Hamilton County commissioners are mulling a resolution that would place a six-month moratorium on short-term vacation rentals in unincorporated parts of the county. The moratorium would give officials time to evaluate and recommend modifications to the existing permit process.
Commission Chairman Chip Baker, R-Signal Mountain, asked that a committee be formed to further study concerns about short-term rentals and evaluate how the city of Chattanooga plans to handle them. Commissioner Gene-o Shipley, R-Soddy-Daisy, and Commissioner Joe Graham, R-Lookout Valley, would lead the group.
Commissioners discussed the resolution Wednesday during a review of their agenda. They are scheduled to vote on the resolution during their regular meeting next week.
The resolution states that permitted and unpermitted short-term vacation rentals have prompted complaints from residents, and a more comprehensive look at the operation of those rentals needs to be done to prevent the misuse of that privilege.
Shipley suggested in September that the panel take a closer look at short-term vacation rentals. He said Wednesday that the units aren’t properly inspected to ensure they have appropriate safety measures in place, such as exit ramps, smoke detectors and decks capable of supporting large groups people. That could be a liability for the county. Many also operate without a permit.
“We inspect pretty much anything that goes on in this county to open up any kind of business, and this is a business,” he said.
Shipley told the Chattanooga Times Free Press in an interview that constituents in the Sale Creek community have been complaining about their neighborhoods being taken over by short-term rentals. The moratorium wouldn’t have to last long, and could be shorter than the six months listed in the resolution.
“It would just be until we can come up with some agreement as to how we’re going to approach it,” he said.
Some commissioners questioned the need for a moratorium and suggested the committee would be a better way to review the issue. Graham agreed that the county should ensure its policies are appropriate, but he doesn’t want to punish homeowners who are going through the proper approval process.
“I’m concerned (about) going as far as a moratorium when there’s already a moratorium in the city that’s caused a detriment to people doing it legally. I just, for one, think we’re throwing the baby out with the bath water,” he said.
He added later that someone should be inspecting those properties and suggested hiring an inspector dedicated to overseeing short-term rentals. Shipley’s concerns are spot on, he said, but he reiterated that a six-month moratorium would punish property owners who have already spent a significant amount of money preparing to set up a rental.
Bryan Shults, the director of development services for the Chattanooga-Hamilton Count Regional Planning Agency, told the Times Free Press in September that short-term vacation rentals are allowed by special permit in the county in all residential zones except the R-1 single-family residential district. They are permitted by right in the R-3 multifamily residential district.
Short-term rentals can be permitted after a public hearing by the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Regional Planning Commission provided they abide by several rules, which include having no more than five sleeping rooms and prohibiting group events like weddings or business meetings.
The Hamilton County Commission can revoke a special permit once a property has received two documented county or state violations within a 12-month period. Those violations “shall be evidenced by a finding of guilt or fault by court or an administrative officer of body,” the guidelines state.
County Attorney Rheubin Taylor noted Wednesday that the county’s current language indicates those complaints must result from a formal judicial or administrative finding rather than via a simple call from a neighbor. Wording like that needs to be clarified, he said.
In April, the Chattanooga City Council authorized a temporary halt on all nonowner-occupied short-term vacation rentals. That will end in January. Chattanooga has since implemented new software designed to identify rentals operating illegally.
City leaders have estimated there are more than 400 rentals operating illegally in Chattanooga, which is about half of the city’s total.
Officials are now in the process of sending out letters to those property owners and are developing an update to the city’s rules, which should appear before the City Council before the city’s moratorium sunsets.
Contact David Floyd at dfloyd@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6249. Follow him on Twitter @flavid_doyd.