The County Commission voted Wednesday to approve a resolution that regulates short-term vacation rentals in the unincorporated county.
The Chattanooga-Hamilton County Regional Planning Commission voted at its April 10 meeting to extend the right to operate STVRs to all zones except manufacturing.
“There’s nothing we can do to stop it,” said Commissioner Joe Graham, who co-wrote the resolution with Commissioner Gene-o Shipley.
Before the resolution was passed Wednesday, STVRs in unincorporated Hamilton County were open without any rules or regulations.
“We have people operating without any type of inspection,” Commissioner Shipley said. The new resolution regulates occupancy, parking, pets, fireworks and loud music and helps the county prepare for water runoff, fire and police response, and septic and sewer infrastructure, it was stated.
“If we need to adjust it, we adjust it,” said Commission Chairman Chip Baker. “Something is better than nothing.”
“We really did not feel heard today,” said Colleen Kirk, who attended the meeting to ask commissioners to remove the right to STVRs from R1 and R2 zonings. Ms. Kirk lives off Birchwood Pike in Harrison. “You are putting the onus on us, and it’s truly not fair,” she said.
Bryan Shults, senior planner with the Regional Planning Agency, said the planning commission wanted to make opportunities for STVRs fair in neighborhoods and communities with patchwork zoning.
County Attorney Rheubin Taylor said homeowners association guidelines that prohibit STVRs do trump this new right, if the restrictions existed before RPA passed the ordinance.
He said new HOA restrictions might be valid if passed by that body unanimously, or by a majority. Since HOA guidelines are private restrictive covenants, they are not enforced by the county, he said.
Previously, only property with R3 zoning or mobile homes had the right to operate STVRs. Owners of property with other zones had to get a special permit from the RPA. The new RPA ordinance extended this right to A1, R2 and R2A zones.
Commissioner Graham pointed out that the RPA vote was almost unanimous, lacking one vote.
“We’ve not done this in the dark,” he said. He said he and Commissioner Shipley have held public meetings since the fall.
Commissioners Steve Highlander and Ken Smith voted no to the resolution. Commissioner Warren Mackey passed.
Commissioner Highlander had presented an amendment to the proposed resolution that would require those seeking the STVR certification to post notice of this pending application on the property for 30 days. Neighbors could then protest to the County Commission.
The amendment did not pass.
“Homes are the largest investment that most people ever make in their lives,” said Commissioner Highlander. He said that neighbors should have “input or say-so in the things that are coming into their community.”
Commissioners Baker, Smith and Shipley voted yes to the amendment, but it wasn’t enough to pass it.
Commissioner Graham said the amendment would have given owners of monthly rentals an advantage over STVRs because they are not required to post notice.
“That makes us pick the one property over the other,” he said. “That makes us pick the winners and the losers.”
Commissioners David Sharpe and Warren Mackey said the amendment’s recommendation to bring complaints to the County Commission was too vague. The commissioners want approval or disapproval based on data, not based on an applicant’s or neighbor’s influence or social standing, they said.