South Lake Tahoe second home owners asked to leave under some circumstances

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Owners of vacation rentals or second homes located in South Lake Tahoe may not use them as long as the Governor's "Stay at Home" order is in place unless are doing so under allowable circumstances.

During their special meeting Wednesday, the South Lake Tahoe City Council unanimously voted to uphold the previous emergency order that authorized citations and fines to any person or business violating the Stay at Home order. This order also includes non-essential businesses that are still open to the public, vacation home rental properties, hotels, motels, and campgrounds hosting guests not in one of the categories allowed by the March 24 El Dorado County Directive, and visitors not on one of those categories staying at lodging facilities.

The fine would be $1,000 if a citation is issued and a fine of $1,000 per day of violation would be added.

There has been confusion with homeowners who want to stay in their second home, both those that can be rented out as a vacation home rental (VHR) and those that are only for the owner's use. All the councilmembers said that while they understood the desire to stay at the home they own in South Lake Tahoe they want to abide by the Stay at Home orders that were created in response to COVID-19 concerns and its spread.

If a second homeowner has been in the home prior to the Governor's March 20 orders they can stay in their home. If they came afterward they are being asked to leave unless the home is providing housing to one of the exempt categories including construction workers and medical workers.

South Lake Tahoe Interim Police Chief Shannon Laney told Council the Community Service Officers (CSO) on staff have been proactively checking all second homes to see if occupied. The CSOs have checked or driven by all 1,600 homes that have a current VHR permit and found 151 to be occupied. And most of those had allowable uses.

Some of the homes are occupied by the owner for long term/seasonally, some were rented by medical and construction workers, and others were owners who arrived before March 20.

Laney said they have been issuing warnings to anyone found to be renting outside of the allowable use. They found a local motel being used and those people left the following morning. They haven't found any vacationers in VHRs in the City limits.

He said they will continue to educate and he even fielded calls after the council meeting from concerned second homeowners. All of them had legitimate reasons for occupying their South Lake Tahoe home.

If legitimate, the only allowable family members in a home are immediate family, Laney said, and not anyone outside of that.

Council had a lot of discussion on property rights, but their job is to protect the community and follow the state's orders during the emergency situation of the pandemic.

"This is Go Time," said Councilmember Brooke Laine. "COVID-19 is accelerating quickly right now."

The police department has been educating the homeowners with letters and notices.

One area the Council and police wanted to emphasize is for community members taking matters into their own hands to monitor who is in second homes to not take a vigilante approach. They have received reports of a person driving around the community, checking on homes which in itself does not follow the Stay at Home order.

Laney said they are monitoring every day and the CSOs are out in the community and he's scheduled overtime to keep them on the street. One of their staff spends their day on the phone and on the computer, checking to see if owners are in the homes or if they are renters. They are also checking booking calendars online.

Councilmember Devin Middlebrook asked all to demonstrate empathy and compassion in the community.

"Everyone is scared and uncertain," said Middlebrook. "This isn't an 'us' versus 'them' and making the second homeowners these evil people. I urge everyone in the community to have empathy for other people in other situations."

"If we protect ourselves, we protect the community," said Mayor Jason Collin.

The message of no vacationers allowed in South Lake Tahoe has been working. It is evident on the streets with a lack of traffic. Collin has been interviewed by television stations in Sacramento, Los Angeles, and even Colorado, as well as his stints on Lake Tahoe Television.

During the meeting, some members of the public said they saw property managers doing a good job in keeping renters out and blocking off calendars.