A Santa Ynez Valley group’s legal challenge over a multifamily housing project in Solvang was premature, a Santa Barbara County Superior Court judge has ruled.
Judge James Rigali issued the decision last week in the case filed in March by plaintiffs the S.Y. Valley Residents Association against the City of Solvang, Joshua J. Richman, Lots on Alamo Pintado LLC and unnamed individuals as defendants.
The lawsuit, filed on behalf of the residents group by Pasadena-based Mitchell M. Tsai Law Firm plus land-use attorney Marc Chytilo of Santa Barbara, centers on the proposed Wildwood development at the corner of Alamo Pintado Road and Old Mission Drive at the eastern entrance to Solvang. In the Solvang General Plan, the vacant land is known as Site C.
The lawsuit contends that city staff improperly deemed the project’s application complete although the residents believe its defective, demanding that the city should void the document and halt processing the project proposed to have one-, two- and three-story buildings.
The developer’s latest application calls for 100 units, down from the 109 units initially proposed, and has been filed under the state’s Builder’s Remedy law.
Solvang challenged the timing of the lawsuit, filing a demurrer to dismiss the legal action on what the city’s attorneys called “an intermediate, non-final decision by the city.”
“Instead of presenting a typical challenge to a local agency’s final decision on land use rights, the instant petition challenges the city of Solvang’s decision to accept a land use application and commence the process of evaluating that application,” the city’s attorneys with Richards Watson Gershon contend. “The petition does not, and cannot, challenge a final decision approving the subject land use application because no such final decision has been made.”
Calling it “a death knell” for the residents’ legal challenge, an attorney for the applicant, Richman and the development argued that the citizens group’s legal action occurred before the city’s review process was done.
“Judicial resources should not, in the meantime, be squandered in the premature pursuit of voiding a development application before it has a chance to be considered,” Dan Baxter of Kronick, Moskovitz, Tiedemann and Girard wrote.
However, the residents group’s attorneys pushed for a decision now.
“To that end, the city’s flawed final decision with regard to the propriety and completeness of the development application is ripe for resolution and best addressed now before this significant additional expenditure of resources and time occurs,” the plaintiff’s attorney, Jeremy Herwitt, wrote.
The judge called the citizens group’s claims “premature, and in violation of the rules of exhaustion, ripeness and finality.”
The court said Wildwood housing project developments need to exhaust the administrative process first.
“Balkanization of the process does not further (the) Legislature’s desire for a speedy application processing,” the ruling stated, referring to the purpose of the Builder’s Remedy rules.
However, Rigali left open the possibility for a legal challenge in the future.
“This determination obviates the need to rule on Solvang’s remaining arguments. Nothing in this order should be seen as precluding S.Y. Valley from raising any future challenge if there is a final approval decision,” Rigali wrote.
The multifamily Wildwood housing development, consisting of seven buildings, seeks to have reduced on-site parking and setback requirements on the 5.48-acre lot.
Associated internal roadways and other improvements are proposed to be constructed on an additional, approximately 1.32-acre non-exclusive easement on property not owned by the applicants.