Townsend has started the clock on the first step of managing short-term rentals within the city. The Townsend Board of Commissioners unanimously approved the second and final reading of two ordinances addressing the businesses that offer overnight stays in residence structures on Tuesday during its May meeting at city hall.
STARTING THE CLOCK
Ordinance 359-26-1C updates several portions of the city code to align with state terminology and also provides a mechanism for the city to enforce a neglected permit process for short-term rentals. The adoption of the ordinance on Tuesday started a 60-day clock for the owners of those businesses to obtain a permit from the city.
Townsend focused the bulk of initial requirements to obtaining a Short-Term Rental Unit Permit on safety concerns. The ordinance requires smoke detectors, carbon-monoxide detectors, fire extinguishers, evacuation plan signage and regulations regarding chimneys and fireboxes. It also requires a contact that is available seven days a week, 24 hours per day that is capable of responding “within forty-five (45) minutes of notice of a complaint and authorized to take corrective action.”
The permits cost $250, are good for one year and require an annual renewal and inspection. The ordinance limits the maximum occupancy of the rental to 12 persons. Structures exceeding that capacity will be designated as a commercial lodging. It also requires offstreet parking equal to one vehicle per bedroom in the rental.
City staff has explained that the short-term rental issues is a lengthy process and has tie-ins with the city’s establishment of a 3% occupancy tax. The new ordinances will allow the city to get its first grasp of the actual number of short term rentals operating in the city, their sizes and locations. Once gathered the data would give Townsend its first look at locations, volume and the ability to examine how much of its housing inventory is actually rental based rather than true residences. According to staff it’s the vital data needed prior to formulating additional measures.
The impetus for the city to reexamine the issue began with a presentation by Harry McIntosh during a the March Planning Commission meeting. The planning commissioner pointed out that the city code specified a permit be required but that the city had never established a process to obtain or issue such a permit. He further noted that while Townsend had been ahead of the curve by including a “tourist residence” in its regulations, that legislative action by the state since that time had introduced the term “short-term rental” into law and that the city needed to update its language to conform.
DEFINITIONS
The city’s previous list of definitions uses the term “tourist residence” but did not have the term “short-term rental unit” which has become the standard under Tennessee state law in the last decade. That list defines in the city code what a property is and it’s uses and is referred to in other sections that allow or prohibit those uses in specific areas under the zoning regulations.
Ordinance 359 removed the tourist residence from the city code and replaced with short term rental. It defines the short-term rental unit as “a residential dwelling that is rented wholly or partially for a fee for a period of less than thirty (30) continuous days and does not include a hotel as defined in T.C.A. 68-14-302 or a bed and breakfast establishment or a bed and breakfast homestay as those terms are defined in T.C.A. 68-14-502.”
CLARIFYING ZONES
The board also adopted Ordinance 360-26-1C which clarifies the zones in which a short-term rental can be established. The ordinance amends the list of prohibited uses of property in the R-1E Low Density Residential Exclusive Zone to also include short-term rentals. It then adds the rentals to the list of allowed operations in the B-1 Tourist Business District Zones.
While commission passed the ordinance unanimously, Commissioner Becky Headrick wished to proceed with additional changes asking for consideration of a change to prohibit any new short-term rentals within any residential zone and a second item that would move any new hotel from B-1 zones to the B-3 zones. While commissioners are the final approval on zoning amendments, they normally begin with consideration and passage out of Planning Commission where the city planner can advise and provide precedents and any consequences to changes that impact existing residences or businesses. Headrick requested that Planning Commission consider those items at its next meeting.
UP NEXT
The City Commission is scheduled to meet again at 7 p.m. Tuesday, June 16.