Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Housing Policy topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Cookeville council adopts ordinance to allow adaptive reuse of hotels with affordability and lease safeguards
Summary
After more than an hour of debate and public comment, the Cookeville City Council approved Ordinance O260611 to permit adaptive residential multifamily reuse (converting extended-stay hotels to longer-term housing) with revised affordability thresholds, mandatory voucher acceptance and a 90-day minimum lease.
Cookeville, Tenn. — The Cookeville City Council on July 16 adopted Ordinance O260611, which allows adaptive residential multifamily reuse of existing hotel or extended-stay properties in certain commercial-industrial mixed-use zones under a special-exception process.
The ordinance, approved on second reading as amended, retains requirements for BZA approval and annual reporting while adding four substantive changes the city says make the ordinance more enforceable: higher affordability thresholds, a HUD-based method to calculate maximum gross rent, mandatory acceptance of eligible housing vouchers, and a minimum 90-day lease term.
Planning staff explained the revisions at length. Ward, describing the revised draft, said the changes "strengthen the affordability component, provide a clear and more enforceable maximum allowed rent calculation, require the accepting of eligible housing vouchers, and establish that 90 day lease term." He told the council the draft ties rent caps to applicable HUD income limits and clarifies inclusion of mandatory recurring fees and, in some cases, utilities.
Council members and public commenters testified for hours on whether the ordinance balanced affordability goals with a viable business model for property owners. One council member (speaker 8) urged tougher caps and proposed an amendment: "My recommendation just to get this even closer would be to amend this amendment to 25% maximum rent and 30% with utilities included," arguing that higher caps would leave low-income households paying more than fair-market rent.
Other council members pushed the opposite view, saying the council should avoid setting rigid price controls that could make conversions financially infeasible. Speaker 9 said after reviewing market data he favored the original ordinance language and noted the sponsor had offered concessions: "In totality, I'm like, the pros outweigh the cons," he said, urging the council to try a model that might increase housing options.
Public commenters also spoke. An extended-stay operator and other stakeholders described their role in transitional housing and urged the council to consider the level of service, inspections and partnerships with nonprofits and county agencies as part of the solution.
Council amended the ordinance on the floor to include the 90-day lease requirement and the "shall" language requiring voucher acceptance, then voted to adopt the original ordinance as presented at first reading with those amendments. The clerk announced the vote as "4 yes — motion carries." The council flagged the measure as experimental and left open the option to revisit the ordinance if it proved unsustainable.
The ordinance changes do not automatically rezone properties; affected properties must still obtain any required approvals, and the city said the designation will be subject to BZA review and additional implementation steps.
Next steps: The ordinance is adopted as amended. Implementation details (including reporting and enforcement mechanisms, and whether the council will revisit affordability thresholds) will be monitored and can be adjusted in future sessions if the council determines the model is not meeting intended outcomes.
