Cupertino sued over housing project in high fire risk area

A Cupertino resident is challenging the city’s approval of a multihome development in a high fire risk area, arguing officials failed to properly study the dangers.

The lawsuit, filed May 1 by resident Mark Fantozzi against Cupertino and developer SummerHill Homes, alleges the Linda Vista Drive housing project violates state environmental and subdivision laws because the site is located in a “Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone” with limited evacuation access. Plaintiffs are asking the court to set aside the city’s approval of the project and require additional environmental review and evacuation analysis before construction can move forward.

“The lawsuit simply seeks to require the city to evaluate fire safety and evacuation-related issues in a public forum via the standard (state environmental review) process,” attorney Mark Wolfe, representing Fantozzi, told San José Spotlight.

A representative for the city was not immediately available for comment.

City leaders approved the project in April and weighed its compliance with state housing laws against concerns about public safety and infrastructure. The proposed development stems from Cupertino’s state-mandated housing element, which identifies the site for higher-density housing. The property, previously zoned for single-family homes, was upzoned to allow for multifamily housing — prompting pushback from neighbors who said they weren’t properly notified during the process.

The lawsuit alleges the city failed to adequately study wildfire evacuation capacity along Linda Vista Drive, which serves as a single-access hillside corridor for nearby residents. Court filings cite resident-submitted evacuation estimates projecting wildfire evacuation times could increase significantly if additional developments are built in the area. The lawsuit also argues that fire-resistant construction features alone do not address broader evacuation concerns during a wildfire emergency.

“The City produced no corridor-specific evacuation throughput study, no application of its own October 2025 Evacuation Route Capacity Assessment methodology to the Linda Vista corridor, and no expert determination that the corridor can safely evacuate its post-development population under wildfire conditions,” the lawsuit filing reads.

The project is being pursued under state housing laws including Senate Bill 330 and Assembly Bill 130, which limit local governments’ ability to deny qualifying housing developments and can streamline environmental review.

Kevin Ebrahimi, senior vice president of development for SummerHill Homes, said the project would add 51 homes, including 10 affordable for low-income residents, to help address Cupertino’s housing shortage. He declined to comment on the lawsuit.

“Throughout this process, SummerHill has made a strong effort to design a project that is fully compliant with the existing zoning and general plan, while also responding to community input where feasible,” Ebrahimi told San José Spotlight.

During the April council meeting, some city leaders raised concerns about evacuation access and the project’s design, while others warned the city could face legal consequences if it rejected a housing development compliant with state law.

“This is a fool’s errand to deny this project on this basis,” Councilmember J.R. Fruen said during the meeting, arguing Cupertino would likely lose if the project faced a legal challenge.

Some neighbors have raised concerns about increased traffic, wildfire evacuation and the scale of the development in a predominantly single-family neighborhood.

Cupertino resident Jean Bedord, who has lived near the site for more than 30 years, said neighbors long expected the vacant property would eventually be developed. She said the city has taken wildfire preparedness seriously, though plaintiffs argue the project required more corridor-specific evacuation analysis.

“I think my neighbors are having trouble accepting that at this stage in Cupertino’s development, that type of project doesn’t work,” Bedord told San José Spotlight, referring to the area’s traditional single-family housing pattern.

Contact Maryanne Casas-Perez at [email protected] or @CasasPerezRed on X.