city council

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - There is now an open license for a South Lake Tahoe cannabis microbusiness after one of those approved in 2019 will not finish up the process of opening. On January 14, 2021, the City Planning Commission denied a request from James Street LLC to change the name of the approved operator and extend their deadline to open by six months.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - There will be a special meeting of the South Lake Tahoe Planning Commission on Thursday, January 14, 2021 at 3:00 p.m.

First on the agenda is a possible vote on an update to City Code and the design standards included in it after receiving a grant from the State to do so. There have been public workshops and meetings with contractors and developers, along with the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA), to get their input on the updates the standards.

EL DORADO COUNTY, Calif. - During both the South Lake Tahoe City Council meeting and the El Dorado County Board of Supervisor meetings on January 5, questions were asked of the health care professionals as to when the public can expect to be vaccinated for COVID-19.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - City Council will hold their first scheduled meeting of 2021 on Tuesday with discussion and possible vote on new proposals from the the City of South Lake Tahoe response to COVID-19, a summary of the new housing program and near term rental housing strategies, and the 2020 Lake Tahoe Airport Economic Impact Study findings.

The January 5 meeting starts at 9:00 a.m. and can be viewed on Channel 21 or online.

The agenda also includes consent items:
- Emergency Order No. 6 which authorizes cannabis retailers to temporarily operate curbside pickup.

Del Laine has left her mark on South Lake Tahoe in ways that many local residents might not know. She was a mover and shaker, whose focus was on making the city a better place. Her most important role, though, was promoting the well-being of women.

This pioneer died Dec. 18, 2020, at home from natural causes, with family at her side. She was 90.

She was born Dolores Mae Wright on March 20, 1930, in Oakland, Calif., to Mabel Paulson and Leslie Wright.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - First responders in South Lake Tahoe have been dealing with an antiquated public safety communications system for years but that is about to change. On Tuesday, City Council approved the funds needed to fix the system with much more than a band-aid.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Former mayors Brooke Laine and Jason Collin said their good-byes Monday at their final City of South Lake Tahoe council meeting. Collin decided to not run after his four-year term as did Laine who finished ten years on the council.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Following a special meeting on Monday to certify the November 3 election and say goodbye to outgoing councilmembers, newly elected Councilmembers Cristi Creegan and John Friedrich will be sworn in at the beginning of Tuesday's regular meeting.

The 9:00 a.m. meeting on December 1 will also include the following agenda items:

EL DORADO COUNTY, Calif. - The final tabulations are now complete for El Dorado County and the November Presidential election results for the county have been certified.

Here are the final results:

City of South Lake Tahoe - Measure S (Majority to Pass)

9,667 / 12,739 75.89% of registered voters counted
558 Undervotes
2 Overvotes

Yes - 5,804 60.04%
No - 3,303 34.17%

South Lake Tahoe City Council (Top Two Win)

9,667 / 12,739 75.89% of registered voters counted
4,406 Undervotes
38 Overvotes

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - The El Dorado County Elections Department tabulated another 9,614 ballots on Friday, leaving about 1,000 provisional ballots left to count.

At this time, 115,339 ballots have been counted of the possible 135,554 voters (85.09%).

Cristi Creegan and John Friedrich appear to be the next two South Lake Tahoe City councilmembers. They led the race since the first ballots were counted on election day and came out victorious in the field of ten candidates.

The City of South Lake Tahoe is looking to fill vacant seats on four citizen commissions and boards: Planning Commission, Airport Land Use Commission, Building Board of Appeals, and Parks & Recreation Commission. They are soliciting applications for a City Council representative to the El Dorado County Commission on Aging and the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency Advisory Planning Commission.

Applications are due December 28 for the following positions

Planning Commission

10:46 P.M. UPDATE: Both El Dorado County and Douglas County have released an updated count at this hour. For El Dorado County, 149 of 209 precincts have now been tabulated. Depending on the area, Douglas County shows about 72 percent of Tuesday's votes listed.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - There has been much discussion in the community about the City of South Lake Tahoe's new Shared Rental Ordinance, one that is up for a vote during the November 3 City Council meeting.

