Court rules against Los Gatos’ interpretation of builder’s remedy law – The Mercury News
The Big Picture
A Santa Clara County judge rejected the Town of Los Gatos’ attempt to narrow California’s builder’s remedy law, siding with the state’s housing agency and developers. The ruling makes clear that developers can repeatedly resubmit incomplete builder’s remedy applications, with each resubmittal triggering a new 90-day correction period. The court found that the town’s interpretation relied too heavily on a technical reading of the statute and conflicted with the law’s broader intent to keep projects alive rather than let them expire over procedural disputes.
Why It Matters
This decision strengthens the builder’s remedy as a real enforcement tool, not a one-shot loophole. Cities without a certified housing element cannot rely on application technicalities to run out the clock on unwanted projects. For developers, the ruling reduces risk and gives more certainty that projects won’t be killed by repeated incompleteness determinations. For cities, it’s a warning that courts are reading state housing laws broadly and in favor of production. The practical takeaway is that compliance with housing element requirements matters more than ever, because once a city falls out of compliance, its leverage over size, height, and timing of projects becomes very limited.
