Project Updates

July 2023
We are pleased to announce that after years of technical review, public input, and hard work, the Final Environmental Impact Report for the Light Project has been published! This is an important milestone as it moves the project one step closer to approval by the City of San Diego. The next steps in the approval process will be a presentation to the Navajo Community Planners and public hearings before the City of San Diego Planning Commission and City Council.

We need your help and support! It is critical that we have a strong showing of support to gain approval for the Light Project. Attending a hearing, speaking in support, or sending an email to decision makers will help us demonstrate the strong support that this project enjoys. Click here to learn more and sign up to show your support for the Light Project!

September 2022
After a three year technical review process and over 20 community meetings, All Peoples is excited to announce our Environmental Impact Report is available for community review. We look forward to discussing our project plans with the community in upcoming meetings.

October 2021
On October 22, 2021, the City of San Diego kicked off the environmental review process for The Light Project with the release of a Notice of Preparation of an Environmental Impact Report for the project. This is an important milestone in the project review process, as the environmental review is needed before the project can be considered by the Planning Commission and City Council.

The release of the Notice of Preparation begins a 30-day public scoping process where members of the public can submit comments about issues that they believe should be addressed in the environmental review. You can review the Notice of Preparation by visiting https://www.sandiego.gov/ceqa/meetings and searching for “All Peoples Church.” Instructions for providing comments are included in the notice.

March 2021
All Peoples Church submitted its revised project package to the City of San Diego for review on March 12. We are hopeful that this submittal addresses all outstanding issues and the City will move forward with the environmental review for the project.

Over the last two years, All Peoples Church has worked with neighbors and community groups to share information about the project, answer questions, and listen to concerns. As a result, we have made a number of changes to the project over time to address issues raised by neighbors and the community, including:

Reduced height of the majority of the building from 33’ to 30’ (with exception of architectural elements)
Property line screening on north end – enhanced landscaped buffer and assistance with fence upgrades
Agreed to gate off surface parking in north to eliminate activity except during church services
Additional landscaping at the retaining wall near College Avenue
Will replace trees in College Avenue median that are removed with construction of intersection

We look forward to completing the review with the City and moving forward with the remainder of the project approval process.

December 2020
All Peoples Church is continuing to communicate with the community and city officials as we move through about the project approval process. Recently the team received comments from the city on the third project submission and is preparing for a fourth submission. One issue of focus is the project sewer system, on which we are working on some creative solutions. We also anticipate that the traffic study prepared for the project will be signed off on by the city (traffic counts were conducted in April 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic). In response to heightened community interest in the project, we prepared a “myth vs. fact” section on our website to provide answers to misconceptions about the church and the project. We have also started an instagram page to distribute information and share updates about the project (instagram.com/lightprojectsandiego).

Fall 2020

All Peoples Church made what we hope is our final submittal of plans to the City of San Diego over the summer and we are expecting final comments soon. An environmental review of the project would then be conducted before the project can move forward to the Planning Commission and City Council for public hearings.

In November, the project will be presented to the Navajo Community Planners, the official advisory group to the City of San Diego on community land use issues. We will ask the group for a recommendation of approval of the project, which will be forwarded to the City of San Diego.

May 2020

All Peoples Church has submitted and received notes from the city of San Diego on our 2nd submittal regarding site plans. We are in the process of dialoging with the community and state entities to develop the best plan possible for the site development. Thank you for your patience and input as a community as we work with the city, the highway department, and the surrounding community in discussing our plans.

January 2020

All Peoples Church has recently been made aware of a new city ordinance in San Diego that allows churches to be built with considerably less parking than previously required in order to allow churches to create housing in their parking lots to help those that experience homelessness. While All Peoples Church is committed to restoring the lives of those that are experiencing homelessness, we want to communicate to the community – specifically our new neighbors in the Del Cerro area – that we have no plans to reduce the size of our parking lot or house homeless people on our property. We need all of our allotted parking spaces to support our worship services each weekend at All Peoples Church. Our parking facilities are important to ensure that our congregants park on site and not in the surrounding neighborhood.

October 2019
All Peoples Church and its project team are working to develop responses and revisions to project plans in response to the comments submitted by the City over the summer. A number of the issues that need to be addressed are technical and require input from both the City and Caltrans before responses can be finalized. Once these are resolved, the project will be resubmitted to the City for the second round of review and comment. The Light Project website has been updated! The website, https://light.allpeopleschurch.org/, now includes a page dedicated to the Project Approval Process. It includes project facts, an overview of the project review process, answers to frequently asked questions, project updates, and a form for interested members of the community to submit comments and questions and sign up for project updates. We hope that this new page will help us share important information and updates with the community.

June 2019
The City of San Diego issued their first round of comments on the project plans submitted by All Peoples Church in May 2019. Called a “Cycle Issues Report,” these comments are the result of a review of the proposed plans by several City departments. The next step is for the All Peoples Church team to review the comments and make revisions to the plans and/or develop responses to address the City’s comments. It is anticipated that there will be +/- three rounds of project submittals and responses from the City before plans are finalized.

May 2019
All Peoples Church formally submitted plans for the Light Project to the City of San Diego this month to begin the project review process. The church also conducted a number of community outreach activities to share plans with local community groups and neighbors of the project. Presentations were made to both the Del Cerro Action Council and the Navajo Community Planners. Church representatives also met with a subcommittee of the Navajo Community Planners tasked with working with the church to review and comment on the project and held a meeting with neighbors whose properties are adjacent to the church’s parcel.

All Peoples Church looks forward to continuing discussions with the community as the project review process moves forward.