Aleshire & Wynder Files Amicus Letter to California Supreme Court to Support Review of Case Limiting Housing Options

A&W Files Amicus Letter to California Supreme Court to Support Review of Case Limiting Housing Options

December 19, 2025 - Norman A. Dupont, with assistance from Bill Wynder, Fred Galante and Shukan Patel, filed an amicus curiae letter to the California Supreme Court on behalf of seven cities. The letter was in support of a Petition for Review filed by the City of Redondo Beach and urged the Court to grant review of an October 2025 decision by the Second District Court of Appeal’s in New Commune DTLA LLC v. City of Redondo Beach, (Case No. B336042).

The amicus filing urges the State’s High Court to grant review of a controversial appellate decision that threatens local zoning powers across the state.

The intermediate appellate court recently held that "residential overlay" zones are insufficient to meet state housing requirements if the underlying base zoning still allows for non-residential development.

The filing emphasizes that the current legal landscape could leave cities vulnerable to litigation even after they have acted in good faith to meet state-mandated housing targets. This instability impacts everything from the issuance of certificates of occupancy to long-term zoning for future residential developments.

In addition to A&W, the California League of Cities, the California Association of Counties and the Independent Cities Association have filed a separate amicus letter supporting the request for review.

On January 7, 2025, the California Supreme Court extended its time to consider the petition until Feb. 18, 2026.

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Mr. Galante is a founding partner of Aleshire & Wynder. Mr. Galante provides both general and special counsel services to cities and public agencies regarding general governance, complex real estate development, entitlements, land use, California Environmental Quality Act, and housing law. Examples of such projects include successful developments of formerly mined or contaminated s...

Norman (Norm) A. Dupont represents public and private entities with more than 40 years of trial and appellate work. Norm's principal focus is environmental and municipal law work, although he has represented corporations in antitrust, contract, real property disputes, and corporate acquisitions. Norm currently represents municipalities in litigation over remediation of landfill sites, and claims o...

Shukan Patel is an Associate at Aleshire & Wynder. He works on cases representing public agencies in appellate proceedings before the California Courts of Appeal, litigating such cases in the areas of land use, housing, and tax law. He helped litigate the case of City of Redondo Beach, et al. v. Rob Bonta, et al.,which held Senate Bill 9 to be unconstitutional. Shukan has also file...

Mr. Wynder is one of two named partners instrumental in forming the Firm in 2003. For some 21 years since then, Mr. Wynder has dedicated his practice to public service, representing and advising a host of cities, planning commissions, successor agencies, housing authorities, and special districts. Over the span of his 40-plus-year legal career, Mr. Wynder has specialized in the fields o...

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