Norris council approves short-term rental measure
Owners of short-term residential rental properties in Norris will have to apply for a city permit, as well as have Anderson County and Norris city business licenses for them, according to an ordinance the City Council passed on first reading Monday night.
There will be a public hearing on the ordinance at 6:30 p.m. Monday, March 14, just prior to the council’s regular March meeting, which will be at 7 p.m.
The council is expected to pass the ordinance on second and final reading at that meeting, and the ordinance would go into effect 30 days later.
The property owners must pay a $250 fee for the application and first year, and then pay an annual $50 fee for renewal of the permit and inspection of the property.
But the ordinance leaves out two provisions that the City Council wants to enforce for short-term rentals: One limiting them to specific zones; and another setting up a city sales tax for rentals.
Both of those provisions must be dealt with separately, council members were told. The city’s Planning and Zoning Commission must act to specify in the city’s zoning code where short-term rentals may operate. And the city must enact a separate ordinance concerning sales taxes on rentals.
The council already is planning such an ordinance to cover collection of sales taxes from the RV park under construction beside the Museum of Appalachia, and intends to include short-term rentals in that measure.
Council members want the city’s zoning code to specify what particular zones will be allowed to have short-term rentals, and that must be done by the Zoning board.
Short-term rentals are defined by Tennessee law as being overnight accommodations, other than hotel and bed-and-breakfast lodgings, of at least one night, but no longer than 30 nights. They have become popular worldwide through such online services as Airbnb and Vrbo (Vacation Rental by Owner).
Under the ordinance approved Monday, short-term rentals would be limited to having no more than three bedrooms, with generally no more than two occupants per bedroom. The residences must be inspected by the city, and there must be “adequate” parking for the tenants, with no parking allowed on “any vegetated area of the premises.”
Short-term rental properties already in business in Norris will be grandfathered-in and initially exempt from some measures of the ordinance, but still must apply for a permit and obtain the necessary business licenses.
In an apparent concession to “woke” political correctness, the University of Tennessee’s Municipal Technical Advisory Service, which reviewed the proposed ordinance, suggested that the city change the terminology in the measure to remove “grandfathered-in” and change it to “legacy properties.” The City Council made the change as recommended.