por Jay Wilson

The proposed ColRich development of 24 homes east of College Avenue and south of the Chevron station is continuing to move forward. The project has completed all reviews with the City of San Diego’s Development Services Department.

The property management firm they hired to work with the Code Compliance, our San Diego Police Department Community Relations Officer John Steffen, and Eastern Division’s “Quality of Life” squad appears to be working. Brush has been cleared on the property and the area is being swept to keep transients out of the canyon.

On April 12, ColRich updated the Navajo Community Planners as an information item. The project will return to NCPI as an action item for a vote in May. Please note that a vote to deny or support the ColRich project by NCPI is only an advisory vote to the city.

At NCPI, I shared the sentiments of many Del Cerro residents that even though the city’s traffic engineers are supporting the project by granting an ingress/egress from College Avenue, Del Cerro residents consider the transition lane that will serve as the ingress/egress from College Avenue a real safety hazard because of the speed and periodic traffic congestion between Interstate-8 and Del Cerro Boulevard.

When the first project was proposed a couple of decades ago, the city’s traffic engineers denied the development with an ingress/egress from College Avenue. At one time, the property owner purchased a home on Marne to allow ingress and egress from Marne. This was denied because when the homes along Marne were built by the same property owner, the property owner put in a stipulation that what is now referred to as the ColRich property would not have an ingress/egress from Marne. It was the property owner who landlocked the property, not the city. The traffic has certainly increased in the past 20-plus years.

Remember, if you lived in the proposed complex and would drive to Windmill Farms to shop, to return home, you would have to drive down College Avenue, crossing I-8. The first legal U-turn will be at Lindo Paseo and College Avenue, which is just one block north of Montezuma. In addition to the vehicle safety, the question of emergency response is another concern. Whether there is traffic backed up on northbound or southbound College Avenue, or a fire engine from Engine Company 31 in Del Cerro, there is a real dilemma. How will the fire engine go from southbound to northbound College Avenue attempting to enter the ColRich property?

Following a vote by NCPI in May, ColRich will schedule a hearing with the Planning Commission. The reality is the city and the Planning Commission are very supportive of in-fill projects.

Dr. Eric Frost will also provide an update on Adobe Falls. He informed on April 13, that the fence recently installed by SDSU was vandalized over the weekend of April 8–9. A portion of the fence near Mill Peak was painted on the side facing I-8. At the time this article was submitted, SDSU was taking steps to paint out the graffiti. Some additional work on solving some of the problems at Adobe Falls has been done by Dr. Frost, his students, and two engineering professors. It will be a good update.

There will also be an update from the organization working on establishing a Maintenance Assessment District in Del Cerro.

—Jay Wilson is secretary of the Del Cerro Action Council. Reach him at [email protected].