Under federal law, the Endangered Species Act prohibits the destruction of a habitat areas for an endangered species. 16 U.S.C. §1531. Under California law, A clause in the state’s new housing law, SB9, prohibits building on land that is a habitat for endangered species. In April of 2020, the California Fish and Game Commission voted unanimously to extend legal protection to mountain lions under the state's Endangered Species Act and are now considering labeling that species fully “endangered.” According to CNBC, “for the fifth straight year, Atherton, California’s 94027 has kept the title of most expensive ZIP code in the United States.
“With a median sale price of $7.47 million, the Bay Area suburb is far and away the priciest place to live in the country in 2021, according to data from Property Shark, which analyzed residential transactions in the U.S. between Jan. 1, 2021 and Oct. 22, 2021.” Oh, and Los Altos, California (94022), with a median home sale price in 2021 of $4,052,000, also made the top ten most expensive American zip codes for residential homes. Right alongside, there are mega-expensive Palo Alto (94301) and Portola Valley (94028). We have a shorthand general name for this region of the United States, which continues to include other, exceptionally expensive neighborhoods: the Silicon Valley. Tech billionaires live here, and they are very protective of their “homeland.”
We know that these areas have unaffordable housing, forcing workers and college students go commute hours from areas they can afford. The homeless crisis is in part accelerated by the cost of real estate near job-rich California cities. So, on September 28, 2021, to take effect on January 1, 2022, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed SB 290 to update the state’s density bonus law to support more affordable housing. The governor signed SB 290 as part of a package of 27 housing bills that he approved at an event in Oakland. These laws usurped local zoning agencies and building codes.
“These new housing laws open the door for thousands more housing units at every affordability level and include measures to help hold local governments accountable. Together, plus the unprecedented $24-plus billion the governor and Legislature put in the budget for housing, shows that California is the national leader in the effort to build housing for all,” said sponsoring state Sen. Skinner, D-Berkeley. “And my bill, SB 290, gives housing developers more incentives to build affordable units for low-income college students, many of whom now are homeless or living in their cars.” Affluent communities across California screamed, some claiming an unconstitutional “taking” of their real estate values, which others simply claimed a unilateral right to defy the new laws.
But one savvy community in the Silicon Valley, which defines the “system,” hired lawyers to think of a way legally to defy this state mandate and preserve their low-density neighborhoods from real estate speculators out to make a buck. And a new ordinance passed. With a big political grin: “The well-heeled Silicon Valley suburb of Woodside has come up with a novel way to block plans that would potentially bring in more affordable housing: Declare itself Cougar Town… Officials in the enclave of 5,500 people recently announced that all of Woodside was exempt from a new state housing law that allows for duplex development on single-family home lots.
“The reason? The entire town is habitat for potentially endangered mountain lions… Woodside’s decision drew quick scorn as a brazen attempt to evade even minimally denser development in one of California’s most exclusive locales. The bucolic, woodsy town near Stanford University and the heart of Silicon Valley has a median home value of $4.5 million. Among its residents have been the founders of technology giants Intuit, Intel and Symantec, as well as Oracle founder Larry Ellison, who reportedly spent $200 million to build a Japanese-style 16th century imperial palace across 23 acres.
“The mountain-lion card is not playing well with advocates, who note the jarring irony of enormous mansions inhabited by few juxtaposed against the housing needs of many…’Right now, you could have five people in a 5,000-square-foot mansion sharing one kitchen and it’s OK,’ said Sonja Trauss, executive director of YIMBY Law, a San Francisco group that advocates for local governments to approve more housing. ‘But once you have two kitchens, it’s suddenly a problem for the mountain lions?’…
“College towns have attempted to do the same with student dorms. And then there was La Habra Heights, in Los Angeles County, which claimed it was too hilly for apartments in asking to be exempted from planning for affordable housing… None of those efforts succeeded. But numerous cities have previously satisfied state affordable housing requirements through plans that they freely admit they’ll ignore when it comes time to approve actual development.
“The new state law, Senate Bill 9, generally allows owners of single-family parcels to build duplexes and, in some cases, fourplexes on their land. But lawmakers gave local governments discretion to add parking requirements or size limitations, among other restrictions… Since the law went into effect on Jan. 1, about 40 cities have passed new rules limiting projects, according to a tally from Trauss’ group. Some, she said, were innocuous, but others had potentially the same effect of stymieing development as Woodside.” Liam Dillon writing for the January 6th Los Angeles Times.
Poor mountain lions, deprived of habitat, ranging for food and terrified of the world we have forced them to live in. Roads cut into their migration patterns, wildfires burn them out, and they are now political pawns of the mega-rich who own untaxed asset wealth and avoid taxable income to continue livin’ large. Oh, by the way, the Woodside effort probably ain’t happenin’! State Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta (a Democrat) has made it clear this effort is “a deliberate and transparent attempt to avoid complying with the law… — quite clearly — … and ironically, contrary to the best interests of the mountain lions the town claims to want to protect.” It’s about time mountain lions got a break somewhere!
I’m Peter Dekom, and “I want, I deserve and who cares about the rest” seems to be the new American motto.
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