City Council Shoots Down Plans for ‘Mega-Church’ in Del Cerro

On Tuesday, January 9, 2024, the San Diego City Council voted 6 to 2 to deny the polarizing All Peoples Church project long planned for a vacant, 6-acre lot in Del Cerro. Now its future hangs in the balance after the council majority rejected approval of the required permits and — importantly — against the recommendation of city staff.

Here’s an account of the action:

By Jennifer Van Grove / San Diego Union-Tribune / Jan. 10, 2024

City Council members cited perceived flaws with the project’s traffic analysis, echoing community member concerns about safety.  …. The decision puts the future of the project, already more than six years in the making, in limbo, as the church evaluates how best to move forward.

“The original (traffic) data are faulty,” said Councilmember Raul Campillo, who represents Del Cerro and was the dominant voice of opposition on the council.

Campillo argued the project’s environmental impact report and associated traffic study grossly under counted weekday car trips associated with the facility’s planned basketball court, allowing the church to bypass a more thorough review of its potential traffic impacts.

“The project was improperly screened out of necessary, detailed (Vehicle Miles Traveled) analyses, and therefore the EIR is inaccurate; it’s incomplete, and this application is legally flawed,” he said.

Councilmembers Kent Lee and Sean Elo-Rivera voted against the motion to deny the project. …

The project calls for a 54,476-square-foot church building, situated near the College Avenue off-ramp, with a 900-seat sanctuary, a multipurpose room with a basketball court, and second-floor classrooms and staff offices. The project includes a two-level, 71,010-square-foot parking garage with 203 spaces just north of the church building and 116 surface spots along College Avenue. Also planned is a new intersection with a traffic signal at the church’s primary entrance.

Started in 2008 by Herber, All Peoples Church is said to have a congregation size of around 800 adults and children, and is currently operating out of a City Heights facility with a lease set to expire in June 2024. In late 2017, the church purchased the irregularly shaped property near Interstate 8 and College Avenue, and it has been going through the process of amending the Navajo Community Plan to allow church use on land zoned for residential use.

The project in its current form requires a general plan amendment, community plan amendment and site development permit, as well as certification of the project’s environmental impact report. Council members were required to cast their vote solely based on land-use matters in light of the federal protections provided to churches by the Religious Land Use And Institutionalized Persons Act.

In August 2023, the community planning group, Navajo Community Planners, voted unanimously to deny the project’s approval. In September, the San Diego Planning Commission voted unanimously in favor of the project on condition that the church eliminate some of its surface parking and prohibit elementary or preschool use.

Tuesday’s City Council meeting dusted up years of controversy surrounding the church project, which opponents have branded as a “megachurch.”

There were 133 public speakers at the meeting, with sentiment split between impassioned support for a church that has changed lives and opposition from residents convinced that the neighborhood they love would be ruined by such a large facility. …

Members of the community group Save Del Cerro, which has for years strongly opposed the project, argued that All Peoples Church is out of scale for the neighborhood, and that the volume of additional car traffic would be a safety hazard. The group also hired its own consultant, RK Engineering, to debunk the project’s traffic claims. RK Engineering determined that additional analysis was required. …

“I stand here today as the voice of over 1,000 concerned Del Cerro citizens,” said Barbara Blakeley of the Save Del Cerro group. “The reasons to deny this project are as clear as they are compelling. The project fails to conform with the city’s municipal code, and as such cannot meet the requirements for approval. It is inconsistent with the Navajo Community Plan, designed to preserve the character and livability of the community. It was unanimously denied by the Navajo Community Planners, reflecting a collective community stance. It is detrimental to the health, safety and welfare of the community, all necessities to meet legal findings required for approval.”

According to the project’s environmental impact report, All Peoples Church is projected to have a less-than-significant impact on traffic, generating an average of 280 car trips on weekdays and 1,976 trips on Sundays. As such, the project met the city’s screening criteria for a small project of less than 300 average daily trips. A full Vehicle Miles Travel analysis was not required.

Councilmember Campillo called into question the determination, zeroing in what he referred to as “inaccurate” traffic assumptions associated with the church’s multipurpose gym and its basketball court.

The city of San Diego, which was the lead agency for the state-mandated review, used San Diego-based LOS Engineering for the trip generation study. The firm, using information provided by the church, estimated that the gym would have five daily users, on average, and generate 10 car trips.

“There is no way that 10 trips is a reasonably accurate forecast for trips caused by the gym,” Campillo said. “LOS engineering calculated 10 trips, and this keeps it just under 300 (daily trips) so that (the project) avoids triggering a more in-depth traffic study, and ultimately avoids actually addressing very real traffic safety impacts that this would have on Navajo residents and the surrounding community.” …

As it stands, the church can resubmit an altered development application or challenge the council’s decision in court.

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