SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — The All Peoples Church filed a lawsuit in federal court Monday, suing the City of San Diego, alleging the city violated federal religious protections over land use when it denied the building of the new church with a 6-2 vote at a City Council meeting in January.
“We believe that we have a very solid case,” Lead Pastor of All Peoples Church Robert Herber said. “We really think that our rights to build a church on land we own and to practice our religious freedom were violated.”
Herber said they felt they had no other option but to pursue legal action.
The proposed 900-seat church with 12 classrooms and more than 350 parking spots was planned on six acres of land at the intersection of College Avenue and I-8.
“A church never wants to be in this position, it’s the last resort,” Herber added.
Herber said the Planning Commission had approved the plan prior to the City Council voting against it.
“We feel like in the end that we were actually treated inappropriately,” Herber added. “And actually had parameters placed on us and scrutinized in a much different way.”
A group, coined “Save Del Cerro” had been adamantly against the building over concerns of more traffic and the need for housing instead.
“Very unfortunate, there’s (been) multiple opportunities for the city to remedy this issue and they chose not too, so here we are in a lawsuit,” Attorney Daniel Dalton, representing All People’s Church, said in an interview Tuesday.
Dalton said he successfully sued the city on behalf of another San Diego church several years ago, and is now fighting for All Peoples Church for the city to approve the building, and pay damages, including the likely now-increased construction fees.
District 7 Councilmember Raul Campillo represents Del Cerro and led the motion to deny the project during the City Council meeting in January. During the meeting, his concern focused around his claims of errors in the Environmental Impact Report, questioning the research done on safety impacts of the area.
“There are significant mathematical problems with the way the average daily trips to this area were going to be created by the development. When the math is wrong, it means it’s violating the law and we can’t pass it,” the councilmember said at the time.
The lead up to the decision took nearly four hours where hundreds fought either for or against the project.
Campillo was not available for a statement or interview Tuesday.
The City Attorney’s office did not respond to our request for comment before publishing.