statutes of limitations

While acknowledging that the City’s affordable housing ordinance was no longer enforceable under the Costa-Hawkins Act, an appellate court dismissed a challenge to a permit condition requiring compliance with the ordinance because the owner failed to seek timely review of the permit condition through administrative mandamus. City of Berkeley v. 1080 Delaware, LLC, 234 Cal.App.4th 1144 (2015).

In 2004, the City issued a conditional use permit for construction of 51 residential rental units. One of the permit conditions required that 20% of the units be rented at rates affordable to below-median-income households pursuant to the City’s affordable housing ordinance. Market conditions delayed construction of the building for several years, after which the owner declared bankruptcy and the property was acquired by 1080 Delaware through foreclosure. In the interim, the court in Palmer/Sixth Street Properties, L.P. v. City of Los Angeles, 175 Cal. App. 4th 1396 (2009), invalidated an affordable housing ordinance similar to the City’s under the Costa-Hawkins Act, which generally precludes cities from restricting the initial rents that may be charged by landlords.

After 1080 Delaware notified the City that it viewed the affordable housing requirements as unenforceable in light of Palmer/Sixth Street, the City filed suit seeking a declaratory judgment that the permit condition remained valid and enforceable. In response, 1080 Delaware argued that the invalidity of the ordinance on which the permit condition was based necessarily rendered the condition itself invalid.
Continue Reading Failure to Challenge Affordable Housing Condition Barred Subsequent Claim of Invalidity of Enabling Ordinance under Costa-Hawkins Act

Round two of a citizen group’s challenge to approval of a WalMart ended with a decisive knock-out by the City of Stockton.  The appellate court ruled that the petitioners’ planning and zoning law claims were barred by the 90-day statute of limitations in Government Code § 65009, rejecting petitioners’ argument that the statute did not

Agreements to toll the statute of limitations for filing suit are generally favored under the law because they enable parties to negotiate and resolve issues without the distraction of litigation.  But in land use and CEQA cases, there are countervailing public policy reasons favoring prompt filing and disposition of such matters. The tension between those