La Cañada Flintridge ditches appeal to builder’s remedy project

The first to retreat was Beverly Hills, which laid down its arms in the battle against the state builder’s remedy. And now La Cañada Flintridge, which threw in the towel after a two-year fight.

The La Cañada Flintridge City Council voted to withdraw from its campaign to block a five-story apartment-hotel-office project proposed by Cedar Street Partners under the anti-NIMBY law at 600 Foothill Boulevard, the Los Angeles Daily News and Bisnow reported.

The reason: the foothill city chose to quit an uphill legal battle after a Los Angeles judge ordered it pay a $14 million bond to appeal a court decision to greenlight the project.

“Continuing the lawsuits is no longer in the best interest of the city,” Mayor Mike Davitt said in a statement saying that the financial costs of its appeal outweighed its potential outcome.

The decision by La Cañada Flintridge to back down may mark a Waterloo for opponents of the builder’s remedy, a once-obscure provision in state housing law that has empowered developers while frustrating cities and counties across the state.

The builder’s remedy allows housing developers to skirt local zoning in cities such as Beverly Hills that failed to certify their state-mandated housing plans, provided their projects include 20 percent affordable housing.

Beverly Hills, which had vigorously fought a slew of state-sanctioned builders remedy projects, broached a compromise with developers last month.

Now La Cañada Flintridge must come to terms with Cedar Street, led by Jonathan Curtis, a former city councilman and mayor who bought the property during his term in office.

The locally based developer had employed the 35-year-old legal loophole to allow the 80-unit complex with 16 hotel rooms and 7,300 square feet of offices, with 16 apartments set aside for low-income households.

The project, designed by Mid-City-based Riley Projects, would replace a former First Church of Christ Scientist, blocks from a large commercial district.

Cedar Street Partners had filed a lawsuit in July 2023, after a yearlong back-and-forth with the city and repeated denials. Gov. Gavin Newsom and Attorney General Rob Bonta asked a court to support the project, as well as the state builder’s remedy provision.

The decision by the city to back down sends a disquieting message to cities trying to push back against housing laws, Ryan Leaderman, a partner at Holland & Knight, who previously represented the 600 Foothill project, told Bisnow.

“The message is: stop playing games with housing,” Leaderman said. “There’s going to be a price to pay when a city unlawfully denies a project.”

Despite the city’s decision to abandon its appeal, the Foothill Boulevard project must still clear several hurdles before winning local approval. While the builder’s remedy waives zoning rules, such projects still must comply with environmental, infrastructure and health and safety standards, according to the Daily News.

“The City and community will need to chart a pathway forward that integrates the 600 Foothill project as reasonably as possible, and we hope going forward the developer will work with us to minimize any detrimental impacts on the City,” Mayor Davitt said in his statement.

“The ball’s in their court,” Cedar Street partner Jonathan Curtis told Bisnow.

— Dana Bartholomew