In a response to questions about what the Del Cerro Action Council is, how long it has been operating, and what they accomplished, the following information is provided:

The Del Cerro Action Council (DCAC) was stablished in 1999 when several mothers were tired of speeding cars on Madra Avenue and wanted to have a forum to share ideas and connect with the City of San Diego and other agencies on how to improve the quality of Del Cerro.

They established the purpose of DCAC to increase the cohesion of the Del Cerro Community by promoting and providing its civic, cultural, social, educational and recreational development and improvement, to serve as a clearinghouse to the community, City of San Diego and county and state agencies, as appropriate and to provide leadership to guide the community. Since then a few of DCAC’s accomplishments:

• Worked with the city to put in stop signs at Madra and Crystalaire and other locations.
• White lines on Del Cerro Boulevard and other streets to help reduce speeding in the neighborhood.
• Worked with Council member Jim Madaffer to secure some funding from the City to help upgrade the playground in the Princess Del Cerro Park. DCAC spearheaded a community fundraising drive to add to the funding from the city. This included selling memorial bricks which are in front of the playground.
• DCAC organized and assisted in community clean-ups on Del Cerro Boulevard, Navajo Canyon and Adobe Falls.
• Worked directly with Council member Jim Madaffer to for a new “Welcome to Del Cerro” community sign which is located on the College Avenue median just north of I-8. The sign design was approved by the city and then implemented by Council member Madaffer throughout other District 7 communities.
• Worked with SDSU to install no trespassing signs for Adobe Falls.
• Successfully fought SDSU regarding the proposed 540 housing units they wanted to construct on their 38 acres surrounding Adobe Falls.
• DCAC continues providing numerous community updates on topics from recycling to water and sewer upgrades, underground utilities, 2020 census, canyon brushfire prevention, and quarterly reports from our police community relations officer, as well as local and state elected representatives and from the Director of Government and Community Relations for SDSU.

For many years, DCAC met on a monthly basis, with the exception of December. In recent years, DCAC moved to quarterly meetings. With the reemergence of a possible Maintenance Assessment District for Del Cerro, and assuming it would be decided by the residents within year, DCAC ceased collecting funds for membership.

Our points of communication have been monthly articles in the Mission Times Courier which is delivered to most residences throughout the Navajo Community and is also available online. Information is posted on the website at delcerroactioncouncil.org. Community reports are also presented at the monthly meetings of the Navajo Community Planners, Inc.

Mark Rawlins, who has been involved with DCAC in one capacity or another for many years will not be running for any open position and will be stepping down. He has retired and is moving out of state.

Officer elections are conducted at the April meeting which is scheduled for April 22. An update will be published in the March issue of the Mission Times Courier and posted on the delcerroactioncouncil.org website.

APC update

Regarding the All Peoples Church (APC), there are still three outstanding, and crucial reports due from the city: The environmental report (the public will have 30 days to respond to a Mitigated Negative Declaration and 45 days to respond if the city issues an Environmental Impact Report); the traffic report; and an additional cycles report from the Planning Department.

The city still has some outstanding issues on the project. It is our understanding the APC will be submitting their response to the city’s concerns about the middle of the month. The city will then review the submittal and issue a cycles report. We should anticipate the traffic report will be issued about the same time as the cycles report and shortly after the environmental report should be released for public comment.

Once all the information is available there will be a Zoom meeting for Del Cerro resident to discuss the pros and cons of the project. All concerns and support will then be given to the Navajo Community Planners (NCPI) when the APC project is an action item for NCPI. Please note, there is always an opportunity for public comment when the project is an action item at NCPI, the Planning Commission and City Council.

— By DCAC secretary Jay Wilson