Norris gives final OK to ordinance regulating vacation housing rental
Airbnb-type vacation rental properties in Norris will now require city permits and have to pay taxes on each transaction, under terms of a new city ordinance passed on final reading Monday night by the City Council.
The new law goes into effect in 10 days, and for now allows such short-term rentals in any city zone.
Short-term rentals are defined by the ordinance 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 new ordinance, owners of these properties will have to pay $250 to apply for a city permit, as well as obtain Anderson County and Norris city business licenses for them.
They must then pay an annual $50 fee for renewal of the permit and inspection of the property.
The ordinance left out two provisions the City Council wants to enforce for short-term rentals, however: one limiting them to specific zones; and another setting up a city sales tax for rental transactions.
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.
Also, the city must enact a separate ordinance concerning sales taxes, but the council already is planning such a measure to allow for collection of sales taxes from the RV park under construction next to the Museum of Appalachia, and intends to include short-term rentals.
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 Planning Commission.
But any short-term rentals already operating in the city will be allowed to continue even if they are in a zone that excludes them, as they will be grandfathered in as “legacy” properties.
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.”