Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Editorial

Federal bill would tip scale for development

Near the corner of University Avenue and Los Gatos-Saratoga Road, a developer is hoping to build 32 single-family detached homes on four acres of land that backs up on to Los Gatos Creek. Down a few blocks on University, the renovation and expansion of Old Town is under way.

A few blocks east of the proposed 32-unit development just off Los Gatos-Saratoga Road, a developer wants to build as many as 150 units on the current site of a mobile-home park.

Anyone who thinks there won't be a battle over those two housing proposals hasn't been observing local land-use issues very carefully. Not only are Los Gatans increasingly lining up on the side of lower density, but they are understandably leery of projects likely to exacerbate traffic congestion.

Developers have long considered Los Gatos a difficult community. Its reputation is that neighbors invariably protest development and that elected and appointed officials pay attention to local residents.

Further, developers say the planning process here puts them through more hoops than they have to jump through nearly anywhere else.

Some people don't think developers should have to battle so hard for the right to develop property they own. They believe developers should have a right to do what they want with their property; they should have a right to profit from their property.

In fact, by law, they do have these rights. On the local level, though, they often have to fight to prove that what's good for them isn't bad for the environment or the neighbors--who also have property rights.

That's why the planning process often takes so long. When projects are contested, it's usually not a question of who's right and who's wrong but of weighing the rights of each and trying to find a balance.

Now developers are trying to tip the scale. With the Property Rights Bill, now in the Senate Judiciary Committee, one might say developers have embraced the strategy that if you can't win while playing on their home court, take the battle directly to the federal court, a very expensive place for local municipalities to play.

The National Association of Home Builders has lobbied hard for passage of this bill.

While this piece of legislation has been toned down from the original version that permitted developers recourse to federal courts immediately after being turned down by a planning commission, we think it's still bad law.

Without passing judgment on the two proposals that would add some 182 new housing units on or near Los Gatos-Saratoga Road, we believe any federal law that would tend to make local government shy away from encouraging a full debate on proposals such as these would be a mistake.

The Property Rights Bill is clearly intended to create a chilling effect on local debate by holding the threat of federal lawsuits over the heads of local officials.

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