Another developer is invoking California's "builder's remedy" provision for a housing proposal in the Silicon Valley city of Palo Alto, one of several San Francisco Bay Area municipalities that hasn't passed a state-approved plan to meet housing development goals.
Palo Alto-based Vittoria Management has tapped the provision to streamline the entitlement process and allow for a shorter development timeline for its latest planned project, a 169-unit condominium development at 3781 El Camino Real.
The so-called builder's remedy, a provision that gives homebuilders leverage over California cities and their zoning codes, is possible only when cities and local municipalities lack an approved plan to meet housing development goals. The deadline for the eight-year housing development plan was in January 2023.
There are at least 25 builder’s remedy projects underway in the Bay Area, according to data collected by SF YIMBY, a website that tracks development issues. The group's acronym stands for Yes In My Back Yard, a play on the acronym NIMBY, for Not In My Back Yard, a term critical of local residents who oppose development near where they live.
Builder's remedy "has been a good rhetorical tool and one that is forcing NIMBY-heavy communities to begin the long process of reviewing planning applications for these projects," said Kelly Snider, professor of urban and regional planning at San Jose State University, in an email.
Recent Palo Alto proposals that have invoked the provision include Acclaim Cos.' planned 380-apartment project slight east of Vittoria’s project at 3150 El Camino Real, and Oxford Capital Partners' plan to construct 185 apartments at 3400 El Camino Real, according to previous reporting by CoStar News.
Vittoria's plans call for a 73-foot-tall building totaling 278,040 square feet with 190,130 square feet for housing. At least 20% of the units will be affordable, in line with "builder's remedy" requirements.
It's the second project underway in the city for Vittoria, joining a redevelopment proposal that aims to build 315 apartments and 169 condominiums on a site that holds older commercial buildings, according to CoStar. That project is not invoking "builder's remedy."
The provision can be invoked in any California city not in compliance with state housing mandates, though the South Bay Area appears to be seeing the largest influx of such proposals under the provision, according to data from SF YIMBY.
About half the cities in Santa Clara county are not in compliance with the state law, including Palo Alto, Los Gatos and Cupertino, according to California officials.