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The yearslong journey to building a 130-unit affordable housing complex in downtown Livermore forges ahead following the state appellate court’s ruling last week that favored actions by the city aimed at moving the project forward.
Community group Move Eden Housing had challenged the city’s 2024 readoption of a development agreement with Eden Housing, Inc. for affordable workforce housing to be built at the southeast corner of Railroad Avenue and L Street, with the exception of provisions pertaining to Veterans Park.
The trial court initially sided with MEH, determining that the city had acted prematurely in approving the resolution that was nearly the same as a 2022 resolution the city had repealed moments before.
On Oct. 7, the appellate court issued an opinion reversing the trial court’s decision.
“We reverse. Consistent with the scope of the referendum power, we conclude that section 9241 did not prohibit the City from adopting the 2024 Resolution, which involves only administrative acts implementing prior legislative determinations not challengeable by referendum,” the published court opinion states.
The appellate court’s ruling was welcomed by the city and Eden Housing.
“The city is pleased by the Appellate Court’s thoughtful evaluation of the law and looks forward to the construction of Eden Housing’s long overdue affordable housing project,” city officials told Livermore Vine.
MEH has been on a quest for several years to have the project relocated away from downtown to an undetermined location and for a community park to be built on the current project site instead. However, the city purchased the land back in 2008 with funds designated for affordable housing.
The latest installment of the ongoing saga started on June 24, 2024, when the Livermore City Council rescinded a 2022 resolution authorizing the execution of an amended and restated the disposition, development and loan agreement with Eden Housing that included language to allow the construction of and improvements to Veterans Park.
The decision to rescind that 2022 resolution came after a court battle with MEH over the group’s referendum petition not being processed. While the administrative acts in that resolution were deemed not subject to referendum, the legislative acts related to construction of Veterans Park were referendable, according to a prior ruling by the state appellate court. Therefore, the council was left with the options to either rescind the resolution or bring the issue before voters in an election.
Councilmembers chose to rescind the 2022 resolution and immediately afterward — during the same meeting — they approved a new resolution containing virtually the same exact language from 2022, but omitting the section on Veterans Park.
Move Eden Housing objected to that move, taking the city back to court. The group argued that the city was misinterpreting the appellate court’s opinion and violating a section of Election Code that states if a city council “repeals the ordinance … the ordinance shall not again be enacted by the legislative body for a period of one year after the date of its repeal”.
While the community group may have celebrated a victory on that front last November in trial court, the city and the affordable housing developer have prevailed in their appeal as of last week.
“In the present case, it is undisputed that the legislative decisions about the Project that are implemented by the administrative provisions in both the 2022 and 2024 Resolutions were made long before adoption of the 2022 Resolution and were not challenged by referendum,” the appellate court opinion states.
“Although the referendum challenging the 2022 Resolution had the effect of delaying the administrative acts in the resolution as well as the new legislative approval of Veterans Park, the referendum power does not justify Move Eden’s effort to frustrate the City’s ability to take administrative actions to move forward with previously approved aspects of the Project following repeal of the 2022 Resolution,” the court added.
Move Eden Housing told Livermore Vine in a statement that the group “strongly disagrees” with the appellate court’s ruling.
“The opinion reverses a ruling last November by the trial court that the City of Livermore violated the writ of mandate requiring it to process MEH’s referendum petition in compliance with the California Elections Code,” the group said in its statement.
“In doing so, the opinion ignored a key argument made by MEH: that the City cannot remove Veterans Park from the downtown housing project proposed by Eden Housing. Although the opinion enables the City to avoid a referendum, MEH will continue to fight for democracy,” the statement reads.
The appellate court’s final opinion last week followed a tentative ruling issued back in August after MEH declined oral arguments, which had initially been scheduled for Aug. 21.
Despite choosing not to move forward in the appeals process, MEH doubled down on its opposition to the ruling and asserted that the group “is not backing down”.
“MEH believes the Court of Appeal misinterpreted the law in coming to these conclusions and is evaluating its options to address the Court’s opinion,” MEH wrote in a statement. “Given the importance of uniformity in state election law, MEH is considering a petition for rehearing of the Opinion, a petition for review in the California Supreme Court, and other options.”
MEH also maintains in its statement that its members are supportive of affordable housing; however, they reiterated that the current location of the project is at the center of their concerns as they deem the site “not appropriate for residential uses”.
