Cupertino Rebuffs State on Permit Streamlining Act

Cupertino has once again been put on notice that it is in violation of state housing laws. In this case, it involves the Permit Streamlining Act, which is intended to offer clarity and transparency when submitting development proposals. At the crux of the issue is that Cupertino is rejecting applications that it deems incomplete 90 days after the initial submission.

What this looks like in practice, however, has been called unfair and contrary to what the act details. According to the state, when a proposal is dropped off and staff determines it is incomplete, the applicant then has 90 days to resubmit. However, once an applicant does so, Cupertino often finds something else that was not previously mentioned as still being incomplete. If that is not the case, they continue to find some other aspect of the application incomplete.

The state’s perspective is that this should reset the 90-day window. However, Cupertino maintains that the 90-day window begins from the initial submittal.

Two developers are currently in litigation over this issue, and pro-housing attorneys have previously won similar issues in court. It is unclear whether the State Attorney General will sue Cupertino if the city continues to rebuff the state’s interpretation of the act. In any case, Cupertino’s tough enforcement of the rules seems to be opening more legal risk to the city.

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Source: San Jose Spotlight

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