EarthFair 2022
Sunday, April 24, 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM at Balboa Park
Save Mission Trails celebrates EarthFair! The SMT booth is typically on El Prado East between the Lily Pond and the Natural History Museum. Stop by to say hello and learn about preserving the park.
http://www.earthdayweb.org/EarthFair.html
Santee City Council meetings (ongoing)
Second and fourth Wednesday of the months January – October, second Wednesday in November and December, 6:30 PM
Council Chambers at Santee City Hall, 10601 Magnolia Avenue, Santee, CA 92071
(619) 258-4100, Ext. 114 Directions here.
Find out about proposed developments that could affect MTRP and its adjacent open space in the eastern and northern areas of the park. Speak out!
Mission Trails Regional Park TASK FORCE meetings (ongoing)
2022 – Thursdays, Jan 20, March 17, May 19, July 21, Sept 15, Nov 17, 10:00 to 11:30 AM at the MTRP Visitor Center. Directions here. The Task Force makes important decisions concerning the park and surrounding open space. Attend to stay informed. Speak your concerns during the public comment period. Be vigilant!
Mission Trails Regional Park CAC meetings (ongoing)
2022 – Tuesdays, Jan 4, March 1, May 3, July 5, Sept 6, and Nov 1, 6:30 PM at the MTRP Visitor Center. Directions here. The Citizens Advisory Committee includes representatives from different agencies and from the cities and neighborhoods surrounding the park. The public can keep up-to-date on and express any concerns about what’s planned for our Mission Trails Regional Park. Please attend.
San Diego City Council meetings (ongoing) (Check their website for 2022 Legislative Calendar and updates – meetings are currently held via Zoom)
Ask the City Council to continue to protect East Elliott land as open space as it is contiguous to MTRP and an important corridor for wildlife such as deer, bobcat, coyote. Ask the Council to categorize any East Elliott publicly-owned open space zoned land as DEDICATED open space (more permanent protection than designated open space).
Save Mission Trails 
I you haven’t been to the Thursday night Santee Concerts in the Park yet, you are missing a really good “FREE” time with your family and friends! Come join the fun, this Thursday night, July 18, 5:30-8:30 PM. Great music, Phil’s BBQ and free cake from SMT! Yippee!
Wow, we were blessed with perfect weather to celebrate Earth Day!
Mayor Bob Filner stopped by our SMT Earth Fair booth in Balboa Park yesterday morning to congratulate SMT volunteers on all our efforts and successes in our fight to stop the QBGP.
Not only was it exciting to be a part of Earth Fair 3013, but I am happy to report that our team of SMT volunteers successfully gathered well over 1000 new signatures on our petitions! We have a fantastic group of enthusiastic volunteers and I feel fortunate to be part of this team! Yeah SMT!
March 21st, 2013 was a fabulous day! The CPUC commissioners voted unanimously (5-0 ) to deny the power purchase contract for Quail Brush and Pio Pico power plants, and decided more power plants won’t be necessary in San Diego County until 2018. Opponents of Quail Brush, many dressed in orange to show our solidarity, filled the audience at the hearing.
Following the CPUC’s unanimous vote, Save Mission Trails volunteers witnessed the MTRP Task Force vote unanimously to officially oppose Quail Brush with a letter to the CEC!
Together we will continue our fight to Save MTRP, our health, the surrounding communities, and our property values! I for one am very grateful to each and every one of you that has joined in the fight to stop the Quail Brush Generation Project.
Tuesday, March 5th – Save Mission Trails Community Outreach will be at the Mission Trails CAC meeting at the visitor center.
MTRP CAC meeting which is Tuesday, March 5, 6:30PM at the Visitor Center. MTRP needs to join the opposition and rally with us. They are either for it or against it. Wear orange!
Let’s hope that you don’t fall for the latest ploy of Cogentrix posted on the CEC’s website yesterday!
“Applicant’s Revised Proposed Air Mitigation Plan, dated and posted February 27, 2013.
“5. Fund Administration: Quail Brush nominates the San Diego Air Pollution Control District as the Fund administrator.
“PROPOSED MITIGATION FOR NOX, VOC, AND CO
The Project proposes a non-traditional funding program to mitigate potential impacts from its emissions of NOx, VOC, and CO. Quail Brush observes that other peaking projects have fulfilled their CEC mitigation requirements by funding emission reductions through the Carl Moyer Fund or a similar mechanism. The Project also recognizes that these approaches can provide real and measurable mitigation benefits. However, Quail Brush believes that a novel mitigation approach – the creation of a roof-top solar installation incentive fund (the Program or the Fund) – is better suited to address the Project’s impacts in a locale that is proximate to the site. Such an approach can both reduce emissions of NOx, VOC, and CO from fossil fuel generated electricity (by displacing its use) while supporting the State’s goals for renewal energy generation.”
