San Diego Approved New Cambridge School Campus
A hearing officer granted a permit for a 6.5-acre campus development in the Del Sur community on September 9, 2026.
Updated on Sept. 25, 2026 in Higher Education
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On September 9, 2026, a San Diego hearing officer approved a conditional use permit for The Cambridge School to construct a new campus in Del Sur. The project, which spans 6.5 acres of vacant land, is designed to accommodate a student body of 663 pupils.
Why it matters
The school requires this permit because its enrollment will exceed 300 students, necessitating a larger facility to support its growth. The project follows an application process that began in December 2023.
The campus project features a 182,868-square-foot classroom building and a 10,904-square-foot multipurpose structure on 6.5 acres. It will provide 386 parking spaces to manage a projected 2,181 average daily car trips.
The players
The Cambridge School
This private educational institution currently operates in the Rancho Penasquitos area with an enrollment of 406 students.
Antoinette Gibbs
She serves as the San Diego hearing officer who presided over the review and approval process for the school project.
The details
The school acquired the land parcels at the corner of Camino Del Sur and Coyote Bush Drive for $9.1 million between 2022 and 2024. Designers modified the site plans to include 150 additional subterranean parking spaces following feedback from local community residents.
Timeline
The Cambridge School was founded in 2006.
The school submitted a conditional use permit application in December 2023.
A hearing officer approved the project permit on September 9, 2026.
Construction is expected to break ground 18 to 24 months after September 2026.
Roadmap
This development reflects the broader trend of established private institutions expanding physical footprints to accommodate surging local demand for specialized education. It highlights how private schools are increasingly navigating strict municipal land-use regulations to secure growth in suburban environments.
Families can expect tuition to remain at $31,980 per year as the school moves toward its eventual relocation to the new Del Sur campus. Residents in the immediate vicinity may experience increased traffic patterns, with estimates projecting over 2,100 daily trips once the facility is operational.
The takeaway
The project serves as a major infrastructure investment for a school that has been operating since 2006. Future expansion efforts for educational facilities in the area will likely continue to face heavy scrutiny regarding traffic impacts and site density.
Further reading
For more context on local institutional expansion, visit Higher Education.
Source note: This article includes information reported by San Diego Union-Tribune.
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