Vacation rentals in South Lake Tahoe still divisive topic

The vacation home rental (VHR) businesses in South Lake Tahoe have joined together in an effort to address, not only issues residents have with their homes, but to address their relationship with those who control and vote on their regulations.

"Our biggest fear is that the City has changed the intent of the ordinance without the council approval," said Josh Priou, Director of Product Development at Lake Tahoe Accommodations and a member of SLTVRA, South Lake Tahoe Vacation Rental Alliance.

The South Lake Tahoe City Council voted to create a SLT Vacation Rental Ordinance that went into effect on October 1, 2015. The ordinance was not only created to address concerns of local residents affected by noisy and dirty vacation rentals in their neighborhoods, but it was created so the industry could know what the City's direction was and have rules to abide by.

Most residents in South Lake Tahoe have some sort of an opinion about VHRs, they love them, hate them or aren't exactly sure. Some have had bad experiences before the ordinance.

"The opposition to VHRs are focusing on the old," said Priou. "We are better on trash, noise and parking. There is clear view of expectations, the experience is better and we are working hard to be better."

Since 2015, there have been rules homeowners need to abide by in order to use their homes as a vacation rental, and those that don't keep in compliance lose their ability to rent their home, whether it is for extra income a few days a year, or a few months a year.

A few points of the 2015 ordinance:

- Notification of neighbors within a 300 foot radius when homes apply for a permit
- A home inspection by the City's Building Division, and a hearing with the Zoning Administrator if requested
- Paved parking for all cars renting a home
- Garbage kept off the streets until the scheduled pick up date
- Hot tubs are turned off by 10:00 a.m.
- All homes must have a local contact person that is available by text 24/7

SLTVRA believes in these requests, and their companies have procedures in place to ensure compliance. What has happened since the initial ordinance is what now concerns Priou and his group.

"We have already done what is asked," said Priou. "We want consistency in the zoning meetings."

All homes applying for a permit are now scheduled for a hearing with the zoning administrator, whether there are issues and complaints, or not.

Priou said contingencies have come up out of the blue during these administrator meetings, like paved parking prior to the license being issued instead of the homeowner paying a bond in case they apply during a season where this can't be accomplished. New contingencies are also being issued such as the number of nights a home can be rented out, something not in the ordinance. During a recent zoning administrator meeting a home on Overlook near Heavenly was required to have a neighbor watch over the house, the installation of cameras and hired security. Another home was given a six-month permit, and several others a year-long permit.

During the process of formulating the ordinance in 2015, changes were made to have all current VHR permit holders to get the building department to approve their home upon their renewal date. The code said there'd be a one time inspection, and if passed their future permits would be approved as long as all other aspects of the code were complied with. Many homes being permitted at this time are getting a one-year permit and they must go before the Zoning Administrator after a year. When the ordinance passed there were almost 1,800 permitted vacation rentals in the city limits. Now there are just over 1,300.

"Generally speaking, the processing of a VHR application has not changed," said Kevin Fabino, the Director of Development Services for the City and the Zoning Administrator. "The nuance is that all applications are now being heard by the Zoning Administrator hearing. This is allowed under the Code, which allows the Zoning Administrator to hold public hearings on all applications."

Lake Tahoe Accommodations, Priou said, has been doing what is asked of them in the new ordinance for over eight years. They go over the rules with each person in town to rent one of their homes and want to be good neighbors. The members of the SLTVRA educate their renters to the rules and regulations, something long term rental companies don't have to do. The long term rentals in town also don't need home inspections, paved parking or noise constraints.

The average vacation rental home in South Lake Tahoe rents about 100 nights a year, though some see higher occupancy, and others lower.

"This is our community too," said Priou. "We want to be good neighbors. We want a peaceful coexistence and we need to work together to have a balance between vacation renters and owners."

"We are being penalized before we've done anything wrong," said Staci Patton, Turn Key Permitting and Violation Specialist.

Patton and Priou both said there are fines already in the code that can be charged to a homeowner with violations, and the owner can lose their license once they reach four violations in a year.

During one recent zoning hearing on a property in the Tahoe Keys, the management company, Tahoe Destination Vacation Rentals, applying for the permit has received no violations on any of the 30 properties she manages. She was given a six-month approval based on complaints of a neighboring property that she is not responsible for.

"We don’t want to be approving VHR applications simply because there is no written objection on file," Fabino said of their change from hearings only if objections were filed. "We want to make sure, in a public setting, that the VHR application is appropriate in that setting, that there are no police calls, noise, trash and parking issues are addressed, or that the particular application could or has not in some way changed the character of the neighborhood."

Many of Fabino's decisions ask that the neighbors and VHR owner or management company get together and talk out an issues they have, "a talk over the fence like neighbors do," he said at a recent hearing. Fabino said this has worked in some of the instances, but Priou said they are now being singled out as "strong arming" when trying to talk to neighbors.

"We want to focus on the positive, and not the negative," said Priou.

The City takes in about $2.9 million annually from the taxes paid by vacation renters. Priou pointed out that the vacation renter also spends a lot of money, an estimated $70 million annually, while in town on gas, groceries, clothing and gifts, recreation and entertainment.

The VHR industry in South Lake Tahoe also employs cleaning and front desk staff, as well as hiring local handymen, snow removers, electricians, appliance repair, plumbers and more. Patton said her company paid out $530,000 in salaries in 2016, up from $170,000 in 2015. Priou estimated the industry employs about 1,000 people in the community.

A look at the impacts of vacation rentals on the community will be the focus of a public working on January 25 from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the Senior Center located at 3050 Lake Tahoe Blvd. in South Lake Tahoe. This is the second of three public workshops. In the first one, Michael Baker Incorporated, a company that has studied the same impacts at Big Bear Lake, Morro Bay, Monterey and Avalon on Catalina Island, listened to the community and gathered facts for the City. They were hired to provide a socio-economic study on the impacts of vacation home rentals (VHRs) on the city.

"We want to focus on the positive, and not on the negative, aspects of vacation home renters," said Priou. Vacation renters rent the homes so they can enjoy South Lake Tahoe and pretend for a weekend or a week that they are locals, something they can only dream about. This is not an experience they feel they can get from staying in a motel or hotel.

"They are here to make memories," said Priou.

This situation of vacation rentals, ordinances and negative reactions by residents isn't unique to Lake Tahoe. The Colorado Association of Ski Towns (CAST) formed originally as a group to focus on marketing the ski towns to those wanting to rent vacation homes, and has now morphed into addressing long term housing, community character, and change of neighborhood concerns. South Lake Tahoe is ahead of the what CAST recommends community do: track income, have rules or ordinances, and mapping of VHRs.

Two of the leaders in the vacation home rental business, AirBnb and VRBo, are now in more countries than Marriott hotels are.