent its first letter to Del Mar saying city leaders should approve the Seaside Ridge project based on the Builder’s Remedy. Then, in March of this year, Bonta’s office told Del Mar officials they were violating state housing law.
“The issue is not whether misconduct occurred,” Barnes wrote in the letter. “The issue is whether the public can have confidence that decisions regarding Seaside Ridge have been made free of undisclosed influence and without preferential access.”
Seaside Ridge is a 259-unit housing project with affordable housing that is proposed for Del Mar’s North Bluff. Its developers argue the city must approve the project because of the state’s Builder’s Remedy law. But city officials have repeatedly rejected that claim, arguing the application is incomplete, fails to meet the location’s zoning standards and that the city already has enough affordable housing in the pipeline to meet its housing goals.
Seaside Ridge developers, including the land’s owner, Carol Lazier, are currently suing Del Mar for repeatedly rejecting the project.
Enter the Del Mar Fairgrounds. In 2024, city leaders and the 22nd DAA signed an Exclusive Negotiating Rights Agreement to study building an affordable housing project on Fairgrounds land. But that deal is far from secure, in fact, negotiations between the two agencies have almost fallen apart twice before. The city’s latest move could be the final straw.
If the Fairgrounds project falls through, Del Mar will be forced to turn to its state-mandated backup plan: the exact North Bluff site where Seaside Ridge is ready and waiting to build.
It was Barnes’ letter, according to city officials, that prompted the special meeting and the decision to send “Investigative Referral” letters to the U.S attorney and district attorney urging them to investigate Arabo and Bonta — even though the city received Barnes’ letter two weeks before the summer recess started.
“Simply put, Ms. Lazier’s Seaside Ridge project stands to benefit if affordable housing is not timely developed at the Fairgrounds,” the city wrote in the referral letters.
“At the same time, the city has neither the legal authority to enforce nor the resources to investigate them,” the letters continued. “For these reasons, the city of Del Mar, by majority vote of the City Council, urges the District Attorney to investigate the information contained in Ms. Barnes’ letter.”
Both Arabo and representatives for Seaside Ridge sent letters to the city ahead of Monday’s meeting denying allegations of misconduct or conflict of interest.
Arabo “was not aware” of Guiltinan’s relation to Seaside Ridge at the time of the real estate transaction, Arabo wrote in his letter, adding that it was the only real estate transaction he has ever had with Guiltinan. He also said he had no private communications regarding Seaside Ridge and has no financial or business interest in its development.
“Nothing was hidden. Nothing occurred behind closed doors,” he wrote.
He has also never discussed Seaside Ridge with Attorney General Bonta or anyone in his office, he wrote.
“Whether Seaside Ridge is ultimately approved or denied has never been my concern because I have no personal, financial, or business interest in that project,” he wrote. “My concern has always been protecting the Del Mar Fairgrounds and ensuring that decisions involving state property are made in the best interests of the people of California.”
The letter from Seaside Ridge’s attorney had a more pointed tone.
“The city’s apparent attempt to improperly use its official authority to threaten the project and state officials based on misconstrued, incomplete and unsubstantiated assertions is nothing less than outrageous,” wrote Brooke Miller, a representative of Seaside Ridge’s legal team. “The city’s narrative seems to imply that simply having relationships or communicating with public officials is somehow suspicious.”
Miller further wrote that the special Council meeting itself was “unprecedented” and shows how far the city will go to “prevent housing from being constructed.”
Ashley Jones, Del Mar’s city manager, told Voice of San Diego via email that the city was simply referring a resident’s concern to outside agencies for review.
“In no way is the city accusing anyone of wrongdoing or suggesting that any action against any individual or elected/appointed official should be taken. The action taken by the City Council yesterday was simply a referral of a concern raised by a member of the public to outside agencies for review and consideration, as the City of Del Mar is not an investigative agency nor does the City have the regulatory or enforcement authority over the issues raised.”
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