by Georgina Valencia
This month California Planning & Development Report has an article that might make a few people twist in their seats. It seems that LA Superior Court has suspended all of Beverly Hills’ permitting power for new construction.
It seems that not unlike Davis and some other cities Beverly Hills does not have a compliant Housing Element. In addition there are 13 Builder Remedy Applications within the city of Beverly Hills.
The judge overseeing the case, Curtis Kin, is the first judge to suspend a city’s permitting authority because of a housing element. One of the points that parallels Davis is in regard to the city actually evaluating development sites. Beverly Hills has relied heavily on a mixed-use overlay zone. In Judge Kin’s review he is questioning the math for calculating density. And the other question is one we have pondered here in Davis. Will all of the parcels that have been identified really be ripe for development and housing? Probably not. Which is much the same question posed at Planning Commission when staff presented 16 properties. These properties included existing commercial space, and some sites that would be hard to park a car on, much less build housing.
