lawsuit

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - On May 7, 2020, South Lake Tahoe lost a steadfast advocate for safe, clean drinking water and reliable wastewater services. James R. Jones, 77, a local engineer and avid sailor, served on South Tahoe Public Utility District’s Board of Directors for 39 years (1977-1989, 1993-2020). During his tenure on the Board, Director Jones focused on building for the future, instead of 'kicking the can down the road.’

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - A we say goodbye to 2019, 2020 is on the horizon with hopes, dreams and a list of wishes for the new year.

Instead of taking a look back at 2019 let's take a look forward to 2020 in South Lake Tahoe. What does this year have in store for us?

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Vacation Home Rentals (VHR) in South Lake Tahoe continue to be the hot topic, even months after a measure to ban most of them in the city limits narrowly passed in the November 2018 election. Voters approved Measure T by 58 votes.

The subject has created a big divide in the community and a decision by the South Lake Tahoe City Council Tuesday will not lessen that division though their intent is now clear.

For more than a decade, attorney Scott Norris Johnson has made it his business to sue thousands of small business owners around Lake Tahoe and up and down the state over alleged violations of the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA).

Today he finds himself in hot water after a federal grand jury returned an indictment today against the Carmichael resident, charging him with three counts of making and subscribing a false tax return.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. The City of South Lake Tahoe has launched its new
newsletter - "At Lake Level." The monthly newsletter is written by City Manager Frank Rush and prepared by Communications Manager Chris Fiore in an effort to keep the community well informed about City issues and initiatives.

New Leadership

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - The City and the South Lake Tahoe Property Owner's Group have reached an agreement on the enforcement of Measure T, a voter-initiated ballot measure to remove over 1,300 vacation home rentals from neighborhoods by the year 2021.

There were two major portions of the measure though that were to go into effect immediately, a change to occupancy rates and a halt to the issuing of new permits for the vacation accommodations made popular by websites like Airbnb.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - A special closed session meeting has been called for City Council on Tuesday, January 8, 2019 at 8:30 a.m. There are two agenda items, both involving conferences with legal counsel.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - The South Lake Tahoe Property Owners Group has a court date Monday, December 24 to try and get a temporary restraining order against the City of South Lake Tahoe's implementation of Measure T.

LAKE TAHOE, CA/NV - It's been 38 years in the making. On Thursday, November 15, 2018, the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) Board of Directors unanimously approved the final joint environmental document for the US 50/South Shore Community Revitalization Project, also known as the "Loop Road."

Last week, the board of the Tahoe Transportation District (TTD) unanimously approved the same document, the final Environmental Impact Statement (EIR/EIS/EIS).

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - After a referendum to put a halt to the South Lake Tahoe cannabis ordinance was successful, a meeting held Monday was to work through the points of the ordinance Cody Bass and Tahoe Wellness Cooperative took issue with.

Led by the City Council representatives Austin Sass and Brooke Laine, members of the original cannabis workgroup, Cody Bass and some members of the public, about two dozen in total, spent three hours trying to come up direction for the city attorney to use in creating a new ordinance.

We at the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency are mourning the passing of Bill Morgan. In the pantheon of people who have contributed mightily to the agency’s success, Bill is in the top tier. He was executive director from April 1, 1985 to September 30, 1989, one of the most tumultuous times for TRPA. There is a high likelihood that there would be no TRPA if Bill had not been at the helm and found ways to bring disparate parties together.

The League to Save Lake Tahoe, Mountain Area Preservation and Sierra Watch are filing today a notice of appeal in California’s Third District Court of Appeals seeking adequate environmental protection for Lake Tahoe from the proposed Martis Valley West Project.

In 2014, City of South Lake Tahoe Fire Rescue (SLTFR) took possession of a 2013 model Ferrara ladder truck at the tune of almost $1,050,000. It was purchased to replace the aging ladder truck SLTFR had from 1982 and paid for with funds from California sales tax money devoted to public safety.

