DOOR COUNTY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – A judge denied a request for a temporary restraining order stopping Sister Bay from enforcing a four-bedroom use limit on rental properties while a lawsuit challenging the ordinance continues.
Sister Bay’s regulations only allow rental properties to rent or use four bedrooms. The village altered some of its short-term rental rules last year after months of meetings. According to the ordinance, the changes came following claims of incomplete applications, violations, concerns, and complaints from residents. Four properties owners sued, arguing the ordinance is improper and their sites should have been grandfathered in. They did not challenge the limit of 12-person occupancy.
The plaintiffs asked the court to halt enforcement, allowing them to use all of their properties. But in the five-page decision issued Monday, Judge Jennifer Moeller denied the request.
“The arguments for irreparable harm based on business disadvantage are unclear, not shown to be likely. But if such disadvantages exist, an injunction granted to Plaintiffs would give them an advantage over other Sister Bay rentals,” the ruling states. “The status quo at the time of filing was all Plaintiffs operating under 4 bedroom rental licenses. To change that now, the Plaintiffs are asking for their ultimate relief. If the injunction is granted, it changes the status quo among all short-term renters in Sister Bay resulting in uneven competition. If the injunction is not granted, all Sister Bay short-term renters remain in the same place.”
The law also requires plaintiffs to show a reasonable probability of success on the suit, but the ruling references multiple issues still to be decided in the case.
There are currently no hearings scheduled in the case.
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