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City officials have asked the Santa Clara County Superior Court to review an initiative headed for the November ballot that would greatly reduce the amount of affordable housing.

The petition states that the initiative would make it impossible for the city to abide by state housing laws.

On Friday City Manager Ed Tewes released the city's formal request, an attempt to thwart the Citizens for a Balanced Community's effort to exempt developers from building any so-called below market-rate homes and lower the current maximum from 30 to 20 percent of new housing created in the city.

Currently, the city-administered program has a 20-percent minimum of new housing built as affordable, and up to 10 percent more could be built by developers.

Through the initiative, developers would build 5 percent of new homes for moderate-income sales, slashing the current percentage for this price category in half.

The petition, prepared for the city by the San Francisco-based law firm Shute, Mihaly & Weinberger, states, "Pre-election review is essential here because the initiative is clearly invalid and beyond the power of the voters to adopt."

Housing experts have said that the initiative, if approved by voters, would put the city out of compliance with the Association of Bay Area Government's guidelines for affordable housing, which are based on state policy.

The petition says that just as the city council lacks the authority to adopt legislation that conflicts with state law, Morgan Hill voters also lack the power to do so, even by initiative.

A report requested by city officials released July 2 found that the initiative would make it impossible for the city to abide by state affordable housing laws.

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Natalie Everett

Natalie Everett Natalie Everett is the education and city reporter for The Times. Reach her at (408) 779-4106, ext. 201, or neverett@morganhilltimes.com.

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