(upbeat music) - [Announcer] You're watching highlights of the Chattanooga city council meeting, a production of WTCI PBS.

- [Chairman Henderson] Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, Welcome to our Tuesday, September the seventh city council meeting and I'll now call this meeting to order.

Moving now to ordinances.

First reading, Madam clerk, 6A please.

- [Madam Clerk] An ordinance hereinafter also known as the fiscal year 2021, 2022 operations budget providing revenue for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2021 and ending June 30th, 2022.

Appropriating signed to the payment of expenses of the municipal government, fixing the rate of taxation on all taxable property in the city, and the time taxes and privileges are due, how they shall be paid when they shall become delinquent, providing for interest and penalty on delinquent taxes, and privileges amending Chattanooga city code part 2 chapter 2, section 2, 267 relative to paid leave for active duty training and to amend Chattanooga city code part 2 chapter 31 sections 31-36, 31-37, 31-41, and 31-43, sections 31-322 and 31-354.

And to accept and appropriate federal funds for the fiscal year activities from the state and local fiscal recovery funds provided in the American Rescue Plan act.

- [Chairman Henderson] The chair of our budget and finance committee, Councilwoman Berz.

- [Councilwoman Berz] Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Before I make my motion, let me tell you that this has been a lot of hard work.

My colleagues have been fabulous in working hard, in studying the budget, in making thoughtful decisions.

Mr. Mayor, you and your staff have done an outstanding job of coming up with a budget in very challenging times and almost starting next year's budget right away.

Your staff has been professional, they've been thoughtful, and they've made my job all that much more easier.

To Daisy and her staff, to your chief of staff, to the head of innovation, to planning, Joda to everything.

Everybody's been very, it's been my pleasure to work with such a professional staff.

Thank you very much.

And, with that, I make a motion to approve.

- [Chairman Henderson] Councilman Ledford.

- [Councilman Ledford] I'll second that notion.

- [Chairman Henderson] All right.

We have a motion on the floor to approve item 6A with a proper second.

Madam clerk, roll call please.

- [Madam Clerk] Councilwoman Hill?

- [Hill] Yes.

- [Madam Clerk] Councilman Ledford?

- [Ledford] Yes.

- [Madam Clerk] Councilman Hester?

- [Hester] Yes.

- [Madam Clerk] Councilwoman Berz?

- [Berz] Without a doubt.

- [Madam Clerk] Councilwoman Dotley?

- [Dotley] Yes.

- [Madam Clerk] Councilman Byrd?

- [Byrd] Yes.

- [Madam Clerk] Councilwoman Coonrod - [Coonrod] Yes.

- [Madam Clerk] Vice Chairman Smith?

- [Smith] Yes.

- [Madam Clerk] Chairman Henderson?

- [Henderson] Yes.

- [Madam Clerk] Nine yes's.

- [Chairman Henderson] Motion to approve carries nine zero.

(applause) (applause and audience cheering) - [Chairman Henderson] All right.

Madam clerk, 6B please.

- [Madam Clerk] An ordinance appropriating authorizing and allocating funds to the capital improvements budget for the fiscal year of 2021 through 2022.

- [Chairman Henderson] Councilwoman Berz followed by Councilman Ledford.

- [Berz] Move approval.

- [Ledford] Second.

- [Chairman Henderson] All right.

We have a motion on the floor to approve item 6B with a proper second.

Questions or comments before we vote?

Roll call, please .

- [Madam Clerk] Councilwoman Coonrod?

- [Coonrod] Yes.

- [Madam Clerk] Councilman Byrd?

- [Byrd] Yes.

- [Madam Clerk] Councilwoman Dotley?

- [Dotley] Yes.

- [Madam Clerk] Councilwoman Berz?

- [Berz] Yes.

- [Madam Clerk] Councilman Hester?

- [Hester] Yes.

- [Madam Clerk] Councilman Ledford?

- [Ledford] Yes.

- [Madam Clerk] Councilwoman Hill?

- [Hill] Yes.

- [Madam Clerk] Vice Chairman Smith?

- [Smith] Yes.

- [Madam Clerk] Chairman Henderson?

- [Henderson] Yes.

- [Madam Clerk] Nine yes's.

- [Chairman Henderson] Motion to approve 6B also carries nine zero.

For this next item that involves a short-term vacation rental application in my district, I'm going to ask our vice chair to assume the role of the chair.

And I will swap seats.

- [Smith] Madam clerk, 7A, please.

- [Madam Clerk] A resolution considering short-term vacation rental application number 21STVR123 for a property located at 432 Harper Street.

