Norris City Council expected to consider short-term rental ordinance in Monday meeting
After a recent town hall meeting, followed by a council workshop, the Norris City Council could vote on a proposed ordinance governing short-term residential rentals during its February meeting next Monday night (Feb. 14).
City officials have sent the draft ordinance to the University of Tennessee’s Municipal Technical Advisory Service for review, and although that review might not yet be completed by Monday, the council might still choose to vote on it on first reading, city officials said.
Ordinances don’t receive final approval until second reading, which comes after a public hearing. That would mean the earliest the measure could be passed would be during the March council meeting.
That would most likely give the council time to review any problems or changes that MTAS might find or suggest with the draft ordinance before it comes up for final approval. Those changes could then be incorporated into the measure before passage.
It’s a hot-button item in the city, with considerable opposition to the idea of allowing such rentals.
Short-term rentals are defined by state law as overnight accommodations, other than hotel/bed-and-breakfasts, of at least one night, but no longer than 30 nights.
The draft ordinance, submitted to the council in October by the Norris Planning Commission, would regulate rentals.
Allowing these rentals might not be good for the community, some attending the Jan. 10 meeting seemed to agree.
The City Council heard from about a dozen of the nearly 50 residents who showed up for the discussion about the increasingly popular tourist-style rental format, with most saying they believe allowing such rentals would negatively affect property values.
Norris Mayor Chris Mitchell said, “I do have a very firm view on this. ... The view I have as it stands is I want this [ordinance] to be very restrictive. I feel that an ordinance is needed, because without one, there is not a way for us to manage it.
“Without an ordinance, those of you that don’t want [short-term rentals], the answer is not to do nothing, because there are some now operating,” he said.
“So the answer in my mind is to do an ordinance. My view is very restrictive, and [that] there is a balance between individual rights and societal rights. … It needs to be fair and [with a] balance that protects both individual and societal rights.”
The council met again at 5:30 p.m. on Jan. 24 for a workshop.
Mitchell had some concerns he said he would like to see addressed.
“I will be encouraging additional controls that prevent the renting of recreational vehicles in homeowners’ yards/driveways and require any participating home to pass current building code on bedroom egress,” he said.
Also in question is how to enforce collection of hotel and sales taxes on the rentals, considering that some are done as direct transactions between property owners and renters, leaving out third-party agents such as Airbnb and Vrbo, which are already set up to collect the taxes from their renters.