Newport Beach : Low-Cost Housing Trial Stayed, Pending Appeal
The long-awaited civil trial on the City of Newport Beach’s alleged failure to provide for low-income housing has been stayed, pending an appeal to the state Supreme Court.
The trial was scheduled to begin Feb. 18 before Superior Court Judge Leonard Goldstein in Santa Ana. The lawsuit, filed in 1980 on behalf of numerous low-income families, alleges that Newport Beach has systematically excluded low-income people through its overall land-use plans, in violation of state law.
But in November, Goldstein issued a decision excluding the city’s revised land-use plan from consideration in the case. Jonathan Lehrer-Graiwer, an attorney for the Los Angeles-based Western Center for Law on Poverty, has asked the Supreme Court to overturn that decision.
Lehrer-Graiwer said the state government code requires cities to make a maximum effort to assist in the development of low-income housing. He said Newport Beach’s 1984 housing element, the third revision since the suit was originally filed, provides a minimal amount of affordable housing, but only for the top range of low-income families.
He said it could take as long as 30 days for the high court to decide whether to consider the appeal.
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