On Friday, the Town of Los Gatos filed a lawsuit against two developers in Santa Clara County Superior Court, seeking clarification on State housing rules about deadlines for streamlined projects.
The 19-page action against Arya Properties, LLC and Boulevard Properties, LLC seeks “declaratory relief” around builds that received special exceptions because the Town was out of compliance with Housing Element rules for months.
“The State’s Builder’s Remedy law allows for development applications that don’t have to adhere to local building and zoning standards,” Mayor Matthew Hudes said when asked about the lawsuit, noting there’s been conflicting direction from Sacramento about how the laws should be applied. “State law says that if missing information is not submitted ‘within the 90-day period, then the preliminary application shall expire and have no further force or effect.’ On the other hand, Housing and Community Development stated that the time was unlimited and threatened referral to the Attorney General to enforce their view.”
‘It is important for our Town to have clarity’
—Mayor Matthew Hudes
The Town interprets the law to mean there is a single 90-day cure period following an initial 180-day application deadline. However, in Aug. 30 and Feb. 12 letters, HCD stated that there isn’t just one 90-day period, but instead successive 90-day periods can keep getting renewed.
“By seeking the court’s help, we aim to avoid further confusion and ensure that the Town’s actions are consistent with the law. Without resolution of this issue, applications could remain incomplete indefinitely, which would only delay the construction of much needed housing,” Hudes said in a release.
More than a year after the deadline, the Town passed a Housing Element that plans for more than 2,400 new units (the initial requirement amount of 1,993 units plus a buffer).
While housing projects flooded into the Planning Department to take advantage of the fact Los Gatos was temporarily in violation of State law, some developers have been nearing—or even missed—the end of the period for accessing those benefits.
And Los Gatos is hoping the court will tell the homes ministry it can’t just continue to reopen those windows, time and time again.
“An unlimited length of time for an application to be open allows for an applicant to delay the processing of the application by submitting successive incomplete applications and extending the time for review and a decision, rather than expediting the development of much needed housing,” Hudes told the newspaper. “It is important for our Town to have clarity, so the Council authorized the pursuit of a court opinion.”
Read the lawsuit yourself here:
