Amendments to VHR fines on horizon

South Lake Tahoe may not be known as the home of the $2,000 parking ticket after action taken by the City Council Tuesday.

National media attention spotlighted the fines ($1,000 to the renter and $1,000 to the homeowner) associated with violations of the vacation home rental (VHR) ordinance approved at the end of 2017 by the South Lake Tahoe City Council. This negative publicity has prompted some cancellations of tourist visits, or other changes to vacation plans, according to those in the industry.

"Tourism is our only industry and you're scaring away our economy, making it an uninviting place to come," said Staci Patton, General Manager of Paramount Vacation Rentals who also said the fines were "killing an ant with a sledgehammer."

Kathy Jo Liebhardt, owner of Tahoe Destination Vacation Rentals, told council her company has lost about $30,000 in rentals since the CBS story about parking fines broke. Guests told her they didn't want to risk being fined, even though they didn't plan on breaking rules.

Tuesday's six month review of the new ordinance highlighted some of the unintended results of a fine system set up to keep residents affected by noise and parking happy and to get compliance of renters.

The majority of the violations since the new ordinance went into effect have been for parking, not noise and disturbances.

Knowing homeowners can lose their permit to rent with three violations, some vigilante tactics by residents were reported during the meeting to get owners to that point.

Maureen Stuhlman, VHR code compliance auditor for the City, reported to the Council that some anonymous phone calls are received by the Host Compliance hot line give a list of parking violations per each call. Host Compliance, the company hired, among other things, to handle the calls and dispatch the SLT Community Service Officer (CSO), is getting verbal abuse from calls full of profanity and other content Stuhlman couldn't repeat in public. Those parking calls send out the CSO at all hours, and if occupants are asleep they'll wake them up.

Stuhlman told the Council about a story of a man staying at a VHR that allowed four cars. He arrived after midnight, and couldn't park in the garage as two cars were parked in the driveway. The renter sat in his car, deciding if he should wake up the other renters and move the cars around, thus causing more noise for neighbors, or park on the street until everyone was awake. He parked on the street and the CSO was at the door at 7:00 a.m.

The violation in this case was dropped in a hearing because he did try, and no more cars than allowed were parked at the home.

Stuhlman also said one call came in, and she spoke to the person because it was a very minor infraction by a car parked less than an inch onto the dirt. The caller told her that they knew the CSO would respond to parking and they wanted the VHR to lose their permit.

Many in attendance also asked for discretion on the part of the CSO. There have been reports of phone calls to the Call Center for people parking to pack up, or drop off groceries. The CSO will now have discretion to not cite cases that are reasonable actions.

"It does make me very sad that our community is being seen as not being welcome to tourists," said Mayor Wendy David. "Council was trying to strike balance to preserve VHRs with strong enforcement to keep the public happy. I am saddened to hear about the vigilantes seeking out tourists.

"People driving around in their cars to call in violations," said Melissa Wong. "Dial back some of this to improve our branding and marketing."

During the next City Council meeting on June 5, a resolution with their recommended changes will be brought before them. That item can be approved immediately and not wait for a 30-day period as it won't be a change to the ordinance.

Sergio Rudin, sitting in as city attorney, advised the council to not make changes to the ordinance due to a possible initiative on the ballot by an anti-VHR group that would void all changes. Rudin is from Burke, Williams and Sorensen, the same law firm as City Attorney Nira Doherty. He appears when she is unable to, an agreement in place until a new City attorney is hired.

The resolution before the Council at their next meeting with outline which fines are to the renter, which are to the owner, and which are to both. Most might have a $250 price tag though those not paying their Tourist Occupancy Tax (TOT) will still have the $1,000 fine most likely.

"I understand the neighbors as well, one of those things we have to balance," added David on compliance of the ordinance.

Parking at condominium and town home complexes has also been an issue since the new ordinance started. Some of these areas have little parking, thus reducing the occupancy allowed. If there is a Home Owners Association (HOA) at the complex, the HOA rules can overrule the VHR ordinance. This is the case for the bear box requirement in the Tahoe Keys, something not allowed by their HOA terms. If a complex HOA were to pass a rule allowing more parking than allowed by the ordinance, they can do so.