- [Smith] All right.

Is the applicant present?

Is there any opposition present?

We do have opposition.

- [Caleb Fisher] Absolutely, sir.

- [Smith] Thank you My name is Caleb Fisher zoning inspector with the land development office.

Um, I don't know what to tell you.

It's outside, outside it's a complete application except for an inspection, which is on hold pending council approval.

If it's denied, obviously they won't go through with the inspection beyond that we have had, as you see, significant opposition.

- [Chairman Henderson] Caleb, how many letters of opposition did you receive from the office?

- [Caleb] I believe it was, I want to say nine.

- [Chairman Henderson] Okay.

- [Caleb] But I can find out.

- [Chairman Henderson] And this is an application for non-owner occupied, correct?

- [Caleb] Yes, sir.

- [Chairman Henderson] Okay.

Thank you.

Mr.

Chair, if we could hear from the opposition?

- [Smith] Any opposition, please come over to the lectern.

Is it?

That's fine.

- [Chairman Henderson] I think they get five minutes total.

- [Smith] All right.

There is a total of five minutes Not each, but a total of five minutes for opposition to speak so please be brief and allow your fellow people who are in opposition to also speak if possible.

Can we get a clock up please?

Got it?

Sir, if you just give us your name and then please go right ahead.

- [Motu] My name is Richard Motu.

I'm at 515 Main Street in phase two of North Shore.

Sorry.

And we do have an HOA.

I'm one of the directors, we do have HOA documents.

The applicant has never come to us to ask permission for the short-term rental in which talking to him might've helped in the first place.

According to section 2 residential use number C "No unit may be used as a means of service to business establishments or adjacent property, including, but not limited to, supplementary facilities or an intentional passageway or entrance into a business in their tract of land regardless of whether a part of the property, unless specifically consented to by the developer, or the board in writing."

So, the applicant has never gotten in touch with us for approval.

This is a business function where he wants to rent it out.

He has no intention to living there.

We don't know who this guy's gonna rent it out to.

We have an HOA, we have all have fees due.

If one of his renters causes damage, how do we prove that?

So then it's upon the other residents to pick up, unfortunately, the damage that his renters might cause.

I've already heard of people throwing cigarette butts on people's cars or throwing trash out in the parking lot.

There's just no limit to who or what this guy's renting to.

And we don't want to be responsible as a community, as a whole for paying for who he's renting to.

- [Smith] Thank you, sir.

- [Motu] That's good for me.

- [Clannon] My name is Steve Clannon.

I live at 416 Ziegler.

I'm right behind the unit, the proposed unit.

It appears to me that they're already renting it.

I see different cars there all the time.

Trash is already an issue.

They haven't emptied their trash bin in at least three weeks.

I've got photos.

It's already overflowing creating an eyesore for all of us.

And I'm sure it's a health concern, but it sure looks to me like they're already there.

- [Smith] All right.

Thank you, sir.

- [Jovan Toocasio] Good evening.

My name is Jovan Toocasio.

I live at 408 Ziegler street, just adjacent to this property at Harper street.

I'm just going to read a little bit here.

Got two minutes.

I see this as a core problem with vacation rentals is that the real dissolution of the neighborhood.

The minute an owner or long-term renter turns over a home to transient renters, that house is no longer a contributing part of the neighborhood.

No longer can the permanent residents count on that house as part of the neighborhood and a house's owner transforms from a neighbor into a business owner.

The residual issues in particular are loud noises and/or parties, which will interrupt sleep for those who have to get up and go to work early the next day.

In particular, families with small children.

As you know, when children are awakened in the middle of the night, they have a difficult time going back to sleep.

And once again, this severely impacts them and the parents.

In addition to the noise, there's always a parking issue.

We have limited parking and limited street parking.

This will impact the permanent residents and long-term renters who make this community their home.

Lastly, we're a pretty tight neighborhood and we watch out for each other, but this will be difficult to do with such transient neighbors.

We will be subject to strangers coming and going at all hours and this will transform our friendly family neighborhood to a business transient neighborhood.

A friend stated this to me.

"This is very concerned to me as the influx of out of town visitors upsets the peaceful enjoyment of long-term standing residential neighborhoods.

Short-term renters have no stake in the community in turn and therefore no reason to care how the neighborhood around them suffers from their vacation activities."

Thank you.

- [Smith] Councilman Henderson.

I've got a few other lights, sir.

Do you want to yield to them for a moment?

- [Chairman Henderson] Absolutely.

- [Smith] All right.

Councilwoman Berz?

- [Berz] Thank you very much, chair.

