A new lawsuit takes aim at the city of Cambridge’s inclusionary zoning ordinance, with plaintiffs arguing that it unlawfully requires real estate developers to surrender their constitutional land use rights.

The Pioneer New England Legal Foundation filed the suit in state Land Court Tuesday on behalf of developer Columbia St, LLC. The suit challenges an ordinance that requires any property owner seeking a building permit for a project of 10 units or more to permanently set aside 20% of the square footage for affordable housing.

The city first passed its ordinance in 1998 and amended it with the 20% provision in 2017. More than 1,100 units of affordable rental and ownership housing have been completed or are under construction due to the program, according to the city.

“With an emphasis on creating affordable units on-site as part of new residential developments, the Ordinance has become a model for other communities in high cost areas looking to create affordable housing for low and moderate-income residents and ensure the socioeconomic diversity of the community is reflected in new housing,” the city of Cambridge says on its website.

The foundation says that recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions confirm that a city may require developers to pay money or donate real estate as a condition of obtaining a building permit, but argues that those same decisions also “make clear that a municipality may impose such conditions only if it can present solid evidence that the specific project will worsen the problem the municipality seeks to address.”

“For an ordinance designed to address the shortage of affordable housing, the city would have to show that this project will, in some way, make the shortage worse. In this case, Pioneer alleges in its complaint that the city cannot make that showing. To the contrary, the project will more than triple the amount of livable square footage on the property. It reduces the housing shortage; it does not exacerbate it,” the foundation said.

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“Cambridge is unfairly singling out real estate developers to bear the cost of solving the city’s affordable housing problem,” foundation president Frank Bailey said in a statement. “Real estate developers did not create the housing shortage. It is a result of a lot of factors – primarily not building enough new housing to keep up with population growth.”

The plaintiffs say that under the city ordinance, a developer who builds and sells condominium units must agree to sell 20% of the square footage at roughly 75% below market price.

“We recognize the importance of building affordable housing,” foundation attorney Paul Johnson said. “But the cost should be shared equally by the community as a whole. We should not impose what is essentially a tax on new development to pay for affordable housing.”

According to the lawsuit, Columbia St, LLC owns five buildings on Columbia Street in Cambridge with roughly 18,000 square feet and 20 market rate rental units.  The older buildings need significant repairs, “rendering continued operation of the property in its current condition economically unfeasible,” the suit says.

Columbia is contemplating a $57 million redevelopment plan that involves constructing an 89,500 gross square foot residential condominium.