California Housing Department Says Cupertino Is Breaking Law

California’s top housing agency is accusing the city of Cupertino of violating state housing law.

The Department of Housing and Community Development told the city in a letter that it made its determination based on how the local government was handling an ongoing lawsuit by pro-housing groups, The Mercury News reported.

The suit involves two proposed projects that the city claimed filed applications that were incomplete and eventually expired.

Developers for 20 condos on Scofield Drive and 33 homes near Linda Vista Park filed proposals in February 2024 looking to take advantage of a builder’s remedy opening, after the city missed the deadline to certify its housing element. The plan lays out how the Silicon Valley enclave plans to accommodate 4,588 new homes by 2031 as mandated by the state.

The builder’s remedy allowed developers to override local zoning laws with their projects.

But Cupertino officials deemed their applications expired by the time it had a certified housing element in place, preventing the developers from resubmitting the same proposals.

The city, citing the Permit Streamlining Act, argued that developers only have one 90-day window to respond to the city’s questions about its application, regardless of how many times the city returns with more inquiries about the proposal.

The Department of Housing and Community Development said in its letter that “the 90-day deadline resets after each incompleteness determination made by the city,” confirming that “a project with multiple incompleteness determination letters and responses may have multiple 90-day periods.”

YIMBY Law and the California Housing Defense Fund filed a joint lawsuit in the spring seeking a resolution to the issue. The legal case is ongoing.

Cupertino isn’t the only city to interpret the law to only call for one 90-day incomplete period. In March, Los Gatos filed a lawsuit in Santa Clara County Superior Court asking for clarification on the 90-day window provision. At the time, the town said that the “purpose of this lawsuit is not to stop housing construction in Los Gatos, but rather to know how to comply with the law,” per the Mercury News.

— Chris Malone Méndez