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February 15, 2008

Vacation home owner sues city

Recent decision barred him from renting to visitors

By Melissa Domsic

TRAVERSE CITY -- A vacation home owner sued the city and its Zoning Board of Appeals after officials deemed it illegal to rent the house to weekly visitors.

That decision came after a city official told George Easley he could rent out his vacation home at the base of Old Mission Peninsula.

Easley cashed in his retirement funds to purchase the house and spent $80,000 and a year and a half on repairs before renting it to vacationers for up to $1,500 a week the past couple summers.

Easley forwarded requests for comment on the suit to his attorney, Ed Roy, who directed a reporter to refer to court documents.

A city attorney opinion released last fall concluded weekly rentals are illegal in single and two-family zones.

Vacation home owners disputed the ruling, so city staff drafted ordinance amendments to permit the rentals in residential zones.

Easley continued his own efforts while staff worked on the zoning ordinance.

The Zoning Board of Appeals in November denied Easley's requests to continue his vacation rental operation.

Zoning Administrator David Weston told the board at the hearing that before August 2007, weekly rentals were interpreted as legal because they weren't regulated by the zoning ordinance.

The city commission last month rejected zoning provisions to allow the rentals after a slew of residents spoke out against them.

Commissioner Jody Bergman, however, didn't go along with that decision, stating she'd "hate to throw the city into a bunch of lawsuits."

Easely has a defense against the city and a court would have to determine whether he relied on information given by city staff, City Attorney Karrie Zeits said at the January commission meeting.

"Whether damages can be received in that process, I don't think so," Zeits said last month.

She refused comment on Thursday because she hadn't had a chance to discuss the case with city officials, but said they plan to talk about trial and settlement strategy in closed session during Tuesday's city commission meeting.

"(Zeits) has previously alluded that the city interpretation was correct when we questioned her about this issue," Mayor Michael Estes said. "I feel we stand on very firm ground."

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