Attorneys for East Palo Alto's biggest landlord are trying to get San Mateo County officials to take the city's new rent control ordinance off November ballots because of alleged violations of California law.
East Palo Alto officials committed numerous Ralph M. Brown Act violations and failed to analyze the environmental impacts of the new rent law as the California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA, requires, according to documents attorneys for Palo Alto-based Page Mill Properties filed in San Mateo County Superior Court on Aug. 12.
"The city's actions to adopt the revised (rent stabilization ordinance) were repeatedly obscured from public view and participation," the lawsuit contends. "This secrecy so tainted the revision process that the revised (rent stabilization ordinance) must be set aside."
The lawsuit, which names East Palo Alto and San Mateo County Chief Elections Officer Warren Slocum as defendants, also alleges that the ordinance would limit landlords' rental incomes unfairly.
"We have filed this lawsuit because the city of East Palo has violated the Brown Act numerous times by discussing the proposed rent control ordinance in closed session," Page Mill General Counsel Jim Shore said in a statement. "We are seeking discovery in order to prove those claims. In addition, the City has violated CEQA by making changes to their rent ordinance without the proper environmental review."
Last month, San Mateo County Superior Court Judge Beth Labson Freeman issued a temporary restraining order barring the East Palo Alto City Council from discussing the rent stabilization ordinance at its July 28 meeting after Page Mill's property management arm, Woodland Park Management, argued that meeting wasn't properly noticed in compliance with the Brown Act. That state law lays out specific rules for informing community members about public meetings in a timely fashion and disclosing decisions made in closed session.
Council members nailed down final changes to the ordinance at two subsequent meetings, and the city submitted it to county officials in time for the Aug. 7 deadline.
"The city has properly agendized closed session items and items that are open the city discusses them in open session," East Palo Alto City Attorney Vince Ewing said Monday.
Ewing added that Page Mill attorneys have repeatedly made false allegations at public meetings in order to create a spurious record to support current and future lawsuits.
Page Mill and its subsidiaries are involved in a bitter dispute with the city over rent hikes and other issues. There are about 10 active lawsuits between the parties, Ewing said.
East Palo Alto decided to update and strengthen its decades-old rent control law, in part because of that litigation, officials have said.
In his 18 years working in elections offices, San Mateo County Elections Manager David Tom said he has never seen a judge remove a measure from the ballots — however, lawsuits attempting to do so are not unheard of, he said.
"The reason why elections are conducted is to give the people a voice in the matter," Tom said. "Generally things don't get taken off because you're removing that choice from the people."
Chief Deputy County Counsel Brenda Carlson said Monday that Slocum is always named in such lawsuits because his office prints the ballot and election materials.
"We take no position as to whether or not something should be removed from the ballot," Carlson said.
A hearing on the matter is scheduled for Sept. 3.
E-mail Jessica Bernstein-Wax at jbernstein@dailynewsgroup.com.
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