Vacation rental urgency ordinance on El Dorado County Supervisor agenda

There is an item on Tuesday's El Dorado County Board of Supervisor's agenda that caught many by surprise, especially those supervisors appointed to address the issue. Supervisor Shiva Frentzen is seeking conceptual approval of urgency ordinance to place a moratorium on the issuance of new vacation home rental permits in the unincorporated portions of the County located in the Lake Tahoe Basin.

Supervisors Sue Novasel and Mike Ranalli are on the ad hoc Vacation Home Rental (VHR) committee since the areas they represent have the county's biggest concentration of VHRs. Novasel represents the area from Strawberry to South Lake Tahoe and Tahoma, and Ranalli covers the Apple Hill area. Of the 727 current permits, all but 99 are in Novasel's District 5.

Since forming, the committee has been gathering facts and information, meeting with staff members, community members and have a public meeting planned for February in South Lake Tahoe. Novasel said they were planning a night meeting in Tahoe to accommodate the public so all with opinions can be present to have their voice heard.

Novasel they need data before an intelligent ordinance can be completed, just as the City of South Lake Tahoe needed as they created theirs.

County Counsel Michael Ciccozzi said Tuesday's agenda item is to conceptually approve, which means that before something is adopted or modified, the BOS must first let staff know by means of a vote that they want them to undertake the work, draft a document and bring it back to the board for review and input. Ciccozzi said this way staff isn't working on something that just one member of the board wants and the rest have no interest in.

To approve the item conceptually, four of the five supervisors must get behind it with their "yes" vote.

"The VHR workshop meeting has to be in Tahoe," said Novasel, who doesn't want constituents to have to drive to Placerville to be heard. "I am disappointed."

"The residents of South Lake Tahoe have been reaching out to my office to share their overwhelming concerns about VHRs in their neighborhoods," Supervisor Frentzen told South Tahoe Now. "The BOS had a meeting in South Lake Tahoe in October and has formed a sub-committee to address this issue. The residents continue to voice their concerns with safety and quality of life in their communities that is caused by VHRs in the established residential neighborhoods. While the sub-committee is working to bring recommendations to the Board, it is prudent that we listen to the concerns of the residents by adopting a temporary moratorium on Vacation Home Rental permits."

Frentzen is the outgoing BOS Chairperson, an annual position that will change hands during Tuesday's meeting.

In 2016, 138 new permits were issued with 62 ongoing permit holders going out of the VHR business. In 2017, 112 new permits were issued with 36 have gone out of business. In the last six months there have been 20 hearings for non-compliance of the current ordinance.

This is part of the data the ad hoc committee has gathered to answer some complaints that the County is handing out permits like candy.

"We are a data driven board and do not have a knee-jerk to a few comments," said Novasel, clarifying she listens to people but needs to find out answers first.

"We need data first before you can figure out the problem," said Novasel. "Data doesn't show there are an increase in rentals. Put a moratorium out too soon you'll get people panicking and lining up to get theirs. The data doesn't show and urgency ordinance is needed. Solutions on enforcement and issuance of permits is what we need, and we must go through the process as in South Lake Tahoe, involve stake holders and affected departments."

Another hiccup in the January 9 meeting is that Novasel will not be able to vote on the item. An anonymous person (according to Novasel) filed a complaint with the California Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) about Novasel whose husband deals in mortgage loans to contractors who build homes.

Novasel she was cleared of any wrongdoing and the case is closed, but to be on the safe side the FPPC was asked for their opinion by the County, something that normally takes 21 days to happen. That puts their decision after Tuesday's meeting so she will have to recuse herself from the vote.

These means the other four on the board must approve the concept.

Even though no wrongdoing or conflict of interest is expected, County Counsel has advised Novasel to recuse herself at this time. "Its always safer to go to them get their advice, their letter adds a letter of protection for the official," Ciccozzi said of their asking the FPPC for a ruling.

"I don't feel I have a conflict of interest," said Novasel. "We don't own any VHRs and have no direct income from a rental. He gets income from small business loans made to small business contractors. I find that a real stretch with indirect consequences, could be everybody is in conflict (service businesses, restaurants, etc). Many in Tahoe have indirect vacation rental income."

"I don't want to make this the issue," added Novasel said of the FPPC issue.

No matter the vote on Tuesday, Novasel said the committee will continue to work on vacation home rentals.

The agenda item on the Supervisor's agenda January 9 is time certain for 2:00 p.m. which means it cannot be heard sooner, but most likely it won't be heard until closer to 2:30 p.m. as there are two items ahead of it in the time certain slot.
The meeting is held in the BOS chambers located at 330 Fair Lane in Placerville, Calif.