South Lake Tahoe vacation rental workshop shows wide range of opinions

The City of South Lake Tahoe's second workshop on vacation home rentals (VHRs) drew about 45 people in person Wednesday, while several others participated from home via the internet. As is every discussion about VHRs in the community, passions ran high and differences were apparent.

Just like South Lake Tahoe, cities across the country are finding themselves in the middle of a fight between homeowners who want to make money with short-term rentals and neighbors who don't like tourists staying next door. In South Lake Tahoe, many of those tourists want to feel like a local, even if for a short time, while some of their temporary neighbors are used to having peace and quiet with empty second homes surrounding them.

Michael Baker International, the company hired by the City to conduct a socio-economic study on the impact of vacation rentals in South Lake Tahoe, led the discussion that showed a wide gap among residents on what should be done with the fastest growing way to enjoy vacationing around the world. short-term rentals of homes in neighborhoods.

Baker will be teaming with Sacramento State as data is processed for a final report that will be back to the City in the Spring.

Homes have been rented by vacationers in South Lake Tahoe for decades, but the scenario changed drastically during the recession when residents sold homes and left town and their homes were bought up by investors. In order to be able to enjoy owning a home in paradise, many of those homeowners have turned to renting their home out some of the time in order to be able to afford their second home.

VHRs have been regulated in South Lake Tahoe since 2003, with updates along the way and a new ordinance voted by City Council in 2015.

South Lake Tahoe is not alone in the debate over homes being used a short-term rentals, with communities across the county saying the same things as those on the South Shore. Morro Bay, Monterey, San Diego, North Carolina, New York, Texas, Hawaii, Florida are just a few of the areas where communities are having to balance the property rights of all home owners while allowing the tourism spirit to live.

During Wednesday's meeting, representatives from Michael Baker led participants through several questions, with the at-home crowd voting much differently than those gathered at the Senior Center.

Below are some of the questions and "yes" and "no" answers. Some people also voted "Not Sure" and "Not Applicable."

Q. Do you think VHRs expand lodging options for tourists?
A. Yes - 21, No - 8 in person. 81% yes and 18% no online.

Q. Do you believe VHRs strain public services.
A. Yes - 21, No - 14 in person. 36% yes and 55% no online.

Q. Do you feel VHRs contribute jobs (management companies, cleaning crews, maintenance)?
A. Yes - 25, No - 3 in person. 91% yes and 9% no online.

Q. Do you think VHRs in residential neighborhoods are inappropriate uses?
A. Yes - 21, No - 16 in person. 23% yes, 69% no online.

Q. Do you believe VHRs provide revenue to the City?
A. Yes - 28, No - 2 in person. 85% yes, 11% no online.

Q. Do you think VHRs have a negative impact on neighborhoods?
A. Yes - 24, No - 9 in person. 29% yes, 68% no online.

Q. Do you think VHRs decrease the supply of long term housing?
A. Yes - 26, No - 8 in person. 28% yes, 56% no online.

Q. For 2nd home owners: If you did not rent as a VHR, would you rent your home as a long-term rental or leave vacant?
A. Long term - 0 in person, 11% online.
Vacant - 3 in person, 53% online.
Other - 4 in person, 28% online.

For those that did not participate during the workshop, a survey is also available on the City's website here until February.

Michael Baker will be gathering many other facts, along with survey results, to present a wide-scale study whose goals are to study perceptions versus reality.

The City of South Lake Tahoe and their Zoning Administrator are tasked with permitting homes as rentals, listening to local concerns, evaluating property and zoning rights, and balancing all players in the game. Not every resident is the same, and not every vacation rental is the same.

In neighborhoods there are approximately 1300 vacation rentals with another 400 in the tourist core area.

White many cities have either banned or limited vacation home rentals, the Coastal Commission of California is actually in favor of having short-term rentals in communities. They stated that these homes provied low-cost lodging near the beach instead of high priced hotels, giving more families access to the coast. “The Commission should continue to discourage bans and other broad prohibitions on vacation rentals, and it should continue to support local governments in developing reasonable and balanced regulations," the Commissions report stated.

The debate is long from being over, but in the meantime the City of South Lake Tahoe is enforcing their current code which includes requirements of home inspections, licenses to operate, noise and parking regulations.