The Quail Brush Generating Project (Project) is seeking air operating permits from the San Diego Air Pollution Control District (District) as well as overall Project approval from the California Energy Commission (CEC). As stated in AFC Table 4.7-7, the maximum Potential to Emit for Project air pollutants is:
• NOx. 42.6 tons/year (TPY)
• CO 55.1 TPY
• VOC. 46.0 TPY
• SOx. 5.76 TPY
• PM10/2.5 33.2 TPY”
You CAN’T MITIGATE the devastating air pollution impacts this QBGP will have on Mission Trails and the citizens of the surrounding communities!
NOTICE OF CANCELLATION
OF PUBLIC WORKSHOP
REGARDING THE PROPOSED
QUAIL BRUSH GENERATION PROJECT (11·AFC·3)
The workshop previously scheduled for:
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Starting at 1 :30 p.m.
Scheduled to be held at:
Grossmont College
Griffin Center (bldg.), Griffin Gate Room
8800 Grossmont College Drive
EI Cajon, CA 92020
IS HEREBY CANCELLED
Reason for Cancellation
This notice is to inform you that the California Energy Commission staff is cancelling a
previously scheduled public workshop that was intended to discuss the proposed Quail
Brush Generation Project (QBGP).
The workshop is cancelled because the applicant provided supplemental project
information this week that addressed air quality issues that staff wanted to discuss at
the noticed workshop. Staff believes the new submittals by the applicant, along with
information that the San Diego County Air Pollution Control District is expected to
provide in the next few weeks, will provide staff with the last of the information it needs
to complete its air quality analysis as part of its Preliminary Staff Assessment (PSA),
which is scheduled to be published March 29, 2013. The topic of air quality and all other
environmental issues will be discussed in detail at one or more workshops to be held
several weeks following the publication of staff’s PSA.
The fight is not over and we must not slow down. The public/media has such a short term attention span. We need public awareness to spread and more letters sent to the CPUC/CEC. Let your voice be heard!
Please come and show support to stop the Quail Brush power plant. SMT at Cowles Mtn, San Diego – Sat, Dec. 22, 6 am for hike to Winter Solstice Observatory Site and/or 8 am for rally at the base at Navajo and Golfcrest in San Carlos.
This billion dollar corperation, Cogentrix, if allowed, will destroy the open space park land of MTRP that thousands of San Diegans love and use every day! Who in their right mind would want to do any type of outdoor activity at a regional park that has the “added feature” of a natural gas generated power plant with 11 smokestacks spewing hundreds of tons of TOXIC AIR POLLUTANTS into the air? Will this new “added feature” be included on the MTRP website and brochures if built? How much more added air pollution are you willing to breath? How can anyone who loves San Diego sit on their hands and accept the permanent destruction of one of our most precious resources, Mission Trails Regional Park? Our quality of life is worth fighting for!
The fight is not over! As the CEC puts it, “CEQA on Steroids” can override the San Diego City Council’s re-zone denial and override San Diego’s LORS.
Help mobilize public outcry against the proposed Quail Brush power plant to create mass public opposition to the project. Join the fight to save “Mission Trails Regional Park, Our Health, Our Surrounding Communities of Navajo, Tierrasanta, Poway & East County!
Save Mission Trails Plus:
THIS TUESDAY NOV 27, 2 PM, Item S 505 City Council will be voting on proposal to dedicate 10,000 acres open space city wide. Staff is recommending approximately 6,600 acres which is approx 1,000 acres better than what was at LU and H Committee last month.
Important to get emails and calls to City Council on Monday supporting the 6,600 and asking them to add additional 440 acres related to Mission Trails***. Why is this 440 acres not being recommended? Because it is owned by the Water Utilities Dept. which is Enterprise Fund of the City. That means they own their own real estate and cant just give it away. The Staff is saying Enterprise Land is worth nominally $ 35,000 per acre … so we are in the $15 Million cost range which is not something the City Council has avail to spend.
How and when it got into that ownership is not clear on the record. Land can be dedicated for Open space with ability of City Council to allow utility easements where necessary. There is land in western portion of Mission Trails that looks like a “cherry-stem” for Water Utilities to access their facilities such as pumps and pipelines running thru Mission Trails. That is how this situation should be handled, not with them holding several hundred acres in the middle of the Park.
