Development moves forward after yearlong legal batte

LOS ALTOS >> A five-story downtown housing project that had been stalled amid a yearlong legal battle with the city finally can move forward after the City Council on Thursday unanimously voted to rescind its denial of the project and pay nearly half a million dollars in legal fees.

The go-ahead from the City Council comes after a struggle stemming from a lawsuit filed by the YIMBY-backed California Renters Legal Advocacy and Education Fund. The group, otherwise known as CaRLA, sued the city of Los Altos in July 2019 after officials rejected the developer’s bid to expedite a project of 15 apartments — including two lowincome units — and ground-floor office space at 40 Main St.

The Sorensen brothers, longtime residents of Los Altos, proposed the project under Senate Bill 35, which went into effect in 2018 and forces cities to approve certain residential and mixed-use projects quickly.

After a Santa Clara County Superior Court groundbreaking ruling in April that determined the city had no grounds to reject the application, City Council members on Thursday followed court orders and approved the project. Had it continued the legal battle,

the city would have had to post a $7 million “appeal bond” — a provision under SB35 — by Sept. 17, a figure that would have nearly emptied the city’s emergency reserves.

“I think it’s disappointing,” Mayor Jan Pepper said in an interview Thursday evening. “We would have been required to post a bond, and if we’d lost the appeal we’d be required to pay the full amount of the bond to the developer plus attorneys fees. That’s over $10 million. This is too high of a financial risk to the city.”

Though city officials are allowed to deny projects, SB35 stipulates that cities

must provide clear, written reasons for denying a development. The letter Los Altos send to the developer back in early April was not sufficient, Superior Court Judge Helen Williams said.

Despite the court ruling, Pepper still believes the project is a bad idea for Los Altos, a city dominated by McMansions and affluent homes surrounding a lowrise downtown of mom and pop boutiques and shops. Pepper said the city in the past has approved projects in downtown and on El Camino Real “that are appropriate.” But a five-story building next to Los Altos’ downtown will be a sore sight for many.

“The project that has been proposed is not one that we believe is a good fit for the site, and it doesn’t comply with our city zoning or safety requirements,” Pepper said of the initial reasons for denial, which included not enough parking or affordable housing, a claim the judge found to be completely untrue.

“If you’ve been to our downtown you know it just doesn’t fit there,” Pepper added. “It’s unfortunate that SB35 doesn’t allow cities to do the review of a project like this to make sure they conform with our requirements.”

Pepper said she is hopeful the city can find common ground with the developers.

“We hope the developer will be willing to work with us to come up with a project that is more fitting of the community,” Pepper said.