In the works since 2010, the Tahoe Paradise Resort Improvement District is now officially a "recreation and park district." Governor Schwarzenegger signed Senate Bill 1023 into law that year, creating an expedited procedure for resort improvement districts to convert into community service districts, and in the case of Tahoe Paradise Park, into the recreation and park district.

That "expedited" procedure has taken almost six years for the Tahoe Paradise district to work out.

On Tuesday, a majority of city council agreed on a revised VHR (Vacation Home Rental) ordinance. In two weeks we will vote on the first reading of the ordinance and if a majority supports it, on November 7th would be the final vote to adopt the revised regulations and rules. The ordinance would then go into effect 30 days later.

It's been a decade in the planning, with a long permitting and environmental process broken up by a lawsuit, but Sierra Colina is finally on the last lap of becoming a new housing project on the South Shore.

The 18-acre parcel in-between Lake Village and Sushi Pier will have 44 single-family homes and side-by-side townhouses ranging in sizes from just under 2,200 sq. ft. to 2,900 sq ft. They will be three- and four-bedroom homes to meet the different needs of the buyer according to Brian Helm, of Paradigm8 Partners, the developers of the project.

Friday's board meeting of the California Tahoe Conservancy (CTC) was delayed almost two hours due to ice on the road near near Zephyr Cove, causing it to close, and those weren't the only icy conditions on the South Shore that day.

The other ice could be felt during the meeting as conflict of interest, ethics, integrity, suspicious actions and lack of transparency were the theme of the day.

All three items on the agenda Friday were placed there amid a stressed relationship between the City of South Lake Tahoe, El Dorado County and Patrick Wright, the Executive Director of the CTC.

Legal action against the approved Martis Valley West project was taken in court Thursday as three groups, Sierra Watch, Mountain Area Preservation and the League to Save Lake Tahoe, joined forces to stop the controversial development proposal they feel threatens Lake Tahoe's clarity.

A whistleblower will earn about $430,000 after leading investigators to orthopedic clinics in Reno, Chico and Redlands for their allegedly using discounted and reimported osteoarthritis medications, but billing the government for full value.

The three clinics will pay a combined $2.39 million to resolve federal and state False Claims Act allegations that they knowingly billed federal and state health care programs for the unauthorized viscosupplements.

Jaycee Dugard cannot sue the U.S. Government for failing to properly supervise her kidnapper while he was on parole, a federal appeals court ruled Friday.

Dugard was just 11-years-old when convicted sex offender Philip Garrido kidnapped her as she made her way up the street from her home to her bus stop in South Lake Tahoe.

For the past 18 months, South Lake Tahoe City Councilwoman JoAnn Conner and the City have been at odds since she filed two lawsuits against them on December 9, 2015.

During Tuesday's Council meeting, Mayor Wendy David made the following announcement about the potential end of the legal matters after both sides met with a mediator on June 14:

Tens of thousands of people will be enjoying the Lights on the Lake fireworks show over Lake Tahoe Monday, most of them unaware of the hundreds of hours of work put into their enjoyment.

"We love out job," said Zambelli Fireworks Western Region Project Manager John Hagan. "We can use explosives to make people happy."

Zambelli is the company hired to produce the 25 minute pyrotechnic show over Lake Tahoe on July 4, starting at 9:45 p.m.

In light of the recent presence of "The Serial ADA Lawsuit Filer" in South Lake
Tahoe, the Tahoe Chamber is holding an ADA compliant worshop.

Location

A Sacramento area lawyer called the "Serial ADA lawsuit filer" by the San Jose Mercury News is back in South Lake Tahoe according to several recent reports from local businesses.

Between 2009-11, Carmichael attorney Scott Johnson inundated small businesses with letters requesting they bring buildings in line with access laws for the disabled. He followed up the letters with several lawsuits in South Lake Tahoe.