Bart's Tahoe Apartments fail inspection, City Attorney to evaluate next steps

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Back in December 2018 the owners of Bart's Tahoe Apartments were issued a formal Notice and Order to repair and abate by the City of South Lake Tahoe. As a result of ongoing issues and a lack of willingness to fix the problems, they were 90 days to address a long list of safety issues and code violations.

Those 90 days were up on Friday, March 22, 2019, and City building inspectors and development services staff conducted an inspection and found the apartment building at 1224 Ski Run Boulevard continues to have unsafe living conditions.

Friday’s inspection showed the problems had not been fixed, and there was little effort on the part of the property owner to get these problems resolved, according to City staff. In fact, they had to call the fire department after a faulty heater was discovered. It was causing CO2 levels in that apartment to reach very dangerous levels. Wall temperatures around that heater reached 176 degrees and the fire department opened up the wall to make sure everything was safe.

The City has been trying to get the owners of Bart's Tahoe Apartments to address issues in the building for many years, but the newest series of contacts started in January 2018. The property went through their routine inspection at that time and the City saw many issues including a damaged parking area, mold, pests, signs of flooding, flooring and structural damage. At the re-inspection in May of last year, the problems persisted. By the November inspection, the problems had not been
fixed, and things were getting worse.

In 2006 the City shut down 15 units at Bart's due to a collapsed and leaking roof, heavy mold and cockroach infestations that were unacceptable. At the time they cited those 15 units as "unsafe to occupy."

"Our MultiFamily Dwelling (MFD) program is designed to make sure people in the City of South Lake Tahoe have a safe place to live,” said Kevin Fabino, Director of Development Services, “If there are issues with a multi-family property it also allows us to see those and get them resolved.”

An inspection report at the end of 2018 showed the following issues at Bart's Tahoe Apartments:

1. Deteriorated or inadequate foundations
2. Defective or deteriorated flooring or floor supports
3. Flooring or floor supports of insufficient size to carry imposed loads with safety
4. Members of walls, partitions, or other vertical supports that split, lean, list, or buckle due to defective material or deterioration
5. Members of walls, partitions, or other vertical supports that are of insufficient size to carry imposed loads with safety.
6. Members of ceilings, roofs, ceiling and roof supports, or other horizontal members which sag, split, or buckle due to defective material or deterioration.
7. Members of ceilings, roofs, ceiling, and roof supports, or other horizontal members that are of insufficient size to carry imposed loads with safety.
8. Deteriorated, crumbling, or loose plaster
9. Defective or lack of weather protection for exterior wall coverings, including lack of paint, or weathering due to lack of paint or other approved protective covering.
10. The Subject Property has not been inspected, tested, or maintained for the purpose of maintaining and testing the fire alarm and fire detection systems
11. The smoke alarms throughout the Subject Property are missing, inoperable or out of fire code compliance.
12. The carbon monoxide alarms throughout the Subject Property are missing; Inoperable or out of fire code compliance.
13. Security devices, exit lighting, fire doors and egress locks throughout the Subject Property have not been properly installed or maintained. Repair or replace all fire, exit and egress devices-Fire door assemblies, lighting, path of travel indicators, fire rated construction deficiencies.
14. The drying machines in the laundry room were installed incorrectly and contain defects in their venting system that creates a substantial fire hazard from lint build up and health and safety hazard for the occupants of Subject Property.
15. The walls in the laundry room are soiled, peeling, and severely stained with heavy lint. The condition of the walls contributes to the building’s unsightly appearance and constitutes a public nuisance as well as creating additional fire hazards.
16. The balconies, walkways, and decks of the units of the Subject Property are improperly used to store items such as bikes, cleaning supplies, trash, furniture, and other miscellaneous items.

At that time residents received notice that their landlord, Vernice Zanco of Washington, was notified that she had "unlawful conditions that constitute a public nuisance and which pose a substantial danger to the health, safety, and general welfare of the occupants, the surrounding community, and the public" at the property. The 36 families that at Bart's were told in December they should be prepared to vacate the property if Zanco failed to fix the issues.

“As part of the MFD program, property owners are required to make corrections. Bart's Tahoe has done the bare minimum,” said Fabino, “This property has never fully complied with the minimum standards.”

No building permit application or plans have been received for most of the required corrections. A building permit was issued to the owner on January 18, 2019, for minor electrical and plumbing repairs but a reinspection was never requested for those items.

Barts Tahoe was also placed on Fire Watch in December due to significant fire hazards and someone was supposed to be patrolling it 24 hours a day. That also
hasn’t happened, and the property owner continues to be cited and fined daily as a result. The property remains on fire watch until further notice.

“We want the owners of Barts Tahoe to live up to their responsibility of providing safe and secure housing for people in South Lake Tahoe,” said SLT Communications Manager, Chris Fiore. “We hope this serves as a message to other property owners too, the City will not stand for properties that aren’t safe and secure. We have taken action here, and we’ll continue to.”

The case has been turned over to City Attorney Heather Stroud to evaluate next steps, which may include petitioning the court to appoint a receiver to make the necessary repairs.

No residents have been asked to leave at this time, pending Stroud's decision.

In the meantime, management at Bart's is advertising 16 available one- and two-bedroom apartments for rent in the building on Craigslist. They are offering one bedroom units for $1095 and the two bedroom units for $1195. When asked why they are renting them out prior to the inspection results on Friday morning, management told South Tahoe Now they were only accepting applications and not charging the normal application fee of $45. They said they would start the rental process and collect fees once they passed inspection.

The property owner Zanco, who has lived in San Francisco and in the Spokane area, owns Zanco Properties. That company owns and manages several apartment buildings in Washington, many that have long lists of complaints about conditions. She also has owned apartments in San Franciso where many of the same problems as South Lake Tahoe has also existed, according to court documents.