The Town of Los Gatos received a major reality-check on this week, when a judge made it clear that its more restrictive interpretation of a residential development rule doesn’t quite stand up to what’s required under California law.
Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Helen E. Williams entertained the arguments from Arya Properties, LLC and Los Gatos Boulevard Properties, LLC—as well as pro-housing nonprofits—during an afternoon hearing on Oct. 15.
At issue is how long a developer has until the rights it receives based on when it submits a project (known as “vesting” rights) expire. And this lawsuit result is another outgrowth of the fact that Los Gatos was unable to get a proper Housing Element approved by the strict deadline.
The Town was trying to say that the developers in question have a 180-day period, plus an additional 90-day stretch to complete a development application.
The developers contended that the “vesting” remains in place as long as they re-submit an application within 90 days after being told the prior version was incomplete, “—no matter how long the overall process takes, how little change is made in the plans, or how many notices of incompletion the Town provides—allowing successive and unending 90-day periods after each incompleteness determination.”
The Government of California, through the Department of Housing and Community Development, had already made it clear to Los Gatos the 90-day deadline restarts with each resubmittal.
But Los Gatos was hoping the court would side with them. It didn’t.
“And there is no evidence before the court on this motion of the parade of horribles offered by the Town in the form of developers dragging their feet while infinitely maintaining vesting of their projects or unreasonably extending the process of reaching completeness determinations by manipulation and gaming,” Judge Williams said.
The Town acknowledged the decision in a press release sent out Friday, but didn’t say whether it would appeal.
“We respect the court’s role in interpreting state law and appreciate the clarity provided by this order,” Mayor Rob Moore said in the release. “The Town brought this action to seek judicial guidance on a complex and evolving area of housing law so that we can process applications fairly while maintaining local control. We will carefully review the decision with our legal counsel and continue to fulfill our responsibilities to the community to provide affordable housing and implement the Housing Element.”
Travis Brooks, of Miller Starr Regalia, a lawyer for the developers, said the decision “adds to the chorus of authority” on the issue, as it’s in line with what happened in two other cases in Southern California.
“The court reached the right decision,” he said. “I’m not surprised.”
Brooks added that the “parade of horribles” language used by the judge really highlighted the weakness of Los Gatos’ position.
“I think that accurately reflects how divorced from reality that argument was,” he said.
There are dozens of similar housing projects across the State (aka ones that were filed while that municipality didn’t have a legitimate Housing Element in place, which are using the “Builder’s Remedy” tool) that are stuck in limbo at the moment.
The judge’s order is a victory for those who want to see the housing crisis dealt with, according to Brooks.
“I am very happy about this decision,” he said, adding he doesn’t fault Los Gatos legal team, as he says the Town was clearly being responsive to its voters. “They were doing their jobs.”
*Updated at 3:22pm with comments from Travis Brooks
