Here's the latest in a case we've been following.
In this Order, the U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii made permanent its earlier ruling that Honolulu's ordinance which expanded the minimum rental term to 90 days because it did not account for those owners who were already legally renting their properties for 30 days. The state Zoning Enabling Act requires zoning ordinances account for preexisting uses.
We covered the issues and the court's preliminary injunction ruling here, and won't go over those again. About the only difference between that one and this one is that the court rejects the City's "several new legal arguments[,]" including Pullman abstention, and the claim that this isn't a zoning ordinance covered by the ZEA, but rather a "rental regulation." See slip op. at 10.
The City’s attempt to reframe the issue first presented during preliminary injunction proceedings more than a year ago is unavailing. In Yee, the Supreme Court explained that the ordinance at issue “regulate[d] petitioners’ use of their land by regulating the relationship between landlord and tenant.” Yee, 503 U.S. at 528 (emphasis added). It did not create the land use versus landlord-tenant distinction that the City now imagines.
Slip op. at 15.
Check it out. Kudos to our former law partner and land use lawyer extraordinaire Greg Kugle for the compelling win.
Order Granting in Part and Denying in Part Pltf's Motion for Summary Judgment, Hawaii Legal Short-Term Rent...
