Developers beat Saratoga’s deadline for builder’s remedy projects

It took five go-rounds with state housing regulators for Saratoga to certify its plan to build more than 1,700 homes by 2031, but not before developers turned in 20 builder’s remedy applications.

The town south of Saratoga won final state approval on its Housing Element, or state-mandated blueprint to rezone for housing growth, staving off more builder’s remedy applications allowing builders to bypass local zoning rules, SiliconValley.com reported.

The wealthy town next to Los Gatos had its Housing Element approved this month by the state Department of Housing and Community Development, 18 months after the January 2023 deadline.

The window of noncompliance left Saratoga open to the builder’s remedy, a decades-old loophole in state housing law that allows developers to skirt zoning rules in cities that fail to get their plans approved on time. Such projects must contain at least 20 percent of affordable housing.

As of June, the city has received preliminary applications for 20 builder’s remedy projects that would result in about 672 homes, according to the city’s website.

The builder’s remedy projects could contribute to the 1,712 homes that Saratoga must accommodate in the next seven years, including 454 affordable for very low-income households and 719 within the budget of moderate-income families.

The developers have 180 days to submit formal applications for builder’s remedy projects from a seven-unit apartment complex at 13460 Saraview Drive to more than 250 homes and an 81-room boutique hotel at Mountain Winery at 14831 Pierce Road.

As in neighboring Los Gatos, which had 15 preliminary builder’s remedy applications before its housing plan certification closed last month, neighbors were upset about what they see as oversized projects in areas that lack infrastructure to support more people.

“I do hope that the council does exercise their abilities on the current builder’s remedy projects and also gets through this Housing Element so that other building planners can’t just copy and paste rectangles on Google maps and make 125 homes,” resident Sahas Munamala said at a City Council meeting last spring.

A proposed development by William Hirschman of Chateau Masson for a 25-unit complex on Pierce Road near Saratoga Heights Drive in the city’s hillsides has drawn safety concerns from residents worried about traffic congestion on the already narrow road, according to SiliconValley.com.

Saratoga, with its canopy of trees and high-ranking schools, remains one of the most wealthy cities in the nation. The price of a typical home last May was $3.9 million, according to Redfin, with the average home selling at 6 percent above list price.

— Dana Bartholomew

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