SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. – There will be a special meeting of the South Lake Tahoe City Council on Tuesday, April 1 at 5:30 p.m. There could be two items on the agenda, one depending on the outcome of the initial item.

In closed session, the council will be discussing the current lawsuit of the South Lake Tahoe Property Owners Group versus the City of South Lake Tahoe. This has been ongoing since the passage of Measure T, the citizen-led initiative to ban vacation home rentals (VHRs) from neighborhoods in South Lake Tahoe. The group filed a lawsuit challenging Measure T on various grounds. In February 2021, Measure T was upheld in its entirety by the El Dorado County Superior Court, and the Plaintiff filed an appeal.

The court of appeal affirmed the trial court’s judgment upholding Measure T, except that it remanded the case for the trial court to consider whether the “permanent resident” exception in the Qualified VHR provisions of Measure T violates the dormant Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution. On March 13, 2025, the El Dorado County Superior Court issued a ruling finding that the Qualified VHR provisions are unconstitutional because they impermissibly discriminate against interstate
commerce, and that these provisions are not severable from the remainder of Measure T, requiring that Measure T be struck down in its entirety.

The lawsuit is still pending even though an El Dorado County Superior Court judge overturned Measure T. If the Council votes to appeal the judge’s decision, the next agenda item will not be heard.

If the Council goes with the judge’s decision, they will come out of closed session and discuss the next item. They will vote on an urgency ordinance to establish a temporary moratorium on the issuance of VHR permits in the areas where they were banned by Measure T. A four-fifths vote of the City Council is required to pass such an ordinance that would give them time to bring back a new, updated, or the same VHR ordinance.

The interim urgency ordinance would be in effect for no more than 45 days from its adoption, but can be extended if needed after notice and a public hearing. An urgency ordinance is effective immediately upon adoption.

Without a moratorium, once the trial court enters judgment, the result would be an immediate reversion to the pre-Measure T VHR regulations that were in place as of November 2018. The applicable regulations are in City Council Ordinance No. 1114 as amended by City Council Ordinance No. 1120. This will result in the following:
– All current Qualified VHR permits are void.
– Properties in residential areas will be eligible for VHR permits.
– Multi-family dwellings that had a VHR permit prior to September 1, 2016 will be eligible for VHR permits.
– Properties in areas added to the Tourist Core after 2017 will be eligible for VHR permits.
– Outside of the Tourist Core, the cap of 1400 VHR permits will apply.
The proposed interim urgency ordinance would establish a 45-day moratorium on issuing VHR permits in these areas to provide the City Council with time to study this issue and make amendments to the 2018 VHR regulations to address nuisance issues and ensure proper enforcement measures are in place before beginning to issue VHR permits in areas where they were prohibited by Measure T.

Such amendments could possibly include:
– Establish a lower cap on VHR permits outside the Tourist Core.
– Establish a buffer between VHRs, similar to El Dorado County’s recent amendments, to avoid saturation of VHRs in neighborhoods.
– Prohibit or limit VHRs in certain residential areas.
– Require VHR owners to use local property management company.
– Prohibit VHRs in all multi-family dwellings to preserve their use as housing.
– Increase consequences for violations.
– Review VHR permit fee for non-Tourist Core areas to ensure it reflects complete cost recovery, including application processing, inspection, and enforcement.
– Provide permitting preference, for example, for prior VHR permit holders who were in good standing and lost their permit because of Measure T, and for prior Qualified VHR permit holders who are in good standing and who are losing their permit because of the recent court ruling.

The moratorium would not affect the impact of the judgment on Qualified VHR permits, which will become void immediately. There are currently 31 Qualified VHR permits.

If City Council adopts the proposed Urgency Ordinance establishing a moratorium, staff will place an item on the City Council agenda for the next available meeting on April 22 to discuss potential amendments to the 2018 VHR regulations.

For the complete agenda in English and Spanish, and instructions on how to watch and/or participate, visit https://cityofslt.us/84/Watch-City-CouncilCommission-Meetings.