Hearing in Heights rebuild lawsuit postponed to March

The latest hearing for the lawsuit against the Del Mar Heights School rebuild has been continued again. The San Diego Superior Court continued the hearing date on the second lawsuit filed by Save the Field to Feb. 3 which was then postponed to Feb. 9 and now to a March 6 date.

The lawsuit challenges the city of San Diego’s approval of the rebuild project, arguing that it did not comply with the California Environmental Quality Act.

Construction on the new Del Mar school has been halted since May 2022, two months after the old school campus was demolished. The Del Mar Union School District’s attorney tried for an earlier court date in order to lift the injunction and continue with construction, but scheduling remains challenging—March 24 was the earliest date available and following that, Judge Katherine Bacal said she is fully booked until August.

Following the recent storms, there have been reports of water running off into and pooling in the neighboring Torrey Pines Reserve Extension from the construction site. The district plans to request that they be allowed to proceed with emergency repairs in the reserve. The overall rebuild project includes a new stormwater system—the district will repair two failing stormwater outfalls and has agreed to replant the area with landscaping materials that exclude invasive plant species.