An Anna Maria Island rental company with some 200 rentals in its stable is taking on the city of Anna Maria in the 2nd District Court of Appeal.
Florida Gulf Coast Vacation Homes LLC, dba Anna Maria Vacations, filed a Sept. 22 appeal of a 12th Circuit Court decision that upheld the city’s ordinance limiting rental home occupants to eight.
The appeal seeks to reverse prior orders that sided with the city.
Corporate managers Joe and Kelly Varner of Holmes Beach own Anna Maria Vacations.
Najmy Thompson attorney Randy Smith and Aaron Thomas, on behalf of the vacation rental business, filed the appeal after Judge Gilbert A. Smith Jr. rejected their Aug. 23 request for a rehearing.
At an April 1 hearing before Judge Smith, Randy Smith argued for state preemption and city attorney Becky Vose, with partner Wade Vose, defended the city’s home-rule power.
Vose said Sept. 27 she expects to handle the appeal.
“My comment is no comment,” Anna Maria Mayor Dan Murphy said, citing the pending litigation.
Calls and emails for comments from the Najmy Thompson law firm the week of Sept. 28 were not returned.
According to Najmy Thompson’s notice, the decision on appeal relates to properties “only used as vacation rentals” and the judge’s finding that “the limitation on occupancy … is a regulation that does not impinge in any way” on state-preempted categories of “frequency or durations of rental.”
The judge noted in his April 8 order that the parties agreed the only issue was whether the portion of the city’s ordinance governing maximum occupancy and grandfathering “is null and void and conflicts with and is preempted” by state statute.
The state law on preemption reads: “A local law, ordinance or regulation may not prohibit vacation rentals or regulate the duration or frequency of vacation rentals.”
The judge’s order also states: “The ordinance does not prohibit vacation rentals that have historically been rented to more guests than is permitted under the occupancy regulations set forth in the ordinance.”
The ordinance also provides for a grandfathering period — so a rental owner, who previously rented to more people than the ordinance allows, can continue his or her past practice for a maximum of five years from Nov. 19, 2015, the ordinance effective date.
After the judge issued the ruling in April, Thomas called the decision “arbitrary,” impacting a $50 million statewide tourism industry and raising issues of property rights, including stakeholders — those who own but don’t live in the city — without voting rights.
Of the 270 some rentals managed by Anna Maria Vacations on the island, about 60 are in Anna Maria.