Trinity Park, L.P. v. City of Sunnyvale

I. INTRODUCTION

Appellants Trinity Park, L.P., and Classic Communities, Inc. (hereafter, collectively, Trinity), are the developers of a residential housing project known as Trinity Park, which consists of 42 houses in a subdivision located in respondent City of Sunnyvale (City). The City’s 2007 approval of the Trinity Park development was conditioned upon compliance with the City’s below market housing ordinance, which required Trinity to sell five houses in the subdivision at below market prices. In 2009, after substantial construction of the project, Trinity filed a complaint in which it sought to invalidate the City’s below market housing requirement as applied to the Trinity Park development.

The City demurred to the complaint on the ground that it was time-barred under the 90-day limitation periods provided by the applicable statutes of limitation, Government Code sections 65009, subdivision (c)(1)(E) (challenges to conditions on development permits) and 66499.37 (challenges to conditions on subdivision development). 1 In opposition, Trinity argued that those statutes did not apply and its complaint was timely filed under the 180-day limitations period provided by…