For third meeting, South Lake Tahoe City Council to tackle cannabis ordinance changes

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - The South Lake Tahoe City Council has a full agenda for its first meeting of 2024 on January 9, with part of it dedicated to proposed changes to the South Lake Tahoe cannabis ordinance.

At their meeting on August 8, 2023, current Mayor Pro Tem John Friedrich
requested that the issue of on-site consumption be brought back to the council for discussion. After the Planning Commission recommended the Council adopt the changes, the November 21 and December 12 City Council meetings both had an agenda item to discuss the changes.

The first meeting's discussions on the topic took the meeting to just before the 10 p.m. deadline so Mayor Creegan ended it. In December, due to the absence of Councilmember Tamara Wallace's absence, and now-Mayor Cody Bass's need to recuse from the item due to his cannabis business, Friedrich moved the discussion and possible vote to the upcoming January 9 meeting.

During last year’s discussion, City Council members expressed some concern about allowing onsite consumption at that time as there were no robust alternative transportation options available for customers who may become impaired, and there were no measurable limits for testing cannabis impairment while driving, unlike alcohol. Healthy air is also a concern for those who would be working in the lounge, and those who are customers. Because the full City Council has not yet provided direction on whether on-site consumption is supported at this time, two versions of the ordinance are included for consideration: one allowing on-site consumption (Version 1) and one continuing to prohibit it (Version 2).

If Version 1 of the ordinance is selected, then amendments to other parts of the South Lake Tahoe City Code would be required, including the Public Safety License Ordinance (Chapter 4.180) and Clean Indoor Air and Health Protection (Chapter 4.100).

Identical updates are included in both Version 1 and Version 2 of the ordinance to reflect changes in state law regarding medical cannabis delivery (Senate Bill 1186), and clean-up changes to remove the development agreement requirement because of the passage of the cannabis tax with
Measure G and to remove the provision for existing medical cannabis dispensaries which is no longer applicable.

Also on the agenda:

A potential Employee Housing Ordinance, with two possible directions. Direct staff to report employee housing complaints received by the Housing Hotline to the California Department of Housing and Community Development for
enforcement; or pass a resolution establishing the City as the local enforcement agency under the California Employee Housing Act.

The council will receive an update on the Affordable Housing Waitlist, showing how many residents are waiting for housing via a waitlist at eight properties. The update will show that 1,173 people are on the list, with a large percentage of seniors and disabled.

City staff has compiled an inventory of vacant and underused commercial properties based on field surveys in South Lake Tahoe. While the inventory that will be presented during the meeting is believed accurate, there may be additional sites in less visible areas that meet the criteria of vacant or underused. Sites can be added or removed from the inventory as they are identified or their status changes. There are 16 vacant commercial sites without active building permit applications pending. In addition, four sites meet the criteria for underused. The agenda item is for discussion.

The full agenda can be found HERE. The meeting starts at 9 a.m. in the airport council chambers and can be viewed on Channel 21, on Zoom at https://us06web.zoom.us/j/88263609551, on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3LYne8Ih-kTPLnnuyJW9SQ/live.