Shores Park's Shared Field Is on Probation Long Before Any Construction Begins

"I think it should be a probation. If things are working well, we continue. And if they're not, we stop it." Mayor Tracy Martinez said this at the September 22 City Council meeting, where Del Mar reviewed the new design for Shores Park. She was talking about the off-leash dog hours on the ballfield, which the plan keeps.

The new deck, lawns and community building are still drawings, and the city has no construction date. The thing that could change this year is the shared-use arrangement on the field, and the people standing on it each morning will largely decide whether it lasts.

The hours stay the same, and the city now checks them

Del Mar first let dogs use the Shores Park ballfield in 2012, only during times the school was not using it. The hours today are 6 to 8:30 a.m. every day, plus 3:30 p.m. to dark on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. The concept design keeps that shared use of the ballfield, with off-leash dog play during set hours.

The difference is who keeps track of the clock. City Manager Ashley Jones told the council that some users ignore the exclusive hours, and that enforcement used to fall to The Winston School. "That's not fair to them as a tenant," she said. "There is still a daily process there. The city has this responsibility." She also said the park ranger regularly sweeps the field and picks up dog waste before handing it over to the school each morning.

Kim Kanetis, executive director of The Winston School, said the city has enforced the rules more strictly since spring, and that it has helped. Her concern is what happens if enforcement eases. Deputy Mayor John Spelich said at least one city staff member had been verbally abused by a dog owner. He told the council that if this does not stop, "this conditional use can go away."

The U-T summed up the council's position this way: members supported mixed use but want to monitor conditions so the field stays clean and safe for Winston students. The council did not formally adopt a probation or set a date for reviewing it. The shared use continues for now, during the same posted hours that the city is already enforcing more closely.

Why the field is so hard to divide

Shores Park looks like a public lawn, but it comes with a lease and a long history. The city bought the former Shores Elementary property from the Del Mar Union School District in 2008 for $8.5 million. The Winston School helped raise $3 million of that price, and the district required that a school stay on the site. Winston, a private school for students with special needs in grades six through 12, has leased the campus since 1988. Kanetis told the council the school also pays $250,000 a year in rent.

The lease shaped the design. A June version turned the sports court east to west to make room for an extra parking aisle. Winston said that orientation would hurt the court's usability and affect its lease rights. The revised concept put the court back to north-south, as the designers had recommended all along, and dropped the extra aisle.

The arguments for and against dogs on the field were laid out clearly at the meeting:

• For keeping it shared. Most of the dozens of letters the city received before the presentation asked to keep dogs off-leash on the field. Richard Griko said he has come to the dog park for five years and that "it also brings the community together." Some dog owners said owners police themselves and clean the field every morning.
• For a separate dog area. Camilla Rang, a senior microbiology researcher at UC San Diego, said that sharing the field with dogs creates health risks for students that cannot be fully mitigated. Steven McDowell, a longtime Del Mar Little League board member, said the league stopped using the diamond in 2014 over health concerns. Resident Laura DeMarco argued for a separate dog park.

The city's staff report says written comments and testimony showed no clear majority either way. The Shores Park Master Plan Ad Hoc Advisory Committee recommended keeping the field shared anyway. Separate dog areas came up more than once. One of the three March concepts had an off-leash dog park apart from the athletic field. The committee approved the final concept 5-2 on July 24, and both members who voted no said they preferred a separate dog area.

What the concept adds around the field

Schmidt Design Group's design splits the park into two levels.

Upper terrace. An updated field and court, a new ocean-view deck, a two-story community building, an event plaza, picnic, game and fitness areas, open lawn, and up to 19 parking spaces next to the building.

Lower terrace. A "park within a park" with a lawn where dogs are not allowed, picnic tables, walking paths, a climbing wall, two natural play structures and 18 parking spaces that comply with the Winston lease.

Two changes show how the plan moved with public input. The Del Mar Historical Society had asked the city to consider placing the historic Alvarado House at Shores Park, and several concepts included it. The society withdrew that request on June 19, and an open lawn for play and community events took the house's place on the upper terrace. Late in the process, more letters asked for playground equipment. The final concept answered with the expanded play area on the lower terrace rather than a formal playground on the upper level.

The community building grew as the plan developed. In March the committee agreed to a 4,500-square-foot limit. In June it voted 4-3 to add 500 square feet to the second floor, for a total of 5,000, to make up for space lost to the stairwell and elevator a two-story building needs. The current Del Mar Community Building houses Del Mar Community Connections, the Del Mar Historical Society and the Del Mar Foundation.

The long road to a shovel

The September 22 meeting was a step forward, but not an approval. Council members agreed the committee's design was ready to become a final master plan after some refinements, and they took no vote. They asked for:

• More detail on the 5,000-square-foot community building at the northeast corner
• Another look at the planned entrance off Camino Del Mar
• A possible larger ocean-view deck
• Cost figures for furniture, fixtures and equipment
• Maintenance cost estimates from Public Works

According to the staff report, these steps still come before anyone breaks ground:

1. Staff and Schmidt refine the community building floor plan with the building's users.
2. The architect produces 3-D renderings of the building so the Del Mar Foundation can start fundraising.
3. Schmidt prepares a bird's-eye rendering of the park, a plant palette and updated cost estimates, all presented to the council as the final master plan.
4. Staff build a funding and phasing strategy from grants, community donations and future city budgets.
5. Once funding is in place, the project moves into technical design, engineering, environmental review and permitting.

Waiting has a price. Schmidt's rough estimates, adjusted for construction cost increases, put the park and building at $11.5 million if work started in 2026, $12.2 million in 2027, $13 million in 2028 and $13.8 million in 2029. That works out to $700,000 more for the first year of delay and $800,000 more for each of the next two. The building alone accounts for $5.5 million to $6.6 million of those totals.

This park has waited before. Del Mar started a Shores master plan in 2014, put it on hold during the COVID-19 shutdowns, and restarted it with the ad hoc committee and Schmidt in 2025.

What could move this fall

The faster changes involve people more than construction. Councilmember Dan Quirk asked whether the city could form a dog owners committee to work with on accountability, and Jones said staff would look into the legal questions and report back. The council also gave the architect notes on foliage, parking, meeting space and exercise equipment, and will bring the master plan back at a future meeting. The building renderings that start the Del Mar Foundation's fundraising are the next visible milestone.

The city's September 24 project update links to the full staff report and the video of the September 22 meeting. Both are worth reviewing before the master plan comes back to council. Until then, the off-leash hours on the 9th Street field are still 6 to 8:30 a.m. daily, and 3:30 p.m. to dark on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

Changes in the public spaces around a home are part of its story, and I follow them closely for clients in Old Del Mar. If you'd like to know how plans like Shores Park fit into your own home's value, Ranch & Coast Living can help. Get your instant home valuation, or reach out to me directly to talk it through.