The City Council will revisit the short-term vacation rental issue it shot down last October, but not until after the runoff election.
City Attorney Wade Hinton said a new version is being prepared for consideration in late April.
He said certain areas of town would be "carved out" for rentals where the owner occupies the same residence.
Another new wrinkle would be allowing a certain percentage of short-term rentals in apartment or condo complexes.
The council, in a surprise vote, had turned down allowing a process to legalize short-term vacation rentals in Chattanooga.
Only Chip Henderson and Jerry Mitchell voted in favor.
Opposed were Carol Berz, Yusuf Hakeem, Larry Grohn, Moses Freeman, Ken Smith and Russell Gilbert. Chris Anderson was absent for the vote.
At public hearings, several people admitted they were operating outside of the current city ordinance, which now allows short-term vacation rentals only in R-4.
The turndown came after several public hearings and extensive work on the wording of the ordinance.
Under the proposal, short term vacation rentals would have been allowed in residences with up to nine bedrooms, except that for those in R-1 or R-2 zones the limit will be five bedrooms.
Rentals would have been for up to 30 days.
Operators would have to pay a $125 non-refundable application fee to the city's Land Development Office to obtain a Code Compliance Verification Form.
Operators would have had to aver that they are in compliance on zoning, building, health and life safety code provisions. There must be working smoke alarms. The operator must have a business license and meet maximum occupancy and maximum vehicle requirements.
Those already operating in R-3 and R-4 zones would have had to obtain a certificate from the LDO.
There would have been no on-site signs except where the property is over five acres and not visible from the public road. Then the sign must be at least 50 feet from the public road.