Opinion ID: 4231250
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: the rezoning application

Text: After the first civil case was concluded, May filed an application for rezoning with the County, asking for the property to be rezoned to allow for short term rentals. She followed up a few weeks later with another application requesting that the County amend its zoning ordinance to permit short term rentals for property owners who rented before the enactment of Regulation 15.35. At the same time she filed a request with the County for a declaration of her right to 2 May petitioned the Supreme Court of Georgia for review of the Court of Appeals’ judgment, but her petition was denied. 3 At the conclusion of the first civil case, the County prosecuted May for the August 2011 citation of Regulation 15.35. She filed a motion to dismiss prosecution of the citation, contending there, as she does here, that she had a grandfathered right to rent her property on a short term basis because the zoning regulations in effect when she began renting did not ban short term rentals. The County argued that issue preclusion barred May’s defense based on the state trial court’s decision in the first civil case. The court rejected the County’s preclusion argument, but ruled that May could not meet her burden of establishing the affirmative defense of a grandfathered right anyway. The trial court determined that short term rentals were forbidden under the old zoning ordinance as they were under Regulation 15.35. As a result, the court denied May’s motion to dismiss the citation. In March 2016, the court found May guilty of violating Regulation 15.35 and sentenced her to six months of probation, fined her $500.00, and ordered her to remove all of her short term rental postings. May’s appeal to the Georgia Court of Appeals is still pending. 4 Case: 17-11030 Date Filed: 12/21/2017 Page: 5 of 13 continue offering short term rentals on the property. The County denied her request and her applications on April 7, 2015.