A shared rental, also known as a hosted rental, is one where a person rents a portion of their home to a visitor on a short term basis* while they are still living in the home. They are not new in South Lake Tahoe, but the focus has been on creating an ordinance for them as a large number of people started obtaining business licenses for shared rentals in recent months.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - During their last meeting, the South Lake Tahoe City Council voted unanimously to adopt a Climate Action Plan (CAP).

This plan will be used as a dynamic, policy-guiding roadmap to provide insight on strategies and actions that can be taken in the community to help move towards is two climate goals - 100 percent renewable community electricity by 2032 and a 80 percent reduction in community greenhouse gas emissions by 2040.

After listening to some TedX speeches and my own observations and common knowledge of science, I have come to understand one of the major problems of renewable energy that I believe will make most of the wind mill and solar panel energy producing processes obsolete within a few years.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - City Council made another attempt to create a Hosted Rental Ordinance but they decided at their meeting Tuesday to hand back to staff for some revisions.

After much discussion they decided to have staff clean up rules that could be potential loopholes for homeowners and/or tenants. This is the second time a first reading has been turned down for more fine tuning.

The following changes were added for Council to review October 20:

(1) Increase the required tenancy for a tenant to qualify as a hosted rental applicant from six months to two years;

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - The South Tahoe Chamber of Commerce Board recently asked the nine City Council candidates ten questions they felt were of most importance to its members. The questions focused mainly on topics relating to things that will or may affect both the local small businesses and the community in general.

Their board made the decision to not endorse a specific candidate this election, but instead rank them based on how much they align with the South Tahoe Chamber of Commerce goals based on their answers to the questions below.

It's a great thing to call for unity. It sounds good and feels good. But for far too long hollow calls for "working together" have become excuses for bulldozing over the needs of the people who live and work here in favor of the needs of the developers, resorts and casinos.

I chose the locals.

I choose to give a voice to those who are marginalized.

And if this seems like I’m causing trouble, then it is, as John Lewis called it, good trouble.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - The first set of campaign finance reports filed by South Lake Tahoe City Council candidates have been received by election officials and posted to the City's website.

Required forms:

Form 460 - Candidates who have raised/spent $2,000 or more file
Form 410 (Statement of Organization) - Must also be filed once $2,000 or more has been raised/spent
Form 470 - Candidates who do not raise or spend $2,000 or more (or anticipate raising or spending $2,000 or more) in 2020 and do not have an open committee

On October 31, 2016 I wrote an editorial "Use the election to create a community of collaboration and teamwork" due to a growing vibe of discourse and anger across the country as well as in South Lake Tahoe.

Since we are once again in the midst of a contentious national election I saw a need to once again look at the definition of community as we focus on our local situation in El Dorado County and Douglas County.

com·mu·ni·ty:

On September 22, 2020 the Tahoe Chamber endorsed City Council Candidates Cristi Creegan and John Friedrich. We strongly believe they are the wrong choice for this position and will not represent the businesses, jobs, local working residents, and current challenges in our community effectively.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - During their meeting Tuesday, the City Council approved the Winter Operations COVID Compliance Business Protection Grant Reimbursement Program which will reimburse local businesses for PPE and the equipment they need to operate safely during the winter months.

There were funds left over from the first business reimbursement program which gave up to $2,500 back to those who had to purchase items needed to operate safely.

South Tahoe Now reached out to all nine candidates for South Lake Tahoe City Council and provided the same list of questions to each one of them. Once a day their answers have been published in the order received. Today is our final candidate.

Today's candidate is Stacey Ballard

Profession: Artist/Author

How many years in SLT: I have lived in Tahoe on and off since 1997, over 16 in total.

South Tahoe Now reached out to all nine candidates for South Lake Tahoe City Council and provided the same list of questions to each one of them. Once a day their answers will be published in the order received.

Today's candidate is Cristi Creegan

Profession: Business Owner

How many years in SLT: 23 years