This is a process question.

(laughs) Surprise.

Surprise.

Yeah, so code enforcement zoning, whoever presented.

Yeah.

So why would you wait to do an inspection till after to whether it's not it's been approved?

It would seem to me that the process would be that a full inspection would be done.

And therefore you'd be able to say it's met all the criteria and it's ready to go.

So I guess I need some help in understanding that.

- [Caleb Fisher] Once we received four objections, city council becomes involved and everything goes on pause, for the most part, until city council makes their ruling.

Oftentimes there are significant renovations required.

As far as in older homes, small windows need to become larger, doors needing to be added.

Things of that nature that are cost prohibitive, that they won't undertake until they know that they can actually receive the certificate.

- [Berz] I get that, but have you made your, have you made your inspection?

I mean, I get that.

- [Caleb Fisher] For this property.

No.

- [Berz] Okay.

- [Caleb Fisher] but they cannot be issued until they received the inspection.

- [Berz] Do you think that might affect the decisions that people would make if you had made?

If, are we talking about the same inspection that's in the law?

- [Caleb Fisher] The life safety?

Yes.

- [Berz] Okay.

- [Caleb Fisher] Yes ma'am.

- [Berz] Thank you.

- [Smith] Thank you, ma'am.

Councilman Ledford?

- [Ledford] Thank you, chairman.

My question is also a process question.

When we were writing this law, Madam attorney, we wrote in a clause that if you were in an organized HOA, that prohibited a business, being located in your HOA, then you could not file for an application.

And what I'm trying to, maybe someone threw a nod from one of your group.

Is this unit, is this a house or an apartment or is it in your HOA?

- (indistinct response) - [Ledford] Okay, then why do we not have in our process, that when we get an opposition letter, if it stated an HOA is involved here, that's an automatic decline?

We're hearing from people having to defend their HOA, when we clearly wrote it into our law.

- [Caleb Fisher] The HOA requirement is included in the application portion.

The applicant for this instance stated that there was no HOA, no condo association.

- [Ledford] But as a city, we know there's an HOA that is in the ordinance.

This should not even come before us in my opinion.

Thank you, chairman.

- [Smith] Thank you, sir.

Chairman Henderson?

- [Chairman Henderson] Thank you, sir.

It is disappointing that the applicant failed to be here tonight; has not contacted the residents, nor has he contacted me.

That is a disappointment.

Communication is vital.

However, I think the fact that this group does have an HOA that prohibits a business, being in the development.

I think that says it all.

And by the way, I appreciate you taking the time to come down and defend your properties.

At this time, because they do have an HOA, active HOA, that prohibits business, I'm gonna move to deny.

- [Smith] All right, we've got a motion and a second to deny.

Say no further lights, roll call, Madam Clerk?

- [Madam Clerk] CounciLwoman Hill?

- [Hill] Yes.

- [Madam Clerk] Councilman Ledford?

- [Ledford] Yes.

- [Madam Clerk] Councilman Hester?

- [Hester] Yes.

- [Madam Clerk] Councilwoman Berz?

- [Berz] Yes.

- [Madam Clerk] Councilman Dotley?

- [Dotley] Yes.

- [Madam Clerk] Councilman Byrd?

- [Byrd] Yes.

- [Madam Clerk] Councilwoman Coonrod?

- [Coonrod] Yes.

- [Madam Clerk] Vice Chairman Smith?

- [Smith] Yes.

- [Madam Clerk] Chairman Henderson?

- [Henderson] Yes.

- [Madam Clerk] Nine yes's.

- [Smith] All right.

Motion to deny passes.

Mr.

Chair, the floor is yours.

- [Chairman Henderson] All right.

Madam clerk moving now to 7B please.

- [Madam Clerk] A resolution considering short-term vacation rental application number 21SDVR124 for property located at 208 Baker Street.

- [Chairman Henderson] Is the applicant present for 7B?

- Yes, sir.

- [Chairman Henderson] The applicants here.

Okay.

Is there any opposition here for item 7B?

Okay.

Councilwoman Hill.

This is in district two, I believe.

Councilman Ledford.

Do you have a comment at this time?

- [Ledford] I did on the previous case sir, but I will defer until after this case to make my comment and respectfully defer to Councilwoman Hill.

- [Chairman Henderson] Councilwoman Hill, would you like to have a presentation?

- [Hill] I would.

- [Chairman Henderson] Okay.

Sir, let us give, give us a short presentation by Mr. Fisher.

- [Caleb Fisher] Again, the purple dots are non-owner occupied issued applications.

