TYBEE ISLAND, Ga. (WTOC) – A Chatham County judge has dismissed a high-profile civil case on Tybee Island centered on short-term vacation rental regulations.
The lawsuit, filed in 2023 by the property owner advocacy group Tybee Alliance, argued that short-term vacation rentals (STVRs) should be classified and protected as residential housing. However, the judge ruled that because short-term rentals lack a “relatively continuous physical presence,” the City of Tybee Island has the authority to enforce stricter regulations on them.
Seeking a Balance for the Island
Tybee Island Mayor Brian West believes the ruling provides necessary guardrails that will benefit the community as a whole.
“We feel like the pendulum kind of swung way over to getting rid of all short-term rentals in residential areas, and the council we have right now—now the pendulum swung back to allowing everyone to have one,” Mayor West said. “We feel like we’ve swung the pendulum to the middle.”…