On May 18, 2020, City Council voted to decide to accept the LUHO’s findings and reject the appeal by the neighborhood community on the Alameda/Barstow apartment project. Mid-June 2020, the neighbors filed an appeal of the City Council decision in District Court. The case was submitted to the judge for a decision at the end of Feb. 2021.
Issuing a decision on June 2, 2021 , Judge Nancy Franchini reversed the City’s May 2020 decision and remanded the matter back to the City for further proceedings, stating:
The Court reverses the City’s determination in its appellate capacity, concluding that the decision was not in accordance with the law requiring a quasi-judicial hearing, and remands the matter for further proceedings consistent with this Opinion.
In her Opinion, the judge stipulated that certain questions of the case are to be addressed by the City as part of the remand. Due to the remand, the judge did not consider the other three Declaratory Judgement counts that were part of the lawsuit.
The City and Developer now have a period in which to respond to the decision of the court.