After months of hurry-up-and-wait, the Littles - the owners and operators of Tennessee Riverplace wedding and event venue - finally got an answer from planning commissioners on whether the family could start renting a home on their Lookout Valley property to short-term vacationers.
Nope.
Really, what the commission voted down was a rezoning request, which would have allowed the Littles to rent a single-family home at 1335 O'Grady Drive out for short-term vacations. The Littles asked to have the R-1 residential property rezoned to R-3 residential, a higher-density zoning, but one that would allow for short-term vacation use.
But planning commissioners wanted the family to be patient, and wait a while longer for staff at the Regional Planning Agency to draw up a special exemptions permit for short-term vacation rentals. Commissioners didn't want to allow high-density R-3 zoning in the area.
The Littles' potential rental home is on a large, rural tract of land, and lies in a predominantly residential area, occupied mostly by families and long-term residents.
Curtis Buckels, who has lived on Oak Burr Drive for most of his life, said during Monday's planning commission meeting that as a lifer in the area, he is dismayed at the thought of having a revolving door of people moving in and out of the house next door.
"We're in direct contact with their property," he said. "I would be interfacing with multiple persons on a continuing basis. I would be dealing with a weekly change of persons."
Buckels said he doesn't want his grandchildren's safety to be compromised.
"I want to maintain my property as a safe haven for my grandchildren," he said.
Rebecca Little, who manages Tennessee Riverplace and whose family owns the property in question, said the whole point in going to the short-term vacation model on the O'Grady Drive rental house is to get away from traditional renting, because of a series of bad experiences with tenants.
"We had a lot of trouble with the long-term renters that we had," she said.
Chip Henderson looks at a handout during a 2014 planning commission meeting at the Hamilton County Courthouse.She said the Little family believes a short-term vacation model would allow the family more power to kick out troublesome renters.
In a meeting with neighbors, "most of the complaints were actually about previous long-term renters that we had, and problems with them," said Little.
But Little was frustrated at Monday's meeting over the amount of time that has passed since planning commissioners last asked for a deferral in order to come up with a better, short-term rental specific solution for her family's request. Planning commissioners previously asked the Littles to agree to a three-month deferral. That was in August.
On Monday, Chip Henderson, Chattanooga city councilman, asked Little and planning commissioners again to wait for a short-term vacation exemption before making a decision, admitting he is frustrated himself with the time it has taken to come up with a solution.
But Little said she would rather go after the rezoning, rather than go into waiting again.
"We've been told over and over and over again it will be a couple of months," said Little. "We're looking at losing two years, essentially, of any type of revenue."
Planning commissioners were split on the decision.
"We are going to change this zone, what is being proposed, and that creates more options than are necessary for short-term vacation rentals," said Yusuf Hakeem, planning commissioner. "And I think it opens up the door to the property being used for more than just the use that is being proposed. Basically, I'm saying that I'm going to vote against this."
In a 9-7 vote, planning commissioners denied recommending to county commissioners that Littles' short-term vacation rental rezoning request be approved.
The case will still appear before the Hamilton County Commission next month.
Contact staff writer Alex Green at agreen@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6480.