The San Francisco Jobs Housing Linkage Fee (JHLF) is set to more than double under the “Housing for SF Workers” ordinance recently passed by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors (Ordinance). Mayor London Breed refused to sign the Ordinance, but even without the Mayor’s signature, Housing for SF Workers becomes effective on December 15, 2019.

The California Supreme Court has ruled that a landowner who accepts the benefits of a permit by constructing the project forfeits the right to challenge land-use conditions imposed on the project. Lynch v. California Coastal Commission (Calif. Supreme Court, No. S221980, July 6, 2017).

Factual Background

After storms damaged a seawall and stairway structure beneath their bluff-top homes, plaintiffs sought a permit from the California Coastal Commission to demolish and reconstruct the seawall. The Commission granted the permit subject to conditions that included a prohibition against reconstruction of the stairway and a 20-year limit on the authorization for the seawall, after which plaintiffs would need to apply for a new permit to extend the authorization period.


Plaintiffs filed a petition for writ of administrative mandamus challenging the 20-year expiration condition and the condition prohibiting reconstruction of the stairway. They argued that the 20-year expiration date was unconstitutional because it did not mitigate impacts of the project, and that the Commission could not prohibit reconstruction of the stairway because that activity did not require a permit.

While the litigation was pending, plaintiffs satisfied other permit conditions, secured the coastal development permit, and built the seawall. The Court of Appeal held that plaintiffs’ challenge could not proceed because they had waived their claims by constructing the project.

California Supreme Court Decision

Under the Pfieffer/McDougal line of cases, a landowner may not challenge a permit condition if he or she has acquiesced to it either by specific agreement or by failing to challenge the condition while accepting the benefits of the permit. Instead, the landowner must file a timely challenge to the conditions and await the outcome before proceeding with the project.
Continue Reading Property Owner Who Proceeds With Development Under a Permit Cannot Challenge Land-Use Conditions Attached to the Permit

The California Building Industry Association has filed a petition for certiorari in the United States Supreme Court seeking review of the California Supreme Court’s recent decision in California Building Industry Association v. City of San Jose, 61 Cal. 4th 435 (2015). In that decision, the California high court upheld San Jose’s affordable housing ordinance,