Vacation Rental Ordinance updated to exclude multi-family properties

Just as it is when the topic of vacation rentals is on the South Lake Tahoe City Council agenda, a large, and at times, angry, crowd gathered.

The task at hand Tuesday was to review changes to the current Vacation Home Rental (VHR) Ordinance which included 11 changes which will take effect 30 days after the June 7 Council meeting if approved.

Mayor Wendy David and Mayor Pro-tem Austin Sass served on the VHR committee and met with Jerry Williams of Tahoe Property Management and Carl Fair of Century 21-Tahoe Paradise to discuss policy issues. They were taxed with the issue of balancing the needs of the residents with the needs of the vacation home rentals.

The ordinance change that brought the most people to comment in public was the proposed prohibition of VHRs on multi-family properties (more than one unit on a single lot).

"This is a smart move for affordable housing," said Sass. "Multi-family units cannot be VHRs."

Peter Evenhuis owns a four-unit property where he and his wife live in one, he rents another out to a woman who has lived there 14 years, and rents out the remaining two as vacation rentals. Having those VHRs allows him to invest in his property and improve it, he said. Evenhuis said he moved to Tahoe to retire, and invested in the four-plex for his retirement, and taking away the two VHRs would hamper that. He offered three solutions to the Council which included grandfathering in the current VHR permit holders on multi-family properties, taking away permits for those complexes that violate the regulations and limiting the number of units in a complex that could be a vacation rental.

"Please don't destroy our retirement plans," Evenhuis pleaded.

Sabrina Siino, a member of the Leadership Lake Tahoe and a local hotel manager, owns a lot with two cabins. She is able to afford to successfully live in town by using one cabin to live in, and renting out the other as a vacation rental. She said she and the others do this, and are "making Tahoe work for us."

She isn't alone. Several locals have purchased two- to five-unit properties to do the same, a house with a mother-in-law unit, or two cabins as did Siino. These small properties allow them to live and work in South Lake Tahoe while being able to supplement their income to cover house payments.

"We are facing a housing crisis in our community," said Mayor David. She said people are coming in and buying the multi-unit properties and kicking out the full-time renters in favor of the vacation renter.

"We need to keep a balance that keeps a thriving community and a thriving tourist economy," she added.

The change to the ordinance doesn't affect condominiums or timeshares as all of those are treated with individual parcel numbers and taxed individually.

Here are some of the other changes:

Reorganization of the document for improved readability and user friendliness
Removal of duplicate language and regulations already contained in other sections of the City Code
Clarification that a VHR permit does not require compliance with TRPA regulations. Compliance with these regulations is only required if the inspection results in corrections that require construction triggering a TRPA permit requirement. An application for a VHR permit does not trigger the need to comply with coverage or BMP requirements, however, some proeprty improvements may trigger a TRPA compliance (if they were done without a permit for example).
TOT payment is required for all rentals of 30 days or less and is collected through an issued VHR permit. Rentals where the owner or caretaker is in residence and VHRs in commercial zones meeting specified crteria are exempt from the zoning administrator and hearing requirement.
A change to the allowed occupancy, which will be based on the number of paved parking spaces provided, with a "not to exceed: occupancy consistent with the current ordinance (based on bedrooms). Parking spaces must be paved. Max of 4 people per paved parking space allowed.
Prohibition on self-limiting maximum occupancy in order to pay lower fees. For example, a 4-bedroom home can allow 12 people, but some home owners may only want 8...they still pay a permit based on the maximum allowed.
Signage inside must stay that garbage may not be placed outside until the morning of collection.

"This is not an easy problem to solve," said Councilwoman JoAnn Conner.

Many cities across the state are getting rid of vacation home rentals because of the problems they cause, including changing the character of neighborhoods.

The changes will be before the Council again on June 7 when they are up for final approval.