Use of a property as a short-term rental before the town outlawed short-term rentals will not exempt a property owner from the ban, a State Supreme Court judge ruled last week.
Supreme Court Justice Arthur Pitts denied a petition brought by the owner of a single-family house in Greenport appealing a Southold ZBA ruling in favor of the town, which had issued the owner a summons last January.
“It is without dispute that transient rental use is not, nor has it ever been, listed as a permitted use” in the residential zoning district where the property is located, Pitts wrote, so the property owner cannot claim it was a legal pre-existing nonconforming use before the town adopted its short-term renal ban in October 2015.
“Nonconforming uses in existence at the time of a zoning change are entitled to continue despite the contrary ordinance if the pre-existing use was legal when established,” Pitts wrote in his decision in Cradit v. Southold. Since use as a transient rental was not a legal use when it was established, it is not a pre-existing nonconforming use under the law, the judge said.
Lisa Cradit, a Connecticut resident, owns a home on Sound Road in Greenport that she has listed on Airbnb and other vacation and short-term rental websites. After being issued a notice of violation by a town code enforcement officer, Cradit appealed to the town Zoning Board of Appeals. On June 17, 2016, the ZBA ruled that the use of a single-family dwelling as a transient rental property was never allowed by the town code in the R-40 zoning district and that the use of the property for transient rentals was similar to a hotel or motel use, which is strictly prohibited in the R-40 district. Cradit appealed the ZBA decision. Her attorney, William Moore of Southold, is out of the office and could not be reached for comment.
“We adopted a law that was fair and legally defendable,” Southold Supervisor Scott Russell said. “I’m glad the court recognized this. Commercial uses don’t belong in residential communities. Homeowners have the inherent right to peace and quiet. I’m glad this right has been protected.”
