Closed session for South Lake Tahoe City Council: Measure T and Tahoe Wellness lawsuits

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - A special closed session meeting has been called for City Council on Tuesday, January 8, 2019 at 8:30 a.m. There are two agenda items, both involving conferences with legal counsel.

First up is concerning litigation the City is facing after the South Lake Tahoe Property Owners Group filed a lawsuit on December 18, 2018 to stop the enforcement of Measure T, the ballot measure passed by a narrow margin in November that will ban vacation home rentals in South Lake Tahoe by 2021. The group was successful in getting a temporary stop to the enforcement of one portion of the measure that was to start immediately, a maximum of 12 occupants per home.

The Council is expected to give City Attorney Heather Stroud on how to proceed.

Also on the agenda is discussion about the lawsuit filed by now-City Councilman Cody Bass and his Tahoe Wellness Cooperative against the City of South Lake Tahoe. That case made it to the appellate court after a local judge ruled in the City's favor, prompting Tahoe Wellness Cooperative to appeal that decision. It is still in the higher court.

Bass was elected as a city councilman in November and cannot vote on anything, closed or open session, concerning his business or cannabis in general.

This case stems back to 2016 when Bass was unable to get a renewal on his Tahoe Wellness Collective permit as the lone medical cannabis collective in South Lake Tahoe. A judge issued a stay, allowing Tahoe Wellness to operate as a medical dispensary while he and the City worked out their differences. The City hadn't renewed his permit because he didn't have new approval from his landlord at the time. Bass has since purchased that building.

Bass reportedly offered the City a settlement and the January 8 meeting will be the first chance for the Council to discuss.

In another case, Bass gathered enough signatures to get an injunction against the City to stop their cannabis ordinance that didn't favor his current mode of operations. He gave the City a list of demands on what he wants the new ordinance to allow.

A new ordinance may be up for consideration by the Council at their new regular meeting on January 15.