It took over 14 years for the County of Monterey to pass a short-term rental ordinance last August. It took less than three months for the ordinance to be challenged in Monterey County Superior Court by the Monterey County Vacation Rental Alliance, claiming that by limiting the number of rentals to just 4 percent of inland unincorporated Monterey County, it was violating property owners’ constitutional rights and interfered with their ability to do business.
The controversy has attracted a second lawsuit, as well as a citizen’s group petition to Monterey County Superior Court Judge Thomas Wills seeking to allow them to join the original suit as defendants alongside the county.
In January, Fred H. Faltersack filed against the county, asking a judge to prevent enforcement of the ordinance, which went into effect in October. He claimed that when he invested in securing a short-term rental permit in 2023 for a property his trust owns in Carmel Valley he was promised the permit “in perpetuity.” The county’s ordinance, he argued, would deprive him of a vested right to continue to offer the property as a short-term rental.
The county responded in court documents that Faltersack had no legal standing to challenge all provisions of the short-term rental ordinance, only a seven-year extension provision related to his permit. County Counsel Susan Blitch asked Wills to declare Faltersack’s contentions invalid. Wills denied her request after a hearing on April 11. He also suggested during the hearing that Faltersack join MCVRA’s lawsuit.
On April 25, lawyers for the county and MCVRA were in Wills’ courtroom for a hearing concerning a petition by the Carmel Valley Association, asking to be added as defendants. Wills denied the request, recommending the group file an amicus curiae, or friend of the court, brief in support of the county’s ordinance.
The county and the MCVRA will be back in Wills’ courtroom on Tuesday, May 13.
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