ELR Citation: ELR 20260
No(s). C-70 2495 (N.D. Cal. Mar 24, 1971)

Challenge by organization seeking to provide low-cost housing to individuals of Mexican descent to city zoning ordinance restricting housing density in certain hilly and mountainous sections of city rejected where undisputed purpose of ordinance is to "facilitate orderly and creative development" of such areas and "to preserve and enhance the natural amenities which form the environment of the City of Morgan Hill" and the "integral part" which such areas play in "the City's pride." Where ordinance does not discriminate on its face or through its administration along racial, ethnic or income lines plaintiff's assertion that ordinance violates purposes or provisions of Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968 and the policies of the National Housing Act of 1937, as amended, cannot be sustained simply because ordinance makes certain land more expensive. Right of local authorities in zoning matters, and in matters of city planning generally, to take esthetic considerations into account is well recognized. No absolute right exists for poor people to be able to live wherever they wish.

Counsel for Plaintiff:
Ned Newman
235 E. Santa Clara St.
San Jose, CA

Counsel for City of Morgan Hill:
Ernest Rusconi
Rusconi and Foster
55B West 1st St.
Morgan Hill, CA
(408) 779-2106