Letter: Don't let City allow hosted vacation rentals

The ban on Vacation Home Rentals (VHRs) in South Lake Tahoe is looming and the City is now working on putting holes in it. The first attempt is being presented Tuesday, Nov 3 at the City Council meeting. The City plans to allow 200 “Hosted” short term rentals in our neighborhoods. It will require a tenant or owner to host guests in their ‘homes’ to be available to respond to complaints within 60 minutes of issues being reported. On the surface this seems a reasonable alternative until we consider the realities and how this might actually be used. Who would even do this in their own home and how complaints will be dealt with is not clear.

Who would actually apply to operate a Hosted Rental?

We have had an influx of huge homes built for the express purpose of being VHRs which are now being blocked by Measure T. The homes on the old drive-in property and on Herbert Ave are BIG examples of this. Homes with six or more bedrooms are hardly something that belongs in our neighborhoods. With this measure, I feel the owners of these properties can hire a live-in property manager as their ‘tenant’ and then resume operating as a VHR. To be sure, this is at least an improvement on the current set of VHRs which have no obligation to monitor activities and rely on local residents and the police to report and manage problems. This ordinance essentially makes them into permitted Motels with an on-site manager.

Please consider writing the City Council before Tuesday’s meeting and remind them that this issue has already been voted on. We have zoning for a reason. Putting motels next to our homes is not the solution. An ordinance that only encourages the building of massive homes will in no way improve our housing concerns and will make things worse. The City should focus their efforts on redeveloping our existing motel inventories and helping the long existing Lodging we already have, rather than undermining them with privately operated mini-motels. Sustainability would suggest we improve what we have, not expand outside of existing facilities.

-Scott Ramirez
Resident, City of South Lake Tahoe