City Addresses Concerns of South Lake Tahoe Business Community

Learning about how to run a business in South Lake Tahoe isn't always the easiest task, but the City took one step closer to stream lining the process at a community meeting Wednesday night.

City Attorney Tom Watson led a discussion group in the City Council chambers, trying to find out what issues businesses have with the City and the City Code.

With a City Code book a few inches thick, Watson and City staff will be working over the next several months in trying to not only reduce it's size, but to also make it a economically feasible guide to success. Watson said he knows businesses need to understand the rules, and that they want to comply, but is also aware that businesses want the code enforced equally.

This is where the City's Code Enforcement team comes into play. Team members told the group that they made 658 code contacts in the last seven months, ranging from building violations, illegal pot grows, outdoor displays on businesses, trash container issues, vacation home rentals and abandoned vehicles to name just a few. Out of those, they issued 71 citations, 451 written warnings and 83 verbal warnings.

They asked, what are issues with the code you'd like addressed? The dozen people in attendance said they'd like to see business and multi-family dumpster ordinances addressed and other things that will keep South Lake Tahoe a town that looks clean, feels clean and presents a place were we all want to be.

Mark Carlson, the new City Administrative Services Director, has been on the job for just one week. He said they'd like to look at the end goal and not punish businesses that get there a different way. Watson added that codes are reactive, that they are written because a City Council asks their attorney to write a code. He wants to reverse that and have a set of codes that are easy to find and easy to understand.

Tonight was the start of a process that will continue with more open meetings, the first of which will be May 7.