Beverly Hills Put On Blast for High-Rise Approval Delay

According to an LAist article, “California housing officials are sending a message to the city of Beverly Hills: approve plans for a high-rise apartment building, or we’ll see you in court.” Last week the California Department of Housing and Community Development sent a letter to Beverly Hills city council warning that their failure to process an application for a 165-unit apartment building along densely developed Wilshire Boulevard. In a statement, Gov. Newsom said, “[Beverly Hills’s] attempt to block this housing project violates the law. Now is a time to build more housing, not cave to the demands of NIMBYs.”

Beverly Hills officials say they have not yet denied the project and their actions so far have been “procedural in nature,” reports David Wagner for LAist. The city’s most recent action in June was to deny an appeal from the developer challenging the city’s conclusion that the project application was “incomplete.” Plans for the building were submitted in October 2022 under a provision known as “Builder’s Remedy,” which allows developers to propose eligible housing development projects that do not comply with either the zoning or the general plan in cities without a state-approved housing plans. As of January of this year, Beverly Hills was two years late in developing a housing plan compliant with state laws requiring the city to plan for 3,104 new units by 2029, more than half of which must be affordable to low-income households.

​​The HDC has given the city until September 20, 2024 to respond to its letter. If approved, the high-rise in question would be one of the city’s tallest residential buildings, with 20 percent of the apartments reserved for low-income renters and also contain a hotel.