El Dorado County supervisors add $1,000 fine for vacation home rental use in Lake Tahoe Basin

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - The El Dorado County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to issue citations to anyone violating the ban on nonessential travel in the Lake Tahoe Basin as it pertains to the use of vacation home rentals (VHRs).

Anyone found using a VHR is subject to a $1,000 fine per day of violation.

This follows an earlier vote by the South Lake Tahoe City Council to do the same thing, only the City's ordinance covers use by second homeowners as well.

Supervisor Sue Novasel said they didn't want to address the second homeowner's use yet, but they may still go there if people continue to chose to travel to the Lake Tahoe Basin.

"The community is trying hard to abide by rules," said Novesel. "We want to make sure we don’t get a surge [with visitors coming]."

On April 3, the County Public Health Officer Dr. Nancy Williams issued a an order restricting travel into the Basin in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. Since that time several vacation homes in the county have been used.

"We needed something with teeth to it," said Novasel of their voting for an ordiance with fines.

The Board of Supervisors added the Urgency Ordinance discussion and vote onto their agenda as an addendum.

County Sheriff D'Agostini would not fine people for traveling and breaking the Governor's Stay at Home order so the supervisors made the issue a civil one with administrative fines, Novasel said.

"The County Counsel, Chief Administrative Officer and I felt we had the ability to have criminal enforcement, but we made it a civil matter as the Sheriff said they would not enforce," said Novasel.

Vacation Home permit holders have been notified of the ordinance "letting them know they shouldn’t be vacationing here," said Novasel.

People wanting to make a complaint will need to call the Code Enforcement officer at (530) 621-5999 or by filling out a form - weekends and outside of business hours visit https://edcgov.trakit.net/eTRAKiT/CRM/issue.aspx or email VHRcomplaints@edcgov.us.

Starting May 1, all vacation home rental complaints and auditing will be done with the same third party agency the City of South Lake Tahoe uses, Host Compliance. That company is 24/7 and dispatches code enforcement officers when complaints are received.