New local zoning laws conflict with condominiums rentals.

[Phillip Fletcher]

I purchased a unit in an oceanfront Condominium with 110 units, that was built 50 years ago and whose governing documents allow owners to either live in their condos, rent them out as short term vacation rentals or a combination of both.  The association even hires a staff to manage rentals for those owners who chose to rent, but it is voluntary; owners can manage it themselves or hire a management company.  The condominium association has defined how they will operate in their Rules & Regulations, and owners vote on the occupancy and minimum # of days to rent.  The city and state government are aware of the vacation rental facility and its operations and has collected monthly lodging taxes for at least 15 years (can't find any financial records before that time).  The community always refers to the condo as a condo-hotel.

Recently, the city began implementing new short-term-rental regulations requiring a Conditional Use Permit, and a Zoning Permit, and states that we have been operating illegally for almost 50 years. The new local ordinances have stricter conditions imposed on us in terms of the maximum occupancy per bedroom and number of rentals in 1 week (one). These restrictions mean that the families that have visited us for decades, must now stay for 7 nights instead of a weekend or 4 night minimum, plus a 3-bedroom condo can only sleep 6, when in the past it slept 8. We have seen a negative decline in our rentals as a result of this. Our condo regulations comply with state STR ordinances, but not the new local/city ones.

Does anyone know of a way we can challenge this, or is there any way we can get some type of exemption or waiver (perhaps historical precedent, or "zoning by right")?  We have done this for 50 years, and both city and state were aware of it and allowed us to do so, as we were complying with state laws regarding vacation rentals.