Below are listed the email addresses and phone numbers which many of you have used before. Marti Emerald, of course represents the area til Dec 3. Champions on LU and H Committee were David Alvarez and Sherri Lightner with support from Todd Gloria. Kevin Faulconer said he thought DESIGNATED open space owned by City should be DEDICATED at the Quail Brush hearing.
(Designated is a land use category for public or private land in the General Plan and use can be changed by City Council (like attempted amendment for QB). DEDICATED is land owned by City and requires 2/3 vote of the electorate voting to change that status)
ACTION : email and phone and attend, if you can. Here is sample message:
“Thanks again for your support of Mission Trails Park and surrounding open space. I urge you to take all actions necessary to ensure that land identified by San Diego CanyonLands for Open Space and Parkland Dedication in and adjacent to Mission Trails Park including lands in the East Elliot area and within the Park boundaries be included in your action on item S 505 this Tuesday, November 27. Water Utilities can be granted necessary easements for their facilities and pipelines but should not be holding hundreds of acres in the middle of Mission Trails Park. ”
EMAILS and phone no’s:
“Carl DeMaio” ,236-6655; “David Alvarez” , 236-6688;”Kevin Faulconer” ,236-6622; “Lorie Zapf” ,236-6616; “Marti Emerald” , 236-6677;”Sherri Lightner” ,236-6611; “Todd Gloria” ,236-6633; “Tony Young” , 236-6644.
Here is the City of San Diego Link to the Items (Click on item S 505 and it will list the back up materials in sidebar)***(see note below:
http://dockets.sandiego.gov/sirepub/pubmtgframe.aspx?meetid=1701&doctype=Agenda
HERE is the CanyonLands Site to check on maps and current status.
http://www.sdcanyonlands.org/land-information/information-packages
Jay Powell
hcjpowell@cox.net
(619) 813-8485
*** THE PARCELS are listed on page 5 of teh “Sites Reviewd” matrix in the City Backup material: M 701R4, 331.86 acres; M 801GM, 105.89 acres; M 803 GM and M 804 GM 1.49 and 1.89 acres respectively. Also another 392 acres water utilities open space in three parcels on page 6 “O 708. 709 and 710” . Not clear why those have to remain in Water Utilities jurisdiction.
Navajo Community Planners on Monday, Sept 10th! These planning groups do not seem to research any further than what they have been spoon fed by Cogentrix in their power point presentation! The Cogentrix lobbyist are probably very busy, especially now that they have their “new design” with their two clusters of the ELEVEN 70 foot smokestacks!
Well guess what? KNOWLEDGE IS TRULY POWER!
The END to agency and public comments to the CEC is quickly approaching! The Navajo Community Planners, as well as all of our elected officials, have a responsibility to STAND UP FOR the communities they represent! The communities surrounding MTRP depend on the dedicated open space of the park for PUBLIC HEALTH, PROPERTY VALUES and QUALITY OF LIFE! They CAN’T MITIGATE the devastating pollution impacts this QBGP will have on the thousands of citizens that use MTRP and live in the communities surrounding MTRP! How much of the surrounding population would have chosen to rent, buy a home or raise a family if the power plant was there when they made their decision.
LORS are in place for a reason and SHOULD NOT be changed to accomodate the highest bidder or largest donations!
Cogentrix wants you to wait…wait…wait. Yes, wait for CEQA on STEROIDS (CEC)… like they really care about our communities health, children, property values and quality of life!
Yes, KNOWLEDGE IS TRULY POWER! That’s why you must NOT wait to oppose the QBGP!
Thank you to everyone who joined us at the Tierrasanta rally on Sat, Aug 18 – 4-6 pm!
We were fortunate to have some of the folks from the “Friends of Tierrasanta Canyons” join us!
Is there any wonder why we all love our well planned communities with all that wonderful open space that makes up Mission Trails Regional Park and the East Elliot area! Our quality of life is worth fighting for!
KNOWLEDGE IS POWER! – that’s why we oppose the quail brush power project,
We totally didn’t know till we saw SMT Rally in Tierrasanta at today, Aug 18th!!! We should stop for our children!!!!!
Please Join us in opposing the Quail Brush power plant! your are correct, we need to stop this for the health of our children and future generations to come. If we don’t, who will?
