Briarwood Properties, Ltd. v. City of Los Angeles

Defendants and appellants City of Los Angeles and Los Angeles City Council (Los Angeles) appeal from a judgment declaring Los Angeles Municipal Code section 47.06 invalid as applied to plaintiff and respondent Briarwood Properties, Ltd.’s (Briarwood) condominium conversion.

The trial court granted Briarwood’s motion for a summary judgment based on its determination that section 47.06 was invalid as applied to Briar-wood in that section 47.06 unlawfully imposed an additional condition after Briarwood had received tentative map approval in violation of the California Subdivision Map Act (Map Act), and that section 47.06 amounts to an unconstitutional impairment of Briarwood’s vested right to proceed with its condominium conversion with only those conditions placed upon Briarwood at the time of tentative map approval.

For the reasons hereinafter discussed, we reverse the judgment.

Facts and Procedural History

In. 1978, Los Angeles was concerned with the increased pace of condominium conversion within its borders and determined the existing subdivision regulations were not adequate to deal with the unique problems created thereby. Therefore, Los Angeles enacted a…