The city of Tybee Island is being sued over its handling of short-term vacation rentals.Tybee Alliance, a coalition of vacation rental owners, management agents, realtors and local residents, filed the lawsuit on Wednesday.The chair of Tybee Alliance, Dusty Church, who also works at Tybee Vacation Rentals said this lawsuit was a last resort.”This is the end of the road for us, the only option we have left,” he said.The city’s mayor, council members and manager are all listed as defendants in the suit.”We never wanted to sue anybody, we have worked hard to avoid having to end up in courts to resolve this,” Church said.A little more than a year ago, the city imposed a temporary moratorium on short term vacation rentals (STVRs) following some complaints from residents about renters. More specifically, complaints surrounding trash, noise and parking.”The city contends they’re trying to strike a balance,” Church said.The moratorium has been extended multiple times while the city works to update its STVR ordinance.”It’s been a really frustrating journey, frankly,” Church said.The lawsuit claims the city’s original STVR ordinance, created back in 2016, is not constitutional and is unenforceable under Georgia law.”Unfortunately, the lawsuit seems to be the only way to seek injunctive relief to stop and reset and give everyone an opportunity to consider what the full impact of this motion would be,” said Cody Gay, another member of the Tybee Alliance who works at Rent Tybee Island.The plaintiffs feel the restrictions the city is currently looking to impose, which will be discussed further at next week’s council meeting, are too extreme.”The guidelines of the new ordinance seem to be designed to intentionally create situations where people who have registered their properties as STVRs will lose those registrations they’ll fall into the trap of abandonment they’ll fall into the trap of disorderly house,” Gay said.At the end of the day, Church said he hopes they can come to a reasonable resolution with the city.WJCL reached out to the city manager and all city council members for comment on the lawsuit. Only Brian West responded. The councilman said, “The STVR moratorium and proposed ordinances are a very divisive issue for the residents of Tybee. We need to consider and perhaps revise our zoning because some residential areas see far more tourists than other residential areas. The residents are experiencing this issue from different perspectives. Residents that live in touristy areas expect more tourist activity. Other residents do not. Ordinances that apply the same rules to all residential zones are not serving all residential areas.”
The city of Tybee Island is being sued over its handling of short-term vacation rentals.
Tybee Alliance, a coalition of vacation rental owners, management agents, realtors and local residents, filed the lawsuit on Wednesday.
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The chair of Tybee Alliance, Dusty Church, who also works at Tybee Vacation Rentals said this lawsuit was a last resort.
“This is the end of the road for us, the only option we have left,” he said.
The city’s mayor, council members and manager are all listed as defendants in the suit.
“We never wanted to sue anybody, we have worked hard to avoid having to end up in courts to resolve this,” Church said.
A little more than a year ago, the city imposed a temporary moratorium on short term vacation rentals (STVRs) following some complaints from residents about renters. More specifically, complaints surrounding trash, noise and parking.
“The city contends they’re trying to strike a balance,” Church said.
The moratorium has been extended multiple times while the city works to update its STVR ordinance.
“It’s been a really frustrating journey, frankly,” Church said.
The lawsuit claims the city’s original STVR ordinance, created back in 2016, is not constitutional and is unenforceable under Georgia law.
“Unfortunately, the lawsuit seems to be the only way to seek injunctive relief to stop and reset and give everyone an opportunity to consider what the full impact of this motion would be,” said Cody Gay, another member of the Tybee Alliance who works at Rent Tybee Island.
The plaintiffs feel the restrictions the city is currently looking to impose, which will be discussed further at next week’s council meeting, are too extreme.
“The guidelines of the new ordinance seem to be designed to intentionally create situations where people who have registered their properties as STVRs will lose those registrations they’ll fall into the trap of abandonment they’ll fall into the trap of disorderly house,” Gay said.
At the end of the day, Church said he hopes they can come to a reasonable resolution with the city.
WJCL reached out to the city manager and all city council members for comment on the lawsuit. Only Brian West responded.
The councilman said, “The STVR moratorium and proposed ordinances are a very divisive issue for the residents of Tybee. We need to consider and perhaps revise our zoning because some residential areas see far more tourists than other residential areas. The residents are experiencing this issue from different perspectives. Residents that live in touristy areas expect more tourist activity. Other residents do not. Ordinances that apply the same rules to all residential zones are not serving all residential areas.”