City Council addresses craft shows and outdoor displays

The South Lake Tahoe City Council narrowly approved a new temporary craft show ordinance and increased fee schedule during their meeting on Tuesday.

"Seems like overkill," said Councilwoman JoAnn Conner in her vote against the ordinance. "Its a tremendous amount of work for anyone who wants to come in and do an event and its a tremendous amount of work for staff."

Conner was speaking of the new ordinance which changes the rules for the eight temporary craft shows held annually in the city each year. She and Tom Davis were the two dissenting votes.

"We are micromanaging eight shows," said Davis. "Its an example of too much government."

The Mayor and other Council members didn't agree and voted to add several new aspects to the temporary craft shows held in South Lake Tahoe.

The craft show issue was before the Planning Commission prior to making it to the Council's agenda. The commissioners and the public all weighed in during the process and helped to create an ordinance that addressed what they felt necessary.

Those involved in the drafting the document expressed the desire of the city to have the shows maintain a clean and neat appearance full of items that cannot be seen from the street. They want a variety of items and are encouraging demonstrations.

Starting after the summer season, booths in the shows must have handmade items and imported merchandise will no longer be allowed; Umbrellas used in displays can no longer have advertising on the material; crafts cannot be hanging from the sides of the tent and everything a vendor has must be contained inside their tent; All signs must be professionally made; and each vendor must have a business license.

In addition to the new standards, the event organizer must pay a higher fee. The City has set all fees as cost recovery and they were adjusted based on staff time needed to complete the paperwork. The previous fee was $50 per craft show, and that is now up to $590.

In other action, the City Council voted unanimously to adopt new standards for all businesses who display sporting goods outside their stores.

This plan was also the subject of public and Planning Commission meetings to gather all input from the community.

The new ordinance, which was unanimously approved, has set the following outdoor display rules:

- Outdoor displays must be relative to the business housed in a structure (Ski shops have skis and snowboards, bike shops have bikes on display, etc).
- The items on display must be as close as possible to the business and not disrupt traffic flow and must allow a clear 48" path between the parking area and the store.
- The display must be a maximum of 15 feet high.
- Additional signage cannot be part of the outdoor display.
- The display cannot encroach on the business's or neighboring business's required parking.
- Items on display outside must be neat and orderly.
- Items on display need to be displayed only during a business's normal hours.