The green dots are owner occupied applications issued and the blue dot is the one under consideration, 208 Baker Street.

There are no other applications in process surrounding that property.

Here's an aerial, satellite view, This is the front of the unit.

This will be down Baker and up Baker.

And here's the timeline from when they applied in July 26, to today's city council hearing.

They have done all steps.

This is the only outstanding thing before they are issued.

- [Chairman Henderson] Could we have the applicant now?

And you have five minutes.

- [Corey Gray] Oh, thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

- [Chairman Henderson] Could we have a clock please?

You can begin.

- [Corey Gray] Yep.

I promise I won't take up the full five minutes.

I appreciate you hearing me today.

My name is Corey Gray and I'm just going to walk you through quickly kind of what our interest is in Chattanooga, since as you might hear, I'm sure from a few folks here that we're actually not local to Chattanooga.

I had kind of by coincidence, ended up in Chattanooga about around January with a friend and fell in love with your city.

And so we, we purchased the property in the south side of Chattanooga and our intention there was to use the property when we can, and then when we can't, short-term rent.

And so what we did was we set that property up on a short-term rental website.

And to my surprise, it booked a lot quicker than we had thought, because apparently we're not the only ones that have discovered Chattanooga and fall in love with the area a little bit.

And so our idea with the Baker Street property was that would be a property that we spent a little bit more time in.

So I've spent, we bought this property.

It was me and two friends and I've spent about two and a half months of the last seven months in Chattanooga.

My other friends spent another two months.

So the intention with the property that we own in the south side, historic district is leave that up as a short-term rental because people seem to really be liking it and then we'll use the Baker Street property.

And then because it's a little cost prohibitive for us to have it unoccupied for a significant amount of time, since it is a more expensive property for the area, our idea was to maybe have some guests in there, you know, transiently, a little bit.

So I was here, I was down in Chattanooga about a month and a half ago to meet several of the neighbors.

Loved the streets, loved the neighborhood.

Gary, who's here today, took us for a little walk around the neighborhood and kind of showed us the trails.

So we really liked the area, and it's unfortunate we're here today because I would have preferred to maybe address some of the concerns directly with the folks on Baker Street, but we did.

So we received two letters.

One of the letters actually had nine people sign it that were within 300 feet of the 208 Baker Street property, a little thrown off by that cause that doesn't so seem in the spirit or intent of the way the ordinance and process is written.

The level of effort to kind of walk around with a petition and have that signed by 9 or 10 people is a little different than actually writing, writing a letter of objection.

That letter of objection was very short and sweet.

So I think it was maybe two sentences in total.

And so I was hoping to address the concerns from the folks on Baker Street here.

And then if we're lucky enough to be granted the short-term rental permit, we of course will be good fiduciaries of the property and work that out with the folks on Baker Street.

So the three things that were mentioned there, one was parking on Baker Street.

And so we do have three parking spots and we've never really had more than two guests at our property or two cars at our property in the south side historic district.

And we could restrict that for sure.

And would do that.

As far as noise go, we didn't get a whole lot of notice for this hearing.

It kind of jumped in for a week.

We didn't receive the letter till Thursday and I actually live part-time in Boston, but we would have, we've had no noise complaints.

And so we know almost all our neighbors on the south side.

One person's kid helps us take the trash out when we're not around.

And a few other folks help us look after the property.

And I call probably once every two weeks, a different neighbor on our street to find out if there's been any issues since this was our first time doing short-term rentals, and there's never been any neighbors, any challenges with the neighbors.

And they've all been very supportive of us having the property there.

The third issue, it's a little harder for me to address because it's a little bit more abstract that was raised was the character of the neighborhood.

I don't know if there's a logical argument that I could use for that.

Other than to say that we've really been a part of the neighborhood in the south side, and that we love to be a part of the neighborhood on Baker Street.

And that's actually probably where we'll spend more time for sure.

The only other thing I have, and I apologize, I wasn't quite sure about the process for this hearing.

So I didn't print out enough of these, but, if you're interested.

Most of our bookings are via Airbnb.

And so I actually took it.

And when you get a booking on Airbnb, you get a screenshot, or you got a message saying, Hey, we're coming to your property and this is why.

Because of that, I took a selection of, I just took the last 20 or so messages.

And so you can kind of see the type of folks that we have.

It's usually people dropping the kids off to school.

We haven't had any partiers.

We had one person asked to have a party, and we told them that our property wouldn't be... (alarm rings) - [Chairman Henderson] You did manage to use your five minutes.

- [Corey Gray] I guess so.

Sorry.

