Bryan Johnson is out $220,000, and he's waiting to see whether Walker County officials give him relief.
Johnson bought 16 acres off Chattanooga Valley Road in Flintstone, Georgia, in October to open a high-end camping business. He planned to spread 12 yurts across the property and rent them through Airbnb, aiming for a price tag of $130 a night during the busy season. The land is zoned Residential-2, allowing for recreational activity.
But in January, a planning department employee told him he needed a conditional-use variance. Campgrounds normally require agricultural zoning. During a Feb. 21 planning commission meeting, neighbors protested his request, telling the board they feared he would bring parties, loud music and hard drugs.
The commission recommended Johnson's application be denied. But on Feb. 28, before Commissioner Shannon Whitfield had the final say, his staff recommended he table the issue. Multiple county leaders said they want Johnson's business.
At the same time, they want him to wait as they consider how to regulate Airbnbs long-term, something they haven't done before.
Johnson can only hope for the best.
He doesn't believe this should have been held up in a planning commission in the first place. He thinks the county's zoning descriptions are too vague, that his recreational property needed to explicitly ban camping if they wanted to block him.
He needs a return on his investment, sooner than later.
"I've been shut down for months," he said. "I don't understand. There's nothing here saying I can't do this on my property. So how can you tell me I can't? It's not like I'm ill-informed on the concepts. I did my homework. I made a $180,000 gamble. I'm months out. I'm losing the peak season starting next month. It starts in two weeks. Look at the Airbnb rentals in Chattanooga. They skyrocketed in the last 10 days. Skyrocketed. And I'm losing that business."
"I don't think they are understanding what I put on the line to do this," he added. "We bought this property as a business. I talked to my wife about it. She said, 'Yeah, let's do this. It's a risk. But let's go for it. Let's go for the dream.' And now we have to wait, and it might be too late."
Economic and Community Development Director Robert Wardlaw told the Times Free Press this week that the county needs Johnson's business. Since Whitfield hired him last year, Wardlaw has pushed for more outdoor-tourism initiatives.
"It's wonderful, very exciting," he said. "We've got to modernize to reflect current trends and opportunities."
Wardlaw declined to comment on whether Johnson's specific piece of property is an appropriate location for a glamping business in the community. Though in a relatively rural area, the property abuts other homes.
County Attorney Matt Williamson said the local government needs some sort of short-term vacation rental policy on the books. He and other members of the Vision 2030 Advance Team, a board of county employees and residents studying long-term plans, are debating how to regulate operations such as Johnson's.
They don't have answers yet, Williamson said. They are wondering what specific zones should be allowed to use short-term rentals. Also, could a property owner rent out a whole house? Or, like Johnson, could they rent out several beds on one piece of property? Or should the county treat his proposal like a hotel?
Potentially, Williamson said, the county could allow short-term vacation rentals in all zones. But even then, the local government might not let Johnson erect a collection of tents on his land.
"It depends on whether a yurt or a series of yurts meets the [county's] definition of a short-term vacation rental," Williamson told the Times Free Press on Thursday.
Short-term vacation rental regulations vary dramatically.
In Chattanooga, the city council created a special district in 2017, outlining where the operations would be allowed. The Lookout Mountain, Georgia, council passed regulations the same year, outlawing any short-term rentals in which the property owner was not at the house the whole time. (One homeowner, who used to rent out his entire house, unsuccessfully sued the city over its policy in 2018. But a Georgia Supreme Court ruling last month may mean his old practice was legally grandfathered in.)
Last year, Airbnb agreed to collect sales tax on behalf of Hamilton County. Trustee Bill Hullander said at the time he expected the county to receive about $600,000 a month. According to figures from the company, Chattanooga hosts earned about $11 million off 110,000 reservations in 2018. Hosts in Walker County earned $233,000 off 2,800 bookings.
"We want short-term rentals," Williamson said. "They are an important part of our tourism and bringing people from outside here so we can increase our sales tax revenue."
State Rep. Kasey Carpenter, R-Dalton, introduced a bill last week to deregulate short-term vacation rentals. His proposal would prohibit local governments from blocking rentals, creating occupancy limits, regulating the time or length of a rental, requiring inspection of a rental property or requiring a license for the owner of the property.
"This is America, damn it," Carpenter said. "You can't just all-out ban it."
The Association County Commissioners of Georgia opposed Carpenter's bill, arguing that local governments have spent years creating proper ordinances for their communities. Each local community should account for the competing needs of property owners, neighbors and competing businesses such as hotels, said Larry Ramsey, the association's deputy general counsel.
"Statewide, one-size-fits-all legislation that was only introduced last week is not the appropriate way to address this complex issue," he wrote in an email.
Carpenter's bill did not make it out of the House Regulated Industries committee Thursday, the last day for legislation to pass at least one chamber in the Legislature. He hopes to attach the language to another bill that is still alive, telling the Times Free Press on Friday, "Never say die."
Johnson, a small-groups pastor in Chattanooga, wants to launch his camping business as a means for supplemental income. He also plans to give his children work responsibilities as a teaching experience.
When he purchased the Flintstone property in October and saw it was zoned recreational, he believed he could install the yurts because he didn't see camping explicitly forbidden in the zoning description. He planned to outfit each site with a bed, coffeemaker, fireplace, refrigerator, lamps, a nightstand, chairs and a cowhide rug.
When he applied for a septic permit at the county's zoning office in January, employees told him he was not properly zoned for his business. On top of the $180,000 land purchase, Johnson had spent $40,000 to prepare the operation. He bought one yurt for $13,000 and spent another $20,000 on a tractor, trailer and commercial lawn mower. He rented a Bobcat for $800 a day to clear land. He fixed a fence at the front of the property, cleared some ponds and built decks for the yurts.
He planned to open with five yurts, earn some money and eventually expand to 12.
"It's their lack of detail that cost me," he said. "I checked the zoning before I bought the property. I felt safe. When I can ride horses and ATVs, for me to put up camp there seems reasonable."
In the week leading up to the Feb. 21 planning commission meeting, neighbors in Flintstone organized to protest Johnson's conditional-use variance request. Some spoke out at the meeting, saying they feared a campground would breed a party atmosphere, ruining their quiet community.
Johnson pushed back. He can screen applicants through Airbnb. Plus, the yurts only sleep a couple of people; it would be hard to fit a heavy-drinking bachelor party.
"It was a tough pill to swallow," he said.
Contact staff writer Tyler Jett at 423-757-6476 or tjett@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @LetsJett.