California Attorney General Rob Bonta rejected the claims, which sought to block construction of the Senate Bill 9 housing projects. SB9 is the state’s law that seeks to alleviate housing shortages.

Woodside is one of the richest small towns in the U.S., with the average house price being $5 million. The 2019 census bureau recorded its population as being only 5,542 people.

In a letter, Bonta said: “An entire town cannot be declared habitat for a protected species. There is no valid basis to claim that the entire town of Woodside is a habitat for mountain lions.”

“There is no valid basis to claim that the entire town of Woodside is a habitat for mountain lions,” he wrote. “Habitat is land that has the capacity to support a specific species, including providing food and shelter. Land that is already developed—with, for example a single-family home—is not, by definition, habitat.

“That mountain lions appear in Woodside from time to time does not make any of its individual parcels mountain lion habitat” but only shows where the species “may be found in its lifetime,” he wrote.

Hours after the letter was released, Woodside council unanimously agreed to accept applications for SB9 projects from February 7.

On January 25, Woodside council put an indefinite hold on all housing projects under SB9. The state law, which took affect in January, allows homeowners to split single-family lots and build up to four residential units in them. Town officials found a clause in the law that prohibits SB9 developments in areas that are identified as habitats of protected species.

The California Department of Fish and Game Commission was due to release a decision on the mountain lions’ status in November, but its determination hasn’t yet been made.

But after the attorney general’s letter on Sunday, the council claimed they understood why their town wouldn’t be considered a mountain lion habitat.

“In the two weeks since Jan. 25 of 2022, Town staff has received guidance from the Department of Fish and Wildlife on how to identity habitat and how to property implement this provision of the law. The Department of Fish and Wildlife advised that the entire Town of Woodside cannot be considered habitat,” town officials said in a statement.

The council added that it supported the need for affordable housing, pointing out that the town of Woodside “has consistency exceeded the state mandated low-and-moderate-income housing commitments.”

Vanesssa Nell, who’s been a Woodside resident for 11 years, told ABC7 that the lion habitat claim seemed perfidious.

Asked whether she’d seen one of the big cats, Nell said: “I saw once a mountain lion at the zoo in Oakland. But, not here? Not here, never.”

Bonta was ready to file suit against Woodside if the town did not allow the affordable housing to go ahead.

“If they don’t take the opportunity to get back on track and either withdraw their memo or amend it to comply with SB9 and the laws in the state of California, then we are ready and willing and able to file a lawsuit against them,” the attorney general told ABC7.

Newsweek has contacted Woodside Council for comment.