ASHEVILLE – Property owners have dropped a lawsuit challenging a city short-term rental ban and the $500 daily fines that accompany it.

July 22 court documents showed five property owners — Rebecca Robertson, Wann Near, Christal Weatherly, Allison Smith and Bryan Robinson — voluntarily dismissed their 2015 suit challenging Asheville’s legal ability to crack down on short-term tourist rentals in neighborhoods, a practice made popular through websites such as Airbnb.com.

Asheville attorney Derek Allen with Ward Smith, P.A. is representing the property owners, who are members of Asheville Short Term Rental Advocates. Allen said the city’s decision to consider easing the ban was behind the lawsuit being dropped,

Rentals of less than 30 days are banned in any residentially zoned area. But on May 18, the City Council voted to look at legalizing short-term rentals in certain small lodgings, called “accessory dwelling units” that include garage apartments, backyard cottages and basement apartments. The council created a task force that is expected to come back with recommendations in September.

“We felt like ASTRA’s citizen-funded group’s limited resources are most effectively applied toward examining the potential solutions that may come out of the work of the task force,” Allen said.

City Councilman Gordon Smith, a chief proponent of the ban, said he was happy the suit was dropped. He and others opposing the practice say short-term rentals reduce the amount of housing available for locals and hurt the cohesiveness of neighborhoods.

While the city doesn’t allow the renting of whole houses or apartments for less than 30 days, Smith noted that residents can get a permit to rent rooms on a short-term basis, something the city calls homestays. A long-term resident has to be staying in the home and the rooms rented can’t be the majority of the space.

“City Council has taken a very reasonable, prudent approach that creates opportunity for individuals to tap into the tourism market and protects neighborhoods,” he said. “We are also in the midst of a severe housing shortage and affordable housing crisis that illegal short term rentals have only exacerbated.”

Short-term rental proponents have argued the practice helps people who might be struggling to keep up with house payments and other expenses.

ASTRA, which Allen said has more than 100 members, surveyed short-term rental owners and found that 42 percent make less than $5,000 a year on rentals and 72 percent make less than $25,000, he said.

“The point being: the rental income generated is a supplement to an owner’s income, not a replacement and certainly not a ‘get rich’ proposition,” the attorney said.