The Saratoga City Council on March 5 gave its final stamp of approval to a controversial new policy that eliminates automatic notification of Saratoga residents when new housing developments are planned for their neighborhood.
The council’s 4-1 vote came despite a last-minute plea from an attorney representing a local community group to do otherwise.
“We strongly urge the city council to reinstate discretionary review processes to ensure neighboring landowners retain their constitutional due process rights,” read a letter from housing rights attorney Sabrina Venskus.
The policy changes were part of the March 5 consent calendar, a set of routine items that the council approves in one motion. The council was prepared to do just that, but Saratoga resident Michael Burry, representing the nonprofit Citizens for Responsible and Equitable Development, called for the council to open up the item for a full discussion. The nonprofit is made up of a handful of Saratoga residents whose mission is to “ensure the responsible and equitable implementation” of certain housing laws.
Burry, along with Venskus and the community group she represents, said the new policies violate due process rights for people neighboring the site of new housing developments, and don’t comply with the California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA.
“Placing this on the consent calendar is inappropriate; it is disrespectful to the hundreds of residents who have expressed concerns about transparency, safety and public involvement,” Burry said. “We urge you to pull this item, allow for full public discussion tonight and give residents a chance to weigh in before you make a decision that will change the future of our community.”
City attorney Richard Taylor said he didn’t see any due process considerations, and that there had already been “extensive public comment” on the issue.
“This is something that is very common throughout California, throughout jurisdictions,” Taylor said of the changes to housing policy.
These changes were the subject of city council and planning commission discussions in recent months following implementation of the city’s housing element, a plan for all housing to be built in Saratoga by 2031. These policies set objective design standards for new housing developments and implement a new process of approving projects that meet certain criteria, including anything larger than 250 square feet.
Called ministerial review, the process allows for these projects – if they meet the city’s established standards – to immediately receive approval without input from the planning commission. The planning commission approved the new policies in a 4-3 vote in January, and the city council did so in an 4-1 vote, with council member Yan Zhao dissenting. Zhao was again the lone dissenting vote on March 5.