City of West Hollywood v. Beverly Towers, Inc.

[EDITORS' NOTE: THIS PAGE CONTAINS HEADNOTES. HEADNOTES ARE NOT AN OFFICIAL PRODUCT OF THE COURT, THEREFORE THEY ARE NOT DISPLAYED.] *Page 1186 OPINION Defendants, the owners of apartment buildings in the City of West Hollywood (City), seek review of a Court of Appeal judgment ordering them to comply with a City ordinance requiring a conditional use permit for the conversion of apartments into condominiums. Defendants contend they are exempt from the ordinance because at the time it was enacted they had secured final subdivision map approval and permission from the California Department of Real Estate to sell individual units in their buildings as condominiums. For the reasons stated below, we agree with defendants and reverse the judgment of the Court of Appeal to the effect that the owners cannot convert their buildings into condominiums until they have complied with local conversion regulations, including those adopted after they received all the necessary approvals granted under the state regulatory scheme. The citizens of West Hollywood voted to incorporate as a separate municipality on November 29, 1984, thereby assuming land use power that had been vested in the County of…

The newly incorporated City of West Hollywood (City) sought to impose a permit requirement on condominium developers who had complied with the state scheme regulating condominium conversions, but who had not as yet sold any condominium units or undertaken any renovation. The majority frustrate the City's efforts to set land use policy by denying it the authority to regulate the change of use involved in a condominium conversion project, even though the developers failed to demonstrate any detrimental reliance on the final subdivision map approval they had obtained. Thus, the majority confer on those who plan condominium conversions without new construction a vested right to develop once they obtain final map approval, in flat contradiction of the vested rights doctrine which has been settled in this state for many years. Accordingly, I dissent. It is well established that a municipality has authority to regulate land use within its boundaries unless the state has preempted that authority. (Cal. Const., art. XI, § 7; Gov. Code, §§ 66427, 66427.1, subd. (e), 66427.4, 65850.) The municipality's police power includes authority to regulate the conversion of rental housing to…

Defendants, the owners of apartment buildings in the City of West Hollywood (City), seek review of a Court of Appeal judgment ordering them to comply with a City ordinance requiring a conditional use permit for the conversion of apartments into condominiums. Defendants contend they are exempt from the ordinance because at the time it was enacted they had secured final subdivision map approval and permission from the California Department of Real Estate to sell individual units in their buildings as condominiums.

For the reasons stated below, we agree with defendants and reverse the judgment of the Court of Appeal to the effect that the owners cannot convert their buildings into condominiums until they have complied with local conversion regulations, including those adopted after they received all the necessary approvals granted under the state regulatory scheme.

The citizens of West Hollywood voted to incorporate as a separate municipality on November 29, 1984, thereby assuming land use power that had been vested in the County of Los Angeles (County). On that date, the newly created city council enacted a moratorium on conversions of rental housing until a regulatory…