Two months ago, the San Diego City Council rewrote the terms of a decades-old grant deed to help win a lawsuit challenging the commercial use of public parklands along the San Dieguito River. Now the city is facing a new lawsuit from the Sierra Club accusing officials of violating state environmenta l laws in favor of Surf Cup Sports, which runs youth soccer games and other events that have frustrated some neighbors for years. The environmental nonprofit is seeking a court order setting aside any approvals and directing San Diego to conduct a review of the project under the California Environmental Quality Act. The lawsuit accuses officials of violating state law in October, when a divided City Council voted to end the 1980s-era grant restrictions and approve a new lease that allows Surf Cup to make millions of dollars off events there. “The city’s approval of the termination agreement and first amended lease stripped att protective use restrictions from the affected land, which had been enacted to ensure the affected land would be protected as open space for the community in perpetuity,” the legal complaint says. The City Attorney’s Office declined to comment on the new suit, citing a policy of not discussing ongoing litigation outside of court. No hearing date has yet been scheduled in the San Diego Superior Court case assigned to Judge Gregory W. Pollack. Surf Cup Sports collects millions of dollars a year in revenue from the many activities sponsored on the public parklands. Under the initial agreement between San Diego and Surf Cup, the company pays $240,000 a year in rent to the city. The City Council declined to re-evaluate in October when officials voted to amend the 26-year lease. The Sierra Club case is the latest in a years-long legal dispute over the 100 or so acres leased to Surf Cup Sports under a 2016 agreement. Environmentalists and nearby homeowners sued the city over the events hosted by the tenant. They complain the soccer tournaments and other games disrupt the habitat and violate terms of the 1983 deal granting the property to the city. “These lands were never meant for private exploitation,” Pam Heatherington of the Environmental Center of San Diego testified at the October council meeting. “They were meant for everyone.” Hundreds watch or play in soccer matches at Surf Sports Park on Saturday, Oct. 25, 2025. (Meg McLaughlin / The San Diego Union-Tribune) The city of San Diego acquired some 600 acres from a developer known as Watt Industries in 1983 in exchange for permission to develop much of what is now known as Fairbanks Ranch. Most of that property was used to develop the Fairbanks Ranch Country Club that supports the residential community. But 115 or so acres of the so-called affected land were dedicated to remain as open space in perpetuity. For years the property along the San Dieguito River east of the Del Mar racetrack was leased to a polo club, but in 2016 the city awarded a 28-year lease to Surf Cup. The company now sponsors dozens of events each year that attract thousands. Some residents have complained the soccer tournaments draw too many people, clogging roads and creating unsafe traffic conditions. “I have watched how the intensification of this property has changed the ability to go a mile to visit friends” due to gridlock, Solana Beach Councilmember Jill MacDonald told the San Diego City Council at the October hearing. San Diego officials nonetheless voted 6-2 to rewrite terms of the 1983 grant deed with Watt Industries, citing a legal technicality that left two parcels within the property under the control of the developer’s successor company, Ocean Industries. Under a plan recommended by City Attorney Heather Ferbert, the council terminated the original grant deed restrictions and approved a new lease that excluded the language requiring the property to be preserved as open space. Councilmembers Raul Campillo and Marni von Wilpert opposed the actions. Sierra Club lawyers, who were among many people and organizations who publicly opposed the plan in October, argued in the lawsuit that the council decision violated the 1983 deed. “The grant deed’s terms require the city to keep the affected land ‘as open space in a natural condition as near as possible’ or may permit it to be utilized for certain, non-intensive activities,” the suit says. The Sierra Club lawsuit is unrelated to another complaint filed by Fairbanks Ranch area homeowners over the city’s compliance with the original lease, ongoing Surf Cup events and state environmental laws. A hearing in that dispute is scheduled next month. No hearing has yet been set in the Sierra Club case. ...read more read less