The court majority says that city law should not allow unconstitutional taking of property without due compensation. Justice Kathryn Mickle Werdegar says that the housing replacement fees required by the law "bear a reasonable relationship to loss of housing.''
The law, passed by the city's Board of Supervisors in 1981 and amended in 1990, is aimed at preserving affordable single-room housing for low-income, elderly and disabled people. The law requires hotel owners who want to convert rooms from residential to tourist use to obtain a permit and either construct replacement housing or pay a fee.
Two brothers, Tom and Robert Field, who own the 62-room San Remo Hotel in the North Beach area, challenged the law. The duo eventually obtained a conversion permit and paid a $567,000 fee under protest.
Justice Janice Brown decided that the law is unconstitutional. She wrote, "Theft is theft even when the government approves of the thievery.'' Two other justices say the case should be returned to lower courts for more proceedings.
"We're delighted that the residential hotel ordinance has been upheld,'' says Deputy San Francisco City Attorney Andrew Schwartz. Lawyers for the Fields say that their clients will now take their case to federal court and predicted the case will eventually go to the U.S. Supreme Court.
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