NEW ORLEANS – A New Orleans property owner contends the city’s “current position” that its hotel must maintain on-site personnel 24 hours a day, seven days a week, is contrary to the law that governed the property at the time its applications were submitted and approved.
Plaintiff 2126 Marais LLC filed its lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.
In its 14-page complaint, Marais alleges the City of New Orleans, in particular its zoning administration and Department of Safety and Permits, violated the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, including the right to due process and the Equal Protection Clause.
The Due Process Clause prohibits state and local governments from depriving a person of life, liberty, or property without fair legal procedures. The Equal Protection Clause requires states to treat all individuals within their jurisdiction equally.
“The City cannot retroactively impose new zoning or operational requirements on a property whose permits were complete and lawfully approved under prior law, especially where the City’s own Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance expressly provides that complete applications are governed by the rules in effect at the time of submission and that structures lawfully permitted may be completed and occupied for the originally intended use notwithstanding subsequent amendments,” Marais’ filing states.
“The City’s actions have deprived Plaintiff of the lawful use of its property as approved, delayed hotel operations, diminished the economic utility of the Property, and caused Plaintiff damages.”
Marais’ property, located at 2126 Marais Street in New Orleans, is zoned HMC-2, wherein “hotel” is a legally permitted use, according to the filing.
In November 2022, the property owner applied for a renovation permit.
The permit application did not reflect a private bathroom for the hotel attendant nor a desk or office where such an attendant would be stationed, as the Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance, or CZO, did not require those features at that time.
“Both applications noted the intent to operate as a hotel and both included floor plans that were approved by zoning and planning in 2023,” the complaint states, adding that the property owner received certificates of occupancy in early 2026.
“The plans for this hotel were reviewed under the laws that existed at the time of submission.”
Marais points out that initially, the term “customary lodging services” was not defined in the CZO.
“For many years, the Department of Safety and Permits sometimes applied this interpretive memo to mean that a live human being had to be on premise 24/7, though the language clearly did not stand for that proposition,” the complaint states.
In 2019, between the issuance of the interpretive memo and the filing of the instant permit applications, New Orleans City Council, at the recommendation of the City Planning Commission, adopted a new, codified definition of “customary lodging services” in the CZO:
“Guest services provided by lodging facilities including hotels/motels. Customary services include at a minimum (1) dedicated lobby space to adequately enable check-in/check-out procedures, and (2) personnel/staffing to assist guests at check-in/check-out.”
Marais claims that language was less restrictive than the language put in place by the interpretive memo and did not require an “office supervised by a person in charge at all hours.”
“Nonetheless, the City continued to cite properties for violation of the CZO when it found that a hotel failed to have a live human in its lobby 24/7,” the filing states.
In early 2025, some property owners challenged that application.
Then, in February 2025, the Board of Zoning Adjustments, or BZA, ruled that the definition of “customary lodging services” put in place by the city council did not include the requirement that a live person be physically present 24/7.
Following the BZA opinion, the director of Safety and Permits issued a Zoning Interpretive Memo that directly contradicts the BZA’s ruling, Marais alleges.
“The City’s attempt to impose a 24/7 on-site staffing requirement on the Property arose only after the Board of Zoning Adjustments expressly ruled that the then-existing definition of ‘customary lodging services’ did not require a live person to be physically present at all times,” the complaint states.
“Rather than follow the BZA’s interpretation, the City issued an interpretive memorandum contradicting the BZA and thereafter amended the law prospectively to require continuous staffing.”
Marais contends it submitted complete permit applications, disclosed the intended hotel use, obtained zoning and planning approval, “substantially” completed construction, and received certificates of occupancy pursuant to the law existing at the time of application and approval.
“At no point during the permitting process did the City require Plaintiff to provide plans for twenty-four-hour staffing, a dedicated attendant residence, or a continuously staffed front desk because no such requirement existed under the operative law at the time of permit review and approval,” its filing states.
Marais asks that the federal court declare it may lawfully operate the property as a hotel “consistent with its approved plans and vested permits,” and enjoin the City of New Orleans from enforcing the 24-hour staffing requirement against its property.
It also seeks damages and attorney fees.
Sternberg Naccari & White LLC are representing Marais in the lawsuit.
