The inevitable automobile accident at the entrance to Surf Sports Park on July 27, 2025, drives home the danger posed by the confluence of fast-moving regular traffic and endless lines of vehicles entering and exiting this hazardous location for weekly sports tournaments and practices throughout the year.
It’s also a stark reminder of the vulnerability of surrounding communities in the event of a natural disaster – and the City of San Diego’s complete lack of concern, accountability, or enforcement of public safety regulations at this site and on the fields.
Predictably, Sunday afternoon eastbound and westbound traffic on Via de la Valle, a two-lane rural road, came to a standstill for nearly an hour with cars backed up for a mile in both directions. Frustrated drivers soon began making illegal U-turns to avoid the gridlock.
The Rancho Santa Fe Fire Department was at the scene in 11 minutes. Thankfully, there were no serious injuries. Twenty-two minutes after the accident an ambulance arrived and took a passenger with a fractured wrist to the hospital – a clear indication that neither Emergency Medical Services personnel nor Basic Life Support Ambulance(s) were present as required by the City for such an event with thousands of athletes, coaches, referees, vendors, and spectators.
For over a year the Coalition and Friends of the San Dieguito River Valley have called on the City of San Diego’s Fire-Rescue Department (SDFD) and the office of City Council president Joe LaCava of District One, to confirm if a state-mandated evacuation plan exists for the sports fields in the event of a real emergency, and if not, why not. The SDFD appears to have been cowed into silence by the City or its Department of Real Estate and Airport Management (DREAM) that manages the Surf Cup Sports lease.
Meanwhile, a resolution proposed by the City and its lessee, Surf Cup Sports, to terminate the restrictive covenants in the Grant Deed which have in principle governed use of the playing fields, is intended as an end run around the Fairbanks Polo Club Homes’ lawsuit brought to enforce those very use-restrictions that have been in place since 1983. The City and Surf, having secured agreement from Ocean Industries, Inc., a successor to the original owner of the land, expect the City Council to approve the resolution sometime this summer – a date cannot be confirmed for the vote – to erase the covenants, moot the litigation, and thus deprive a judge of the opportunity to enforce them. This would shield the City and Surf from past violations and award them free rein over the former polo fields in the future, regardless of the destructive effect on neighboring communities and with little regard for public safety.