Morgan Cnty. v. May, 305 Ga. 305

Christine May built a vacation home in Morgan County and, beginning in 2008, rented it routinely for short stays (about a week).
The County's pre-2010 zoning ordinance listed permitted uses for May’s district but said nothing about rental duration; in practice the County treated rentals under 30 days as prohibited and 30+ day rentals as allowed.
In October 2010 the County amended the ordinance to expressly ban most short-term rentals (defined as fewer than 30 consecutive days).
May continued week-long rentals; in August 2011 she was criminally cited under the amended ordinance for a seven-night rental. Extensive civil litigation ensued; ultimately her criminal case was revived and she sought dismissal on vagueness and grandfathering grounds.
The trial court concluded the old ordinance was unconstitutionally vague as applied to seven-night rentals, so May’s use was grandfathered and the criminal citation under the amended ordinance was dismissed. The Supreme Court of Georgia affirmed.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether the pre-2010 zoning ordinance gave fair notice that week-long rentals were prohibited (vagueness as-applied)	May: the old ordinance contained no language about rental duration, so a person of ordinary intelligence wasn’t put on notice that seven-night rentals were forbidden.	County: the ordinance allowed only “single-family detached dwellings” and, read with dictionary definitions, that implies non-temporary residential use (thus short-term rentals were prohibited).	The old ordinance was unconstitutionally vague as applied; it failed to provide notice that seven-night rentals were forbidden.
Whether May’s use was grandfathered so the amended ordinance could not criminally penalize her	May: because the old ordinance did not prohibit week-long rentals, her use lawfully existed prior to the amendment and is a protected nonconforming (grandfathered) use.	County: (implicit) the amendment validly prohibited short-term rentals and applied to May.	May’s short-term rental use was grandfathered; the amended ban could not be applied to criminally prosecute her for that use.

Parker v. City of Glennville, 288 Ga. 34, 701 S.E.2d 182 (due process vagueness standard for ordinances)
Haugen v. Henry County, 277 Ga. 743, 594 S.E.2d 324 (interpretation of “or” in definitions)
Dozier v. Baker, 283 Ga. 543, 661 S.E.2d 543 (no fixed time required to establish residence)
Conrad v. Conrad, 278 Ga. 107, 597 S.E.2d 369 (residence requires act and intent)
Rockdale County v. Burdette, 278 Ga. 755, 604 S.E.2d 820 (protected/nonconforming use doctrine)
BBC Land & Dev., Inc. v. Butts County, 281 Ga. 472, 640 S.E.2d 33 (distinguishing nonconforming uses and vested rights)
May v. Morgan County, 343 Ga. App. 255, 807 S.E.2d 28 (prior appellate history and procedural background)