The Quail Brush 100 MW power plant is on a FAST TRACK with the CEC! As the CEC puts it, “CEQA on Steroids”. Our quality of life is worth fighting for now! Don’t be fooled into waiting to take action! Help mobilize public outcry against Quail Brush to create mass opposition to the project. Join the fight to save “Our” Mission Trails Regional Park, Our Health, Our Surrounding Communities of Navajo, Tierrasanta, Poway & Santee and Our Property Values!
Anyone up for starting a protest, picket at a State building let me know stoppuc@yahoo.com It’s up to us, to put an end to the State energy monopoly policy.
Thank you all for your attendance and excellent speaking points during the June 28th San Diego Planning Commission Meeting. Getting a majority vote of 3 to 2 “against” the initiation of the rezoning of the proposed Quail Brush Project site is a huge victory!
Save Mission Trails rally this Saturday, June 9th. Meet at Kohls/Lowe’s parking lot 9:30 a.m. and we will march together to save our protect our health, community, park and property values!
Help stop the proposed Quail Brush Power Plant and the 11 smoke stacks from hell from spewing millions of tons of toxic air pollutants into our air!
Let’s show the San Diego Planning Commission, San Diego City Council, Cogentrix and the CEC that we are not going to be the dumping ground for this toxic plant that does not belong near any community (they will be watching)!
SAVE SANTEE, THE SURROUNDING COMMUNITIES AND MISSION TRAILS (REGIONAL) PARK!
Looking forward to being there!
In regards to the City Planning Commission Meeting…note something VERY important:
Time allotted to each speaker is determined by the Chair; however, comments are
limited to no more than three (3) minutes total per subject regardless of the number
of those wishing to speak.
So…no matter how many show up….we get three minutes TOTAL. I would HIGHLY suggest someone who speaks well in front of a crowd….be the sole speaker….AND that they prepare a typed TIMED three minute speech to read.
This does not mean only one person shows up….EVERYONE should show up for support.
clearly a civil rights violation, the way to deal with this iss take a witness and be ready to take notes. Request to speak and when denied, request the denial in writing if they refuse to provide a written denial take notes along with the witness that your right to speak was violated. Forcefully preventing people that will be impacted the opportunity to speak on this issue is an atrocity. Santee residents demand their 10 hours speaking time at the SD Planning Commission, 3 minutes at a time.
I think another good place to get the word out on this is Grossmont College.
There are flyers/petitions on the Spread the Word tab if you can take this on.
I care deeply about this cause and your Tues mtg suits my sched best. However, I feel compelled to point out that Pinn Peak’s also has a smokestack spewing out pollution. One might think that grilled steak smoke would be scrumptious, but it gets a little old after about 2 days, when you live a block downwind in a 2nd floor condo. I’m sure I could find scientific data to tell me how dangerous it is; I don’t feel the need when I find black soot on my plants and patio. I can’t open my door or windows to cool off with the nice afternoon/evening ocean breeze coming through the pass, because that’s when they fire up the grill! I ate there once and asked for a discount – they laughed! You’ll excuse me if I don’t patronize them much during the mtg.
Diana,
We’ll have a new location next week, so don’t give up on attending this very important meeting to connect with others who want to fight this monster. Please keep checking this site for the update on location.
Roslind
In regards to the rally on Monday the 12th….I think you should seriously consider spreading out to other locations other than that isolated area.
If you want to get the word out to the mass….then spreading out is ideal. While there is a great deal of traffic out that way…only a select part of Santee goes that way…those with students at West Hills….and those who live right in that area.
I would also target the intersection of Cuyamaca and Mission Gorge for sure.,,,,maybe consider Mission Gorge and Magnolia…. Maybe Mast and Magnolia……
Just a suggestion to be more effective…..
Great ideas! We’re starting here as our “coming out” rally, and you’re right, we can target other places until this power plant is dead.
Who are the decision-makers we’re attempting to influence? Is it the San Diego City Council?
Yes! Attending San Diego City Council meetings and emailing/writing/phoning is a fabulous place to start!
Thank you for doing this!
Let’s all do whatever we can do! Everyone can do some part in stopping this—-we’re all counting on one another to make this opposition LOUD & CLEAR!
Attend the Tuesday meetings or if you can’t, see “Spread the Word” and extend this campaign further. That’s the point of this website. Take actions listed on the flyer if you’re home-bound & can’t make it to events. Get to the events if at all possible—people presence is powerful!! Thank us by working on your own goal of spreading it & drawing in supporters! How many more neighbors, friends, associates, businesses can you make aware of this to SAVE SANTEE!