A group of residents suing the city over the approval of a high-end housing development are turning to voters to stop the homes from being built.
Members of the group Save Lafayette are planning to circulate a referendum petition asking city leaders to reverse their approval of the Homes at Deer Hill development, which calls for 44 single-family residences on a hill near Acalanes High School. The city formally approved the project Monday after an initial greenlighting last month.
According to state election law, Save Lafayette needs to collect signatures from 10 percent of registered voters within 30 days. If the referendum petition is successful, the development would be suspended while lawmakers either reconsider the ordinance approving the homes or take the issue to voters.
Meanwhile, another group attempting to block the homes is moving forward with its own lawsuit.
The San Francisco Bay Area Renters' Federation is planning to sue the city claiming Lafayette violated state affordable housing laws by approving the single-family home development instead of 315 moderate-income apartments known as the Terraces of Lafayette that developer The O'Brien Land Company hoped to build at the former quarry site.
The developers are instead building the 44 homes and a number of public amenities, including playing fields and a dog park.
The Renters' Federation has formed the California Renters Legal Advocacy & Education Fund, whose website, www.suethesuburbs.org, details how the group believes the city violated the state Housing Accountability Act.
Approved in 1982, the statute requires local governments to thoroughly analyze the economic, social and environmental impacts of rejecting a housing project or reducing its density.
According to the law, a city can only turn down a housing development if it has already met or exceeded the number of dwelling units required by the state to accommodate meeting regional housing needs, among other criteria.
The city issued 233 building permits between 2007 and 2013, or 65 percent of the total housing units it needed to accommodate. Forty-seven were for very low-income housing and just 10 permits each were issued for moderate- and low-income housing.
SFBARF founder Sonja Trauss told lawmakers the city failed to write a report analyzing the impacts of rejecting the Terraces, and illegally approved the less dense Homes at Deer Hill, which the group contends are the same projects.
Other members took the city to task for not creating enough housing and contributing to the current housing crisis.
"Cities such as Lafayette are part of the problem. They haven't been meeting regional housing targets and from our seat, it looks like cities like Lafayette are hindering much-needed housing," said Rafael Solari.
Megan Hines decried the city's lack of affordable housing, saying she couldn't find a one-bedroom apartment or studio in Lafayette she could afford with her $78,000 salary. The median household income in Lafayette was $134,871, according to a 2011 American Community Survey.
"How did we get into this situation? How did this city get so unaffordable?" Hines said.
Defending the city's stock of multifamily housing and pointing out its consideration of rent control earlier this year, Mayor Brandt Andersson and Councilmen Mike Anderson and Don Tatzin approved the embattled ordinance.
Vice Mayor Traci Reilly once again recused herself because of past opposition to the original 315-unit apartment project before becoming a council member.
Councilman Mark Mitchell was absent.
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