The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit today ruled that Maui County could deny a transient vacation rental association from doing business while required permits were being processed.

Maui Vacation Rental Association sued the county and its planning director in September 2007, seeking an injunction that would have prevented the county from enforcing its zoning ordinances pertaining to transient vacation rentals. MVRA appealed when its case was dismissed by the U.S. District Court in December 2007,

Today's appellate decision held that MVRA had no right to operate transient vacation rentals without required permits and that its members could not require Maui County to "indefinitely maintain" enforcement policies put in place by previous administrations.

Maui Mayor Charmaine Tavares issued a written statement on the court decision:

"I'm pleased that once again the county's policies are validated before a high court that recognizes our responsibility to enforce existing laws. My administration has proposed several bills to update current laws, and the County Council has been working diligently to review and adopt appropriate legislation. We have maintained that the proper way to change county laws is through a public legislative process rather than by ignoring them altogether."