Joey Garrison

jgarrison@tennessean.com

More than two dozen members of the Metro Council have asked Mayor Megan Barry’s administration to consider directing Nashville police to serve as enforcers of new regulations for Airbnb and other short-term rental properties.

But the Metro Nashville Police Department opposes the idea.

In a letter to Barry last week, 28 council members raised frustrations over Metro’s struggle to enforce Airbnb-targeted regulations adopted more than one year and a half ago that sought, among other things, to limit the number of guests who can stay at residential homes rented out on a short-term basis.

Council members, in the letter, proposed a handful of solutions, including directing at least 10 police officers to be trained to document and enforce short-term rental property codes violations during nights and weekends.

They suggested that police be trained in short-term rental permit verification, noise ordinance violations, and parking that blocks rights-of-ways and sidewalks, as well as other codes violations.

“As you well know, no law — current or proposed — is effective unless enforceable,” reads the letter, which was drafted by Councilman Colby Sledge, who represents parts of 12South and Wedgewood-Houston.

But in a statement, Metro Police spokesman Don Aaron made clear that the police department has no interest in expanding its duties to include Airbnb rules.

“With Nashville’s continued growth, our police officers have plenty on their plates answering calls for service and proactively working to deter criminal activity,” Aaron told The Tennessean in an emailed statement. “Enforcement of short term rental issues is not something the MNPD should be a part of. That should rest with the codes department. The MNPD presently responds to quality of life issues such as vehicles blocking rights of way and noise complaints. We will continue to do so.”

Police are often the ones, particularly on weekend nights, who respond to noise complaints that are directed at homes in residential neighborhoods being used for Airbnb or other short-term rentals.

But some council members have complained that police lack the authority to carry out Nashville’s cap on the number of overnight guests allowed at such homes.

“As a council, we want to ensure Nashville remains a welcoming, friendly place for all who visit,” the letter reads. “Our charge, however, is to serve Nashvillians. When it comes to our STR property enforcement and procedures, Nashville’s government is failing Nashvillians. This inability to enforce our existing STR reguatlions represents an irresponsible abdication of our duties as a government to our tax-paying residents. We must do better.”

Other suggestions outlined in the letter include changing schedules of new positions in the codes department that deal with short-rental positions to allow for property checks on weekends. They also advised that Metro issue quarterly reminders to short-term property owners outlining tax payment obligations.

Sledge said he understands the police department's concerns with enforcing short-term rental rules, but added: "The reality is that these officers are getting called out on these issues as it is, and we're trying to empower them as much possible while also responding to our constituents' repeated issues with some of the worst-offending properties."

Nashville currently caps guests at short-term rental homes at no more than twice the number of beds at a home, plus four. Homes are limited to four beds, meaning the number of guests is capped at 12.

But pending legislation would reduce that number. At-large Councilman Bob Mendes’ has an ordinance — amended from an earlier version — that would set the limit on guests at two times the number of bedrooms in a house.

Another controversial short-term rental ordinance, also proposed by Mendes, would reduce the number of short-term permitted homes within certain geographic areas.

Existing Airbnb regulations allow for no more than 3 percent cap per each census tract for short-term rentals. Mendes has proposed reducing the threshold to 1 percent, but said he plans to stop pursuing that proposal for now.

The council, at the request of Mendes, delayed voting on both pieces of legislation in order to provide a longer review of the proposals. These bills are among six ordinances related to Airbnb enforcement or new rules that have been considered by the council in recent weeks, three of which cleared the council last week.

In a statement on the council letter, the Nashville Area Short Term Rental Association, which represents many Airbnb hosts, said the recently passed measures are “reasonable and gives the respective agencies more than enough tools to regulate reasonably home sharing in Nashville.

“Anything more is unnecessary and overreaching,” the group said.

Reach Joey Garrison at 615-259-8236 and on Twitter @joeygarrison.