Beverly Hills is dragging its heels on a development with affordable apartments. The governor says: Build it

The Beverly Hills City Hall. Last month the state Department of Housing and Community Development backed Pustilnikov in a “notice of violation” to the city, saying it was violating state housing laws by holding up the project. “Now is a time to build more housing, not cave to the demands of NIMBYs.” Beverly Hills already faced pressure to approve the Linden project before the state’s letter. “None of us are opposed to affordable housing,” said Kenneth A. Goldman, president of the Southwest Beverly Hills Homeowners Assn., but “you don’t have to be a NIMBY to say that’s just so far out of line.” It would be almost four times taller than the five-story height limit the city has on its books and could threaten the neighborhood’s “quiet lifestyle,” Goldman said. “It is not anticipated,” Englander said, that the Linden project “in its current form will be sold prior to completion.” Pustilnkov has put forward plans to build nearly 3,500 apartment units — 700 of them dedicated as low-income — across a dozen projects in Beverly Hills, Redondo Beach, Santa Monica and West Hollywood under the builder’s remedy.