City of Berkeley v. 1080 Delaware, LLC

Defendant 1080 Delaware, LLC (1080 Delaware), the owner of a mixed-use residential rental project in Berkeley, appeals from a judgment compelling it to comply with a condition in the use permit for the project requiring compliance with the inclusionary housing ordinance of the City of Berkeley (City). Defendant contends the City may not enforce the condition, included in the use permit obtained by former owners of the property, because the ordinance has subsequently been held to have been preempted by the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act (Civ. Code, § 1954.50 et seq.; the Costa-Hawkins Act). Although the City does not dispute that its ordinance has now been preempted by the Costa-Hawkins Act, we agree with the City that it may nonetheless enforce the condition of the use permit, the validity of which was not challenged in the many years since the permit was issued. We shall therefore affirm the judgment.

Background

In July 2004, the City issued to Said Adeli-Nadjafi (Adeli) a use permit for the construction of a mixed-use building which currently has the address of 1080 Delaware Street, consisting of 51 residential rental units and ground floor commercial space.…