New Vacation Home Rental ordinance passes City Council

It was another packed house at the South Lake Tahoe City Council's meeting Tuesday, which has been commonplace for all of the meetings and workshops on the contentious subject of vacation home rentals.

In a unanimous vote of 4-0 (Councilman Tom Davis had to recuse himself), the City Council voted to implement an ordinance that addresses three key issues:

1) When a person wants to have their home rented out as a vacation home rental (VHR) they will fill out an application. Once the completed application is received, City staff will send out notices to all homes within 300 feet of the house, alerting them to the fact that the owner of the home wishes for it to become a rental property. Staff has 30 days to get the letters out and schedule a hearing should there be objection.

2) The process of issuing a VHR permit will include an in-depth evaluation of all criteria and compliance before issuance of the VHR permit. This includes health and safety requirements, adequate parking and impacts on a neighborhood. The home must also be advertised correctly based on the number of bedrooms. For instance, a three-bedroom home cannot say it sleeps 12 (10 would be the maximum allowed).

3) Permit is issued to an applicant and not the property and will be renewed annually. he Zoning Administrator will conduct an inspection of all homes prior to the initial permit being issued, or, for those already permitted, at the time of the next renewal. All properties will be inspected only once as long as kept in the same ownership and no concerns have arisen.

Everyone agreed that the dynamics of neighborhoods have changed and we've gone from families with kids that are attending local schools to house after house being rented out to people who change every weekend. The Council wanted to protect the rights of the homeowners to live in peace and quiet as well as to allow homes to be operated as small businesses in areas zoned for Single Family Residences.

A concern of real estate agents was the fact that they said it would be difficult to sell a home if a permit was not guaranteed. The 30 day rule for decisions was added so passing of a permit could be part of an escrow.

Prior to Tuesday's meeting, the sub-committee of Councilmembers Austin Sass and Wendy David met 13 times over the last three weeks, two of which were with volunteer groups of stakeholders. One 3.5 hour meeting was with Doug Rosner, Dan Spano, Carl Fair, Cameron Falls, Carl Ribaudo and Ashley Mattila. Another meeting was held for three hours with Jerry Birdwell, Jerry and Linda Goodman, Peggy Bourland-Madison and Carol Beller.

Sass and David thanked the groups for the intense and long meetings to come up with an adjusted ordinance that addressed many concerns. The stakeholder concerns included a fair process, a timely process, opportunities to express opinions and concern, feedback on complaints and concerns on loss of revenue and income.

As was evident in the City Council meeting, the new ordinance cannot please everyone and not all concerns could be addressed. With so many viewpoints, it would be hard to accomplish that.

"We have created a fair and equitable process," said City Manager Nancy Kerry.

"We know VHRs are here to stay," said Councilwoman Wendy David. "We have not restricted VHRs, have not made a maximum number and there is no moratorium." She and Sass broke down each portion of the ordinance and asked "is this necessary?" according to David.

After final approval at the August 4 City Council meeting, the ordinance will be in affect starting September 1, 2015. The City will have a page on their website dedicated to VHRs to explain rules, regulations, processes and benefits.

The Council will address the ordinance and how it's working for the community in one year.