All Peoples Church project in Del Cerro survives lawsuit from neighborhood group

All Peoples Church has cleared another obstacle in its years-long quest to build a new campus for a growing congregation on a vacant, 6-acre lot in Del Cerro.

This time, the church has survived a legal challenge from a nonprofit formed by neighborhood group Save Del Cerro, which last year sued the city of San Diego and the project applicant, Light on a Hill, LLC, to block the development. The group is contesting the legality of San Diego City Council’s approval of the project, alleging the city certified a flawed environmental impact report in violation of California’s Environmental Quality Act.

San Diego Superior Court Judge Carolyn Caietti last week denied Save Del Cerro’s petition for writ of mandate. The city, the judge said in her June 16 ruling, complied with the state environmental law and adequately addressed impacts such as traffic-related issues.

“We really believe the city’s decision to approve the project was correct, and the court recognized the potential impacts of the project were thoroughly vetted by the city staff,” Stephen Gulley, who is an executive worship pastor and handles communications for All Peoples Church, told the Union-Tribune. “We appreciate the trial court’s careful review of the evidence, and we’re ready to move forward with our new home.”

Undeterred by the ruling, Save Del Cerro said it is hoping to raise $35,000 for the next stage of the legal battle.

“We are disappointed. But we are not walking away,” the group wrote in a recent Instagram post. “After careful consideration, we have made the decision to appeal. We are taking this fight to the California Court of Appeal - a process that will take 12 to 18 months and keep active legal pressure on this project throughout that entire period.”

Started in 2008 by Pastor Robert Herber, All Peoples Church is a non-denominational Christian church. It has an average weekly attendance of around 800 adults and children, and is currently operating out of a facility in La Mesa, Gulley said.

In late 2017, the church purchased the irregularly shaped property at 5555 College Ave., just north of Interstate 8 on the east side of College Avenue, and abutting single-family homes. In July 2018, All Peoples Church started the process to amend the Navajo Community Plan to allow church use on a site zoned for low-density residential use.

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

Members of the community group Save Del Cerro have opposed the All Peoples Church project for years. The group, which has branded the project as a “megachurch,” has said that the development is inconsistent with the land’s residential zoning, out of scale for the neighborhood and unsafe due to additional car traffic.

In March 2025, City Council, after hearing public comments from more than 100 speakers, voted in a split decision to approve the project permits, amend the community plan and certify the environmental impact report. The vote resolved a federal lawsuit filed by the religious institution, which alleged the local government body’s original January 2024 decision to deny the project violated federal protections provided to churches.

Save Del Cerro formed a 501(c)(3) nonprofit a day after the council’s revote and filed its suit the following month. The entity is run by Joshua Billauer and Michael Livingston, who are listed in court documents as the nonprofit’s chief executive officer and chief financial officer, respectively.

In the case, the nonprofit takes aim at perceived deficiencies in the project’s environmental impact report related to the traffic analysis, planning documents, review of project alternatives and infrastructure impacts. For instance, the lawsuit alleges that the new traffic signal presents a safety hazard, that the traffic analysis undercounted car trips to avoid a more thorough review, that the project is inconsistent with the community plan and that a payment to mitigate for habitat loss to the orange-throated whiptail is insufficient.

Caietti rejected all of the claims, including the allegation of a faulty traffic analysis.

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, meaning a full “vehicle miles traveled,” or VMT, analysis was not required.

The lawsuit challenged the determination, in part, because the group asserts the Sunday trips should count toward the threshold determination. In addition, the traffic report’s assumption that the church's multipurpose gym and basketball court would cause only 10 daily trips is flawed, according to the suit.

“There is substantial evidence that the city failed to perform a detailed VMT analysis either based on the arbitrary and capricious decision to ignore the nearly 2,000 (average daily trips) on Sundays, or based on sheer speculation that flies in the face of the prescribed methodology,” Cory Briggs, the attorney representing Save Del Cerro, wrote in his opening brief.

The judge concluded that the environmental analysis properly studied car trips, as prescribed by CEQA.

“The court further finds there is substantial evidence in the record to support both the calculation of the (vehicle miles traveled) and use of the small project exception's threshold, along with the VMT associated with the multi-purpose room/basketball gym and use of the ‘house of worship’ trip rate use category,” Caietti wrote.

Save Del Cerro said in an email to media outlets that the case raises broader questions about how the city of San Diego applies CEQA to institutional projects in residential neighborhoods. An appellate court decision will have implications beyond the All Peoples Church project, the email states.

Gulley, the church spokesperson, said the legal threat has not stopped forward progress, although the proceedings have slowed the timeline and increased costs. He also sees the opposition group as a small segment that doesn’t represent the community at large.

“We went through so many meetings in the opening years (with the community), and they were all very favorable. And then this small group of people came into the story. And a lot of their efforts were very quickly against us and not fully guided by real information,” he said. “From the very onset, their website said they were anti-church, and there’s so many elements of their story that haven’t been consistent. I think for us, we just don’t believe it represents the greater community.”

All Peoples Church formally submitted its construction drawing and documents to the city in December, Gulley said. The plan review process is expected to take months, and the church has not set a construction start date, he said.

Copyright 2026 Tribune Content Agency. All Rights Reserved.

This story was originally published June 22, 2026 at 3:54 PM.