By Paula Peterson
SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. – The City of South Lake Tahoe originally met with the owner of the Sunray Hotel on March 8, 2022, to address numerous complaints at the property, including multiple substandard code violations.
At that time, the City told owner Yan Jiang he had to board up the rooms that were unsafe to occupy by the following day, and that within 30 days he had to submit their plans for correcting the building issues and addressing health and safety code violations.
The 30-day compliance deadline expired on April 11.
Follow-up inspections were held on April 13, May 9, May 16, and May 25. At each visit, they found continued violations.
Jiang, and his company Fragrance, Inc CA Corporation, have received multiple violations with fees and fines. In order to stop the fines, all identified issues had to be corrected.
On the last invoice, the total substandard housing fines were $21,456 and another $2,680 for other code violations.
There was word that the property had been sold, but if so the transaction is not yet out of escrow so not on a public record. The fines go to the owner of the property at the time of the violation and do not transfer to a new owner if any.
The violations include substandard electrical wiring that isn’t properly maintained; water to units not in operation and no hot water; junk and debris and light fixtures against building facing Lake Tahoe Blvd., causing a nuisance; deteriorated block walls contributing to property’s blight; parking lot a nuisance; allowing people to occupy rooms not in sanitary or safe rooms; lack of adequate heating; stair treads, stringers and handrails deteriorated, cracking, unsecured, therefore unsafe; handrails and ballisters of exterior stairs broken and partially detached, and spacing not to code.
The Sun Ray is located at 2659 Lake Tahoe Blvd. In the 1970s, it was a motel that was converted to a temporary Lake Tahoe Community College. Once the college opened on the new campus, the property reverted to lodging. It provided week-to-week housing for lower-income residents until they had to leave due to the unsafe property with multiple code violations.