Court upholds transient-rental law Appeal is denied in challenge to
Key West ordinance
BY TIMOTHY O'HARA
Citizen Staff Writer
KEY WEST
A state appeals court has
affirmed the city's policies regulating short-term vacation rentals.
The Third District Court
of Appeal, last week, denied an appeal by a group of property owners
challenging the city's transient-rental ordinance, which sets down the
guidelines for people renting their homes on a short-term basis. The
city prohibits homes used as short-term rentals, except for those
licensed by the city.
The city passed its
transient-rental ordinance in 1998. The ordinance then was approved by
state Department of Community Affairs, which has oversight of land-use
regulations in Monroe County.
John Abbe, Peter Hein,
Fred Klein and Property Management of Key West Inc. filed a challenge to
the ordinance, and that challenge went before an administrative hearing
judge in 2003, City Attorney Bob Tischenkel said.
After the judge ruled on
the side of the city and the DCA, the group of homeowners appealed the
case to the Third District Court of Appeal. John Abbe has since sold his
property, but the case still bears his name, the Abbe case.
The group will ask the
judges for a rehearing, said attorney Jeff Bell, who represents the
group.
Tischenkel said the
ruling has no impact on another transient-rental ruling, Rollison v.
city of Key West.
Third District Court of
Appeal judges ruled in April that Opie and Kathy Rollison had legal
authority to rent their Truman Annex home on a short-term basis because
the city previously had an informal policy that allowed short-term
rentals for less than 50 percent of the year.
The Rollisons obtained a
conditional-use license from the city and said they rented out their
home less than 50 percent of the year. The city later passed the
ordinance banning rentals for fewer than 30 days in homes that were not
granted a transient-rental license by the city.
Tischenkel said the
Rollison case pertains only to the Rollisons' property. The city plans
to appeal to the State Supreme Court and has hired a Tampa-based
attorney to write the legal brief, he said.
tohara@keysnews.com |
