Judge Rules City Improperly Blocked Mixed-Use Development
Beverly Hills must move forward with a stalled 165-unit mixed-use housing project after a Los Angeles County Superior Court ruled the city improperly blocked the development, according to Californians for Homeownership, the nonprofit that brought the case.
The ruling marks the second legal defeat for Beverly Hills in as many years. In 2023, the same group, an affiliate of the California Association of Realtors, prevailed in a separate lawsuit over the city’s housing planning process.
At the center of the new case is a proposal for a 165-unit development on Linden Drive, just south of the city’s Golden Triangle. Thirty-three of the apartments would be reserved for low-income households. The project is one of several so-called “builder’s remedy” applications submitted in Beverly Hills, where state law requires cities without compliant housing plans to allow certain residential projects in commercial corridors.
“We are pleased with the court’s decision, and we are hopeful that it will lead to a settlement covering the remaining builder’s remedy projects in the city,” said Matthew Gelfand, the in-house litigator for the nonprofit. “Beverly Hills should embrace these projects and work with the applicants to get these much-needed homes built.”
Rather than formally deny the project, Beverly Hills argued the developer’s application was incomplete, a tactic housing advocates say is increasingly used by local governments to sidestep state housing laws. The city also claimed some parts of the application had expired.
The court rejected those arguments, vacated the city’s decision, and ordered Beverly Hills to process the development as a builder’s remedy project in line with California law. A separate lawsuit filed by the developer resulted in a similar ruling.