- [Chairman Henderson] Thank you, sir.

- [Corey Gray] Thank you so much for the time.

- [Chairman Henderson] All right, at this time I'm going to ask the opposition if they would come.

- I'd like to reiterate a lot what the first group said.

That the community, that it is a community and I think that's why we all live on our neighborhood where we're at, it's a community.

So several of the things that I want to go over with, he showed a dot of a purple that says it's a non-occupied, but actually it's a two-story.

So the occupant does live up top.

It's just underneath.

So I think that was just a little off.

Then I want to talk about these.

These letters were never sent out in time.

My wife actually had to email somebody and then letters were sent out.

So the whole thing was shady in the beginning.

And then the notice, the signs posted was upstairs on the top floor sideways.

Nobody could read that.

So finally what you're saying, "Oh, something's happening right now."

I got 30 seconds.

Let's see, real quick.

So I did meet this fine gentlemen, but they presented themselves as, Hey, we're your new owners.

Hey, we are your brand new neighbors.

We had no idea.

Okay, great.

So we showed them around and I did ask, and my wife asked, we thought it was going to be an Airbnb.

Oh, no one really wants that.

And she said, well, we'll just take it to the vote.

Like they knew exactly we would be here.

So, I mean, we all oppose it because we really want community, family.

That's why we're here.

So, I mean, not a lot.

(alarm rings) - [Chairman Henderson] Thank you, sir.

Councilwoman Hill.

- [Hill] Thank you, chair.

Mr. Gray.

You are not the individual on the application.

Help me understand the situation, please.

- [Chairman Henderson] Come back to the podium please.

- [Gray] Yep.

Penn is on the application.

So I do have something here saying that I can represent.

- [Hill] So Penn is in Monterey Park, California.

And you said you're in Boston?

- [Gray] Yep.

- [Hill] And you have a third partner?

- [Gray] Yeah, his name is John, who also lives in Boston.

- [Hill] He also lives in Boston?

- [Gray] Yeah.

We bought the property together.

- [Hill] You know, Baker Street is, it is all the things the residents say it is.

It's a very tight knit community.

It is, which I'm glad that you were welcomed there when they thought you were going to be their neighbor.

It's very difficult to drive up and down, while it's not a one-way street, it often functions as one.

I'm glad that you like Chattanooga.

I have to say, I'm a little perturbed on behalf of my neighbors in district two, that you would question their effort to gather, to go door to door, and talk to their neighbors about something that was important to them, while questioning our process here in Chattanooga and implying that we didn't give you enough time while you live in Boston to come and talk to your neighbors door to door.

If it was enough, if it wasn't too difficult for them, I don't think it would have been too difficult for you.

Also, I did not get any kind of communication from you despite the fact that I've been getting repeated emails from this neighborhood.

So I, I wish you well with your south side property.

And I welcome you to Baker Street, but I moved to deny this short-term rental application.

And I will add, I am not opposed to short-term rentals in general, but this does not feel like one that is going to be in the appropriate place.

Especially when we look at this being potentially occupied by eight people.

- [Gray] And, Miss Hall, I meant no disrespect.

- [Chairman Henderson] Sir.

- [Gray] Apologies.

- [Chairman Henderson] We have a motion on the floor.

- [Hill] Yeah.

- [Chairman Henderson] And at this time, I'm going to ask for a second.

- [Chairman Henderson] We have a second.

Any questions or comments before we vote?

Roll call, please.

- [Madam Clerk] Councilwoman Coonrod?

- [Coonrod] Yes.

- [Madam Clerk] Councilman Byrd?

- [Byrd] Yes.

- [Madam Clerk] Councilwoman Dotley?

- [Dotley] Yes.

- [Madam Clerk] Councilwoman Berz?

- [Berz] Yes.

- [Madam Clerk] Councilman Hester?

- [Hester] Yes.

- [Madam Clerk] Councilman Ledford?

- [Ledford] Yes.

- [Madam Clerk] Councilwoman Hill?

- [Hill] Yes.

- [Madam Clerk] Vice Chairman Smith?

- [Smith] Yes.

- [Madam Clerk] Chairman Henderson?

- [Henderson] Yes.

- [Madam Clerk] Nine yes's.

- [Chairman Henderson] Motion to deny carries nine zero.

- [Gray] I appreciate it.

- [Chairman Henderson] Thank you, sir.

Council, I am not seeing any other hands.

What's the pleasure of the council?

We are adjourned.

(upbeat music) - [Announcer] You've been watching highlights of the Chattanooga city council meeting, a production of WTCI PBS.