Zoning issue - airbnb or commercial property

[Katrina Kubicina]

Hello,

We purchased an old school house and updated it to turn into a "bridal house".  Its basically an airbnb with a pretty name.  We contacted the township back in October BEFORE we bought the house making sure we would be ok to do this and they called us and said there are no restrictions in the township, it was ok, and good luck to us.  Well now, we have a ton of publicity, we've been on the news, and a lot of exposure about this because its a new idea (bridal house) and now they are contacting us saying we do not have permission to do this. 

We are zoned in an RE1 residential zoning so we are not allowed to operate a commercial biz.  But its not a commercial biz right its just an airbnb?  We just call it a bridal house so it has a nice name.  

I am obviously sick over this because we have news interviews coming up and a ribbon cutting scheduled with the mayor and all these amazing things happening and the zoning dept. is basically telling us it all can't happen.

Anyone have any suggestions?  We are looking into hiring a real estate attorney as well.

Thanks,

Katrina