As I type this, the city council is going into closed session for two issues:
- CLOSED SESSION
- Conference with Labor Negotiators Government Code Section 54957.6
City Designated Representatives: Human Resources Director Maria Saguisag-Sid, City Manager Lisa K. Goldman, City Attorney Michael Guina, Chief of Police Michael Matteucci, Timothy L. Davis Attorney, Finance Director Helen Yu-Scott
Employee Organizations: AFSCME and Teamsters - Conference with Legal Counsel - Existing LItigation (Government Code Section 54956.9(d)(1))
Yes In My Backyard v. City of Burlingame, San Mateo County Superior Court Case No. 23-CIV-00519
The YIMBYs are filing lawsuits all over the Bay Area and the state because, well, the state has handed them a cudgel and why not use it? The Sunday Chronicle added some color that you can read about here. I'll just grab the start and then some B'game specific bits:
Los Altos Hills resident Sasha Zbrozek is the first to admit that he is not a real estate developer. “I’m just some random homeowner dude,” he said. “I’m not qualified to develop much.” Yet, over the past few days, Zbrozek has become the face of the “builder’s remedy,” a fledgling movement that over the next year could transform the way housing development is approved across the Bay Area.
The builder’s remedy allows property owners to bypass most local planning and zoning rules if that city or county has failed to complete certification of a state-mandated eight-year housing plan known as a “housing element.” So far, the Bay Area is not doing too well: Only five of 109 jurisdictions had their housing plans approved by the state by the Jan. 31 deadline.
Currently, the property has a house and a pool on it, but Zbrozek has submitted two alternatives for redevelopment. One would add five townhomes and retain his current house and swimming pool. The other would require razing his house and pool and putting a 15-unit apartment building along with the five townhomes. If the larger project is approved, he will sell to an experienced builder and move.
It's nice that Mr. Zbrozek knows he's not a builder but is pretty confident he can find one to buy him out once he sets it all up. Now onto the local comments
So far there are dozens of property owners looking at invoking the builder’s remedy, but only a few have pulled the trigger, according to Sonja Trauss, executive director of YIMBY Law, which has sued several cities for not having compliant housing elements.
Trauss said she knows of property owners in Burlingame, Fairfax, Oakland, Sausalito and Palo Alto who are likely to file applications, but that many are hesitant given that the builder’s remedy has been in effect for only two weeks. Trauss predicted that the “sweet spot” for builder’s remedy projects will be five units on a 5,000-square-foot lot, which is the most common lot size in California. That is the scale of the projects in Burlingame and Sausalito that she expects to be filed in the coming days.
More than a year ago I suggested that the City start building a legal reserve to counter all of this destruction of R1 zoning. It was excellent advice since it appears we are a juicier target than say Palo Alto
Meanwhile, wealthy towns such as Belvedere, in Marin, or Palo Alto have the financial resources to fight developments in court. “The places that are most legally vulnerable are also the places where you are likely to face the longest slog in getting the project approved,” he said. “Maybe you are likely to prevail in Palo Alto, but Palo Alto is going to give you hell for a half dozen years along the way.”
I'd love to be a fly on the wall of that closed session. There was also a piece in the DJ recently that quoted a different YIMBY attorney as saying he was living on an air mattress in an attic because he couldn't afford anything else. Don't the YIMBY's want to pay a living wage? If that claim is accurate, it's hard to see how he was talking about His Backyard.
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