Golden State Homebuilding Associates v. City of Modesto

— In deciding this case, we are compelled to interpret Government Code section 65961, which limits the power of a city or county to base its issuance of building (or equivalent) permits for a residential subdivision upon conditions it could have “lawfully imposed” on a previously approved tentative map. In particular, we are asked to decide whether section 65961 permits a city to condition issuance of building permits on payment of development impact fees which had not yet been established when the city approved the tentative map, that is, whether the city could have “lawfully imposed” a condition on the map requiring payment of the fees even though the fees and authorization for them did not then exist. As we shall explain, the city could not have lawfully imposed the condition on the tentative map and therefore was not barred by section 65961 from imposing it later on the building permits.

Facts

On April 6,1987, the City of Modesto (City) approved an application for a “vesting tentative map” for a residential subdivision known as Dry Creek Meadows, thereby conferring on its developers a vested right “to proceed with development in substantial compliance with the…