Saratoga still has 18 builder's remedy housing applications under review on 16 properties, Mayor Chuck Page wrote in a column published Sunday, laying out how many of the state-law projects remain in the pipeline.
The city received 25 of the applications before the state certified its housing element, the plan every California city must keep showing where future homes can go, Page wrote in the Saratoga News column. Three were found not to qualify and were closed. Three have been approved and one was withdrawn.
On two of the remaining sites, developers have filed two alternative proposals, and only one project per site can be approved, the mayor wrote. The others are moving through review under state law, with environmental review where required.
How the window opened
Builder's remedy is a provision of the state Housing Accountability Act that lets certain projects go forward even when they break local zoning, if the city lacks a certified housing element. Page wrote that Saratoga turned in its updated plan July 28, 2022, ahead of the Jan. 31, 2023, deadline for Bay Area cities, but did not receive certification until July 8, 2024.
Applications could be filed until the certified plan was submitted.
Page, who said he served on the council from 2006 to 2014 before returning, called the loss of local control over land use appalling and wrote that the state made certification very hard to obtain. He also warned that if Saratoga falls out of compliance with state housing rules, it could lose certification and reopen the builder's remedy window.