By Traci Newell

The Foothill-De Anza Community College District has received two complaints challenging the district’s recently approved Measure C bond.

Aaron Katz filed his complaint July 27 stating the district did not comply with any of the pre-election accountability measures required by Proposition 39. Katz said the district is required to be in compliance with Proposition 39 because it received less than a two-thirds vote.

Katz, a Saratoga resident who owns 10 condominiums in Mountain View, filed a similar lawsuit against El Camino Hospital, delaying construction.

Measure C, a $490.8 million bond measure for planned upgrades and repairs at Foothill College in Los Altos Hills and De Anza College in Cupertino, passed with 65.59 percent of the votes cast on June 6.

In an attempt to keep lawsuits from hindering Measure C construction, the district issued a validation action, which required all interested persons to file their complaints regarding the validity of the bond measure by July 17. Katz received an extension for the complaint until July 27.

“The next step is to procure a trial date from the judge,” said Sean Absher, the district attorney.

Absher said a validation action takes precedence on the court calendar. Once the court date is set, he said he expects the trial to be relatively short.

“It should certainly be not more than a week,” he said. “It’s likely to just be a couple of days.”

In addition to not following Proposition 39 requirements, Katz said the district excluded nonresident property owners, who would be responsible for paying the tax but did not get to cast votes in the polls.

Katz also requested injunctions prohibiting the district from issuing bonds in excess of the maximum permissible rate, spending bond proceeds for purposes not explicitly enumerated by law and more.

Los Altos lawyer Melvin Emerich filed a complaint against the district on similar grounds July 17.