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A proposed housing development for Danville’s Anderson Ranch neighborhood is now set to move forward after a judge’s ruling this month in a lawsuit against the town brought forward by the project applicant.
The July 11 ruling by Contra Costa Superior Court Judge Danielle Douglas found that the town was in violation of the state’s Permit Streamlining Act and Housing Accountability Act in deeming the application from property owner Ido Adler for a 38-unit housing project incomplete.
Ahead of the final ruling, the Town Council passed a resolution on June 17 rescinding their previous resolution deeming the application that was filed last April incomplete, and instead declaring the application to be complete, in alignment with a tentative ruling in May.
According to the final ruling, the town was found to have required application items for Adler’s project that were not included in the checklist provided to project applicants, which according to the judge, clearly stated that the requirements included a listing of existing easements – of which the property has none – and a preliminary soils report, which was included in application materials from Adler.
“Moreover, comments made by the Town Council could be interpreted as trying to avoid the builder’s remedy provision of the Housing Accountability Act,” the judge wrote. “The court finds that the town’s disapproval under the HAA constituted a prejudicial error.”
“It is undisputed that the town’s housing element is now in compliance with state law, and thus, the builder’s remedy option that the petitioner used is not currently available under a new application. Thus, to require petitioner to restart their application from the beginning when the town made an incorrect incompleteness finding is prejudicial to the petitioner,” the judge stated.
The judge’s ruling clarifies that, with Adler’s application initially filed in 2023 and now deemed complete by the town, it is subject to the regulations that were in place at that time – including the builder’s remedy provision, which limits the authority of local jurisdictions to deny projects based on zoning and other local regulations when they do not have a compliant housing element approved by the state.
Danville’s 2023 to 2031 housing element was not deemed to be compliant with state law until after a series of revisions that concluded in April 2024.
But despite the judge’s ruling, the proposed project continues to face some challenges. Although she ruled in Adler’s favor regarding the preliminary geotechnical report that was submitted with the project application – and against the town deeming that report unsatisfactory – the report points to geotechnical hazards that will need to be further studied and mitigated should the project move forward.
The other major challenge facing the project is the lack of an easement – the subject of a separate lawsuit brought forth by Adler against the Anderson Ranch Single Family Homeowners Association – with that case still making its way through the court. A case management conference in that lawsuit is scheduled for Aug. 15, with a hearing on a motion for discovery scheduled Aug. 18.
