Litigation Outcome
Litigation Outcome
On August 9, 2016, SCS officially signed the lease with the City of San Diego. 20 days later, on August 29th, the Friends of the San Dieguito River Valley (“FSDRV”), which is a small local nonprofit group, filed an environmental challenge against the City of San Diego, of which SCS was joined as an interested party, and asked for a Temporary Restraining Order and Permanent Injunction.
On November 9th, 2016, the Superior Court of San Diego denied the request of a Temporary Restraining Order and on December 16th, 2016 the Court similarly denied the request for a Permanent Injunction.
The court challenge proceeded, and throughout the process Surf Cup Sports reached out to the FSDRV to seek common ground and enter into good-faith negotiations about a possible settlement, but anything short of a cessation or extreme curtailment of the activities that have taken place since 1992 would not be acceptable to the FSDRV.
Two years later, on April 17, 2018 & August 10, 2018 the Superior Court of San Diego granted our demurrer, first with leave to amend and second without.
On August 10 of 2018, the Superior Court once again ruled against the FSDRV, this time striking down their amended CEQA claim.
On February 19, 2019 Judge Pollack of the Superior Court of San Diego issued a final ruling in the CEQA claim, ruling in favor of the City of San Diego and Surf Cup Sports.
The FSDRV appealed this decision to the California Court of Appeals, and on January 29, 2021, the court rejected the FSDRV appeal on all counts
This particular FSDRV member is a regular when it comes to harassing Surf. She has stated multiple falsehoods, and although claiming to not have anything against the kids or soccer, her actions and the actions of her group clearly say otherwise.
These pictures were taken by a staff member after this individual ignored signage and entered into a restricted area while he was operating heavy equipment. She attempted to block his equipment, coming dangerously close, and causing him to stop because he felt the situation was unsafe. This was not a heroic, save the amazon forest type of moment, this was clearly a case of a person with a personal agenda, not someone interested in what was best for the facility or the environment.
Self-interested neighbors and the FSDRV continue to harass Surf Cup Sports to this day. This “Not In My Backyard” (NIMBY) behavior ignores the positive benefits of Surf’s operation of the facility in favor of their personal desires. They insist they have nothing against soccer and kids, just not near their Rancho Santa Fe mansions. These NIMBYs send dozens of baseless and ridiculous complaints each month to City officials, wasting their time and our tax dollars. They spread inaccurate information and lies in an attempt to influence local politicians. They try bullying and harassing Surf’s staff and disrupting onsite operations. What they don’t try to do is communicate in any civil way. They have no desire to communicate their concerns and work on possible solutions, in fact, in the one court-ordered settlement conference during their lawsuit, they refused to discuss anything unless Surf agreed to park vehicles off-site during events, which is completely unreasonable. They will only be satisfied with Surf’s removal from the facility they’ve called home since 1992. Their dream is to turn back time and restore the area to their overly-romanticized and completely inaccurate version of the “good ol’ days,” when wealthy polo players put on extravagant events via the San Diego Polo Club.
Ironically, most of these same complaints, and certainly not the volume we see today, did not occur when the San Diego Polo Club were tenants. The San Diego Polo Club regularly boasted about having the longest season in North America, which included 16 weekends of events during the summer, and also included nightly arena use and daily practices. During their tenure as lessees of the property, Polo allowed completely unsupervised events like soccer, rugby, lacrosse, dog shows, car shows, landed aircraft on the fields, and many other uses. Other than a few years (approx. 2006-2011, when polo membership was in steep decline and the club was in disarray) the size and historic number of the events have remained roughly the same and yet since the property’s main focus shifted from polo to youth sports, suddenly the NIMBYs are galvanized and complaining.
So, what has changed to spark this constant outcry from a few of Surf’s neighbors and some members of the community? Is it their sudden concern for the environment as evidenced by their support of the recently unsuccessful lawsuit? Is it their communal concern for the effects of Covid-19 as evidenced by their dozens of nuisance calls to SDPD and the County? They’ve unfortunately had to adjust from the pageantry of the ‘Sport of Kings’, being played on the fields below, to seeing our racially and socio-economically diverse kids playing the sports they love. Developments and communities surrounding the facility used “Polo” in their names for a reason – it evokes wealth, status, and privilege. We believe that much of the harassment springs from this shift in use, and we also believe the larger San Diego and youth sports communities are much better off for it. Unfortunately, in researching these complaints, public comments and emails, we have seen elements of elitism, racism, classism and N.I.M.B.Y.-ism since the day Surf took over the facility and it continues daily.
In today’s day and age, people are being driven further and further apart. Certainly we can find common ground on the topic of children. We all want what’s best for our kids and Surf Cup Sports has a clear mission. They’ve renovated, reconditioned, and made available to all, a decaying facility. They’ve helped thousands of kids achieve their goals and dreams, both, athletic and scholastic. They scholarship and make available these opportunities to every kid regardless of their economic status. They do all of this and more without any government assistance and in turn they provide millions in economic impact and job creation. They’re nationally recognized and admired for what they’ve accomplished.
Surf Cup Sports won this environmental lawsuit and will continue to budget for legal challenges in the future. The San Diego Courts got this one right when they backed Surf at every step in their 4+ year lawsuit with FSDRV, and, in 2016, the City of San Diego City Council spoke very clearly when they awarded Surf a 28.5 year lease and voted them as their choice for the highest and best use of this facility.
