The owner of the Farmhouse Motel has filed a lawsuit accusing the City of Buellton of gentrifying the Avenue of Flags by adopting an ordinance that would end the business’ use as long-term housing for residents and return it to a short-term rental site.

The lawsuit was filed by Christopher Guillen of Brownstein Hyatt Farber Shreck LLP on behalf of property owners Kerry S. Moriarty plus the Glenn A. and Peggy M. Wilson Revocable Trust.

Along with the city, defendants include the Buellton City Council, City Manager Scott Wolfe and up to 10 unnamed people.

The Farmhouse Motel, at 590 Avenue of Flags, has 22 residential units, including nine one-bedroom or semi-one-bedroom units and 13 studio units. 

Farmhouse was built more than 60 years ago along what then was a section of Highway 101. It has been continuously used for long-term residential occupancy for at least 30 years, according to the owner’s lawsuit.

The Avenue of Flags is essentially Buellton’s downtown area and has been the focus of revitalization efforts.

Many of the Farmhouse’s residents have lived at the site for 10 years or more, and the property has served as a critical source of lower-income and workforce housing in the city, the owner claimed.

“The city’s actions have already impaired, and continue to threaten, petitioners’ constitutionally protected vested rights and the housing stability of long‐term residents who rely on the Farmhouse as one of the city’s few remaining sources of lower‐income housing,” the complaint stated.

The city’s focus is not “the public good, community character or even protecting their residents’ property rights and instead rests squarely on pure commercial benefit, tax revenue generation, personal bias against petitioners, and the gentrification of the area,” the complaint added.

Adopting the new law will end the Farmhouse’s longstanding residential use and “forces substantial, economically and practically infeasible work to either obtain a conditional use permit for short-term occupancy.”

The court document refers to an interview Wolfe gave to a media outlet after adoption of the ordinance.

“These quotes illustrate the city’s true objective in passing the ordinance was to gentrify Avenue of Flags on the backs of private property owners and in displacement of low-income city residents, and that their selective targeting of the Farmhouse was deliberately undertaken to accomplish that objective,” court documents contend.

Wolfe declined to comment on the lawsuit. 

The city is expected to file its written response to the legal action in the coming weeks. 

The City Council has discussed the proposed law several times in the past year.

During a March meeting where the City Council took a first step to approve the new rules,  members spelled out the reason for their decision. 

City officials have said Buellton has done its due diligence to bring the properties into compliance and noted the state has certified its Housing Element. 

Councilwoman Elysia Lewis said in March that she weighed her decision based on “short-term spaces that are designed for short-term use that are being used for long-term residency that don’t meet the requirements for long-term residency.”

“I feel like Buellton is doing everything it can to ensure we’re bringing our buildings into code and compliance as well as having a compassionate element of the human impact for that,” Mayor David Silva said during the March meeting.

An attorney for Buellton with the firm Burke, Williams and Sorensen LLP in Los Angeles filed a document for the parties to meet virtually regarding “anticipated issues to be raised in this litigation and to attempt in good faith to settle the dispute.”

That California Environmental Quality Act mandatory settlement meeting called for by state law is planned for June 23.

In addition to filing the legal action in Santa Barbara County Superior Court in Santa Maria, a copy has been sent to the California Attorney General’s Office. 

The court filing included a petition for a writ of mandate or court order regarding the city ordinance, including asking for a temporary stay on implementing the new rules until the legal case is resolved.

Among the causes of action alleged in the lawsuit are the taking of private property rights without just compensation, violation of equal protection laws, violation of procedural due process and illegal spot zoning.

The property owner also sought damages in an amount proven at trial, lawsuit costs, attorneys’ fees and other relief the court deems proper.

The case has been assigned to Judge Jed Beebe in Santa Maria Department 4.