After facing a permitting snafu, a local developer says he won’t eat until Sunnyvale says he can resume building.
SUNNYVALE — A home developer is taking an unusual and dramatic stand after the city halted work on his construction project. He’s on a hunger strike — and he says he won’t eat until his crews can get back to work.
Now he’s pleading with city officials to let him keep building while he obtains a green light from the county. On Wednesday, Aron was camped out on a couch in the lobby of City Hall in front of the planning and building department, his lap covered with a brown blanket. A sign propped up behind him said, “Day 6,” marking six days consuming nothing other than water, coffee and chewing gum. City employees hustled to and fro around him, and people lined up nearby to ask staff permitting questions.
City spokesperson Jennifer Garnett wrote in an emailed statement that the city has no intention of letting work proceed until the county has given the OK. “Developers are ultimately responsible for having a compliant project. The city had to issue a stop work order because Mr. Aron failed to meet health and safety conditions for his project,” Garnett said.
Though Aron may be the first to launch a hunger strike over the lengthy, costly and confusing permitting process, it is an issue developers have struggled with throughout California. Aby UC Berkeley’s Terner Center for Housing Innovation found that the cost of building — including development fees and permitting delays that increase costs — exacerbates California’s housing shortage.
A padlock gate is closed around the Aron Place construction site on the 400 block of North Fair Oaks Avenue in Sunnyvale, Calif., Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2023. The construction of the 18 townhomes there has been halted.
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