CalHDF Challenges Los Altos Impact Fees
The California Housing Defense Fund filed a lawsuit challenging fees charged on new housing development enacted by the City of Los Altos. The City enacted a new set of fees in June that would charge $51.26 per square foot for new multifamily housing, and $13.89 per square foot for single family housing. On top of […]
La Cañada Flintridge – 600 Foothill Blvd
La Canada Flintridge, a wealthy suburb of Los Angeles, has violated state law by refusing to approve construction of an 80-unit apartment complex that set aside 20% of its units as affordable. Our lawsuit aims to bring the City into compliance with state law, and ensure the project can proceed. Background on La Cañada Flintridge […]
Santa Clara County – Upper San Juan Residential District
On Thursday, September 15, 2022, CaRLA and co-petitioner Kenneth Shotts, a political scientist at Stanford, filed suit in Santa Clara County Superior Court to remedy the illegal downzoning in the form of increased lot requirements for the newly created Upper San Juan Residential District. These increased development standards pre-emptively preclude any “small-lot” developments, such as […]
Rancho Palos Verdes Prefab ADU
On October 3, 2021, Rancho Palos Verdes (RPV) homeowners submitted an application for a 495 sq. ft. prefabricated accessory dwelling unit (ADU) to the city, only to be rejected on architectural standards that cannot legally apply to this project. This prefab unit fits well within the state’s exemption category to which state law dictates that […]
8041 Ellis Avenue, Huntington Beach
Starting back in 2010, the City of Huntington Beach enacted the Beach and Edinger Corridors Specific Plan which designated the area around the intersection of Beach Boulevard, Ellis Avenue, and Main Street as high-density housing. Huntington Beach would later revise the Specific Plan to half the number of units allowed to be developed, spurring extended […]
Los Altos – 40 North Main St.
In late 2018, a developer in Los Altos took a discretionary project that had been denied by the Los Altos City Council and reworked it to qualify for ministerial approval under SB 35. The project, which had initially been entirely office space was converted to a mixed-use development with multiple on-site below-market-rate units. The developer […]
Calabasas ADU Ordinance
California has millions of garages. Most single family areas have zoning rules requiring one or two parking covered parking spaces per single-family home. This vast underutilized space has the potential to provide housing for millions of renters in some of the most exclusive areas of California. Recognizing this potential, the California legislature has passed a […]
San Francisco’s ADU Ordinance
Accessory dwelling units (ADUs) have the potential to provide a rare and valuable source of rental housing in San Francisco’s single-family neighborhoods. The current San Francisco rules, however, make it very difficult for homeowners to add ADUs on single-family properties. Requirements for yard setbacks and open space severely limit the lot area where an ADU […]
Sonoma – 149 Fourth St
In late 2016, a homebuilder began the arduous journey to construct three homes on vacant lots in Sonoma. Each HAA-compliant project was submitted separately, though the City of Sonoma processed all three as a group. This included producing three CEQA reports, which each included special attention to the other projects in the group; the City […]
Dublin – Ashton at Dublin Station
On January 9, 2018, CaRLA gave testimony at a meeting of the Dublin City Council describing in detail the ways that a denial of 220 homes at Dublin BART would bring about a lawsuit against the city. Having heard this and given it consideration, Mayor Haubert said into the public record that the city should “take […]