After the city of Los Angeles rejected their appeal challenging an affordable housing project on L.A.’s Westside, opponents of the development have filed a lawsuit to continue their fight.
The complaint filed in late March claims the city violated the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) by denying opponents the chance to express their concerns in a public hearing and have their appeal put to a vote by the city council.
One of the developers behind the project, Steven Scheibe, said the lawsuit didn’t come as a surprise. But it could further delay a project the city originally said would be exempt from CEQA.
“It continues to be frustrating that there are these pathways to delay, stall and add costs to housing developments, especially those that are affordable,” Scheibe said.
How opponents got here
The 44-unit project is aiming to bring low- and moderate-income apartments to L.A.’s Sawtelle neighborhood through a program known as ED1. Back when L.A. Mayor Karen Bass created this program during her first week in office, she said the city would fast-track 100% affordable housing projects in part by making them exempt from CEQA.
But CEQA challenges have succeeded at delaying some ED1 projects. Late last year, the city’s planning department accepted CEQA appeals for the Sawtelle project, as well as a separate development in Sherman Oaks. After months of consideration, city officials ultimately rejected those appeals, saying they improperly tried to overturn ED1 in its entirety.
LAist reached out to Allen Pachtman — one of the opponents of the Sawtelle project and the owner of an apartment building located next to the proposed…
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