At a meeting of the Del Mar City Council, Supervisor Pam Slater-Price awarded a County of San Diego proclamation to Jacqueline Winterer, a longtime resident of Del Mar who has given generously of her time to civic and environmental causes.
In her remarks, the Supervisor said:
As a former board member and current advisor to the Friends of the San Dieguito River Valley, Winterer’s vigilance played a key role in the issuance this month of a consent decree ordering the 22nd District Agricultural Association (Del Mar Fairgrounds) to comply with the state Coastal Act and to restore portions of the river valley damaged by previous violations.
In defense of the San Dieguito Lagoon, Winterer gathered evidence and testified repeatedly before the Agricultural Association’s Board of Directors; she doggedly demanded redress, even when her pleas seemed to fall on deaf ears.
On multiple occasions, Winterer traveled great distances to testify before the California Coastal Commission; the Commission’s 28-page consent decree cites many of the violations Winterer had noted in her testimony.
In oral testimony and in numerous letters, Winterer protested over the alleged: water pollution caused by the fairgrounds; parking of semi-tractor trailers in the river valley for advertising; posting of unpermitted signs, some of them electronic; use of environmentally-sensitive areas for truck-driver training; absence of specifics in fairgrounds planning documents and paving of tidal lands.
Winterer’s environmental advocacy has won the praise and support of the San Dieguito River Park Joint Powers Authority and elected officials from Del Mar, Solana Beach and San Diego, community planning groups, university researchers and power company executives.
In addition to her environmental work, Winterer served on the Del Mar City Council from 1988 to 1992 and as Mayor during the final year of her tenure; her volunteer work has benefited the Del Mar Farmers’ Market and Friends of the Del Mar Library.