With a moratorium on short-term vacation rentals not occupied by a property owner set to end in January, the Chattanooga City Council may soon consider tweaks to the city’s existing rules that could include limits on their density.
Councilman Chip Henderson, of Lookout Valley, is chairman of an ad hoc committee formed to study short-term vacation rentals. In April, the council approved a temporary halt on all new applications for short-term vacation rentals not occupied by the owner, which lasts through Jan. 9.
Under existing rules, people interested in setting up a nonowner-occupied short-term rental must submit an application to the Land Development Office, according to the city’s website. Officials send notification letters to all property owners within 300 feet of the property, and if the office receives a certain number of objections from nearby homeowners, the council holds a public hearing to approve or deny the permit. Owner-occupied short-term rentals have a less-stringent review process.
During those hearings, Henderson said by phone, residents frequently lamented that the increase in the number of short-term rentals was changing the character of their neighborhood. Because more and more applications were coming from out-of-town investors buying houses to convert them into short-term rentals, Henderson said, neighbors also feared the proliferation was driving up home prices.