City Council members said Tuesday they are not yet ready to move forward on a new setup for Short Term Vacation Rentals.
However, the council is anxious to get tighter enforcement in place for the existing rental program, including halting some 500 illegal operators.
The council plans to appoint an administrative hearing officer who will have the ability to levy fines of up to $500 per day. Cases involving violation of rental rules will no longer be taken to City Court, where the maximum fine is $50.
Officials said the process is already in place for use of the administrative hearing officer, but one will have to be named by the council. The hearing officer will be paid by the hour at a rate set by the council.
The new STVR plan as presented by Chris Anderson of the mayor's office called for the discontinuation of the system whereby some districts are exempt from having any of the rentals. Mr. Anderson said that system "is not used anywhere else."
The new plan includes limiting new STVRs for "absentee" owners to multi-family zones or commercial zones that allow residential. There would no longer be absentee rentals in R-1 zones except for ones that are currently permitted.
The city would still take applications in R-1 zones for "homestay" rentals in which the owner would live in the residence and rent out a bedroom or rent an ADU (accessory dwelling unit).
The initial plan called for not allowing those with current permitted R-1 rentals to sell or otherwise transfer their permit. Councilman Chip Henderson said he believed those should be transferable, saying the city needed to "keep a stock" of rentals available in the neighborhoods where many guests prefer to be.
He said a number of individuals have built businesses around that model and should be able to continue and eventually sell those or pass them to a family member.
The council went around the table giving their preferences on the STVR issue, and council members Darrin Ledford, Carol Berz, Isaiah Hester and Marvene Noel all said most of their residents were opposed.
Chairman Ledford said he had polled residents on the topic and found 1,520 don't want them and four were in favor. He said of those four that "two were absentee operators and the other two were probably operating illegally."
The East Brainerd representative said, "I'm going to listen to the overwhelming majority in the district and say, 'Thanks, but no thanks.' "
Councilwoman Noel said she frequently hears complaints from residents about rental issues and the fact that the owner is not there to deal with them.
Councilwoman Berz said, with the city having only one staff member to deal with STVRs, that enforcement "is a joke." She said, "The ones in my area are still running and having a good old time."
The city recently sent some 500 letters to rental operators found through a new online system of being in business and not bothering to get a city permit or pay the application fee and annual renewal fee.
Dallas Rucker, who heads the enforcement department, said the letters "have brought a lot of calls and have brought some people down to our office."
A current moratorium on new absentee rentals is set to expire on Jan. 9. Mr. Anderson said he will ask for an extension.