By Traci Newell

joe hu/town crier Construction at Foothill College continues despite litigation over the Measure C bond which voters approved June 6.

The Foothill-De Anza Community College District is waiting on pending litigation - a complaint regarding the legality of the district’s recently approved bond, filed by Melvin Emerich of Los Altos - which may slow the initial steps in Measure C projects.

“We are going to keep moving ahead until someone says we have to stop,” said Mike Brandy, vice chancellor of the community college district.

The district wants to move quickly before interest rates or construction rates rise anymore.

Measure C is a $490.8 million bond measure approved by voters June 6 for planned upgrades and repairs at Foothill College in Los Altos Hills and De Anza College in Cupertino.

In an attempt to keep lawsuits from hindering Measure C construction, the district had issued a validation action, which required all interested persons to file their complaints regarding the validity of the bond measure by July 17.

“The purpose of a validation action is to allow the approval of the measure to go forward without the possibility of someone at some time in the future trying to challenge the measure,” said Sean Absher, the attorney representing the district.

Emerich filed on July 15, stating the bond measure received less than two-thirds approval of those voting and was not written in compliance with Proposition 39 or relevant education code.

According to the Registrar of Voters, Measure C received approval from 65.69 percent of the votes cast. In a letter to Absher, Gary Wesley, the attorney representing Emerich, said that because Measure C received less than two-thirds approval, it is subject to Proposition 39. That proposition requires such measures to include a “list of the specific school facilities projects to be funded.”

Wesley claims that since the measure language states the bond “shall be amended from time to time,” there is not a binding list, thus casting the entire bond’s validity in doubt.

The district anticipated a complaint from Aaron Katz, a lawyer from Saratoga who owns 10 condos in Mountain View; he expressed his opposition to the bond in a letter to the district in May. Katz was granted an extension until Thursday to file his

complaint on the validation action.

Katz filed a lawsuit challenging El Camino Hospital’s 2003 bond measure.

Despite the challenges, the district remains optimistic that the complaints will be resolved, and planning resumed in a timely manner.

“The reason we filed a validation action is because it has precedence on a court calendar,” Brandy said. “It gets heard earlier than regular civil law cases.”

Brandy said that in the best-case scenario, the trial will conclude in less than 60 days.