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Keen v. City of Manhattan Beach, 77 Cal.App.5th 142 (2022) 292 Cal.Rptr.3d 366, 22 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 3511, 2022 Daily Journal D.A.R. 3377 It is possible to reside somewhere for a night, a week, or a lifetime. The City points to no legally precedented way to draw a line between the number of days that makes some place a "residence" and the number that shows it is not. (Cf. Venice Suites, supra, 71 Cal.App.5th at p. 732, 286 Cal.Rptr.3d 598 ["the dictionary definitions for apartment house do not indicate a required length of occupancy"].) The same analysis applies to "Multi -family Residential," where the common form of a multi -family building is an apartment building. Apartment dwellers commonly rent. * 150 The City's zoning thus permits you to rent a house or an apartment in Manhattan Beach, which accords with common experience. The City's zoning does not regulate how long your stay can be. The City's proposed distinction between long- and short-term rentals —the former always allowed, and the latter always forbidden —has no textual or logical basis. The City thus loses this appeal as a matter of textual interpretation. [3] The City incorrectly argues short-term rentals are more similar to, and therefore fall under the definition of, "Hotels, Motels, and Time -Share Facilities." With our emphasis, the ordinances define these facilities as "[e]stablishments offering lodging on a weekly or less than weekly basis, and having kitchens in no more than 60 percent of guest units." The short-term rentals the City is trying to prohibit are of single- and multi -family residences in residential neighborhoods. Houses and apartments conventionally have kitchens. This argument is untenable. **371 [4] The City asks us to take judicial notice of a 1964 ordinance that defines a hotel a particular way. The City argues we should import this definition into the ordinance in the local coastal program. This is illogical. The different definition from decades before cannot prevail over the definition enacted by the City and certified by the Commission in the ordinance at issue. The older document is not relevant. We deny this request. The zoning ordinances certified by the Commission thus allow rentals of single- and multi -family residences in residential zones for any duration, including short-term rentals of the Airbnb variety. The City's new ban on short-term rentals was an amendment requiring Commission approval. 1:3 The City's other arguments are invalid. 1 The City relies heavily on the principle of permissive zoning. It argues California has adopted this doctrine: zoning ordinances prohibit any use they do not permit. But the City's ordinances do permit short-term rentals in residential zones. That is the only reasonable interpretation of the ordinances, as we have shown. This interpretation is not an affront to permissive zoning. 2 The City argues we should defer to its reasonable interpretation of its own ordinances because it is the local agency with responsibility for *151 implementing them. Our analysis does not involve or require deference. We give simple words their obvious meaning. Contrary interpretations are unreasonable. 3 The City notes recent California statutes, in 2019, characterized short-term rentals as commercial uses. The City says this shows that short-term rentals are inappropriate in residential zones. These state statutes, however, deal with different issues than the municipal ordinances here. The 2019 statutes are not germane. 4 The City argues the trial court erred in interpreting the Coastal Act to require it to provide short-term rentals in residential areas. This is incorrect. The key provision is the one requiring Commission approval of amended laws. The Commission has not required the City to allow short-term rentals. The Commission has not reviewed the City's ban because the City, incorrectly, has been maintaining its ban is nothing new. There was no erroneous interpretation of the Coastal Act. WESTLAW © 2023 Thomson Reuters. No claim to original U.S. Government Works.