commissioners

There will be a series of five public meetings in Douglas County to discuss proposed code amendment changes to their Vacation Home Rental Ordinance. In the old code, vacation home rentals (VHRs) were only allowed in the Tahoe Township (lake portion of the county), but the proposed changes will include VHRs in all areas.

Other proposed changes in the ordinance include:

All VHRs must have a contact person in Douglas County and the property manager must be licensed by the State of Nevada Division of Real Estate.
Unpermitted homes will be fined $500 per day up to $10,000.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - The City is soliciting applications for two appointments to the Planning Commission to fill vacancies due to the resignations of Jamie Orr and Jessie Dwyer.

Orr is moving out of the City Limits and Dwyer is being relocated out of the area for work. Since all commissioners must reside in the South Lake Tahoe city limits, they can no longer serve.

The terms for the two new appointments will last eight months, until January, 2019.

With the March 6 South Lake Tahoe City Council meeting set to address the annual music festival SnowGlobe, the Parks & Recreation Commission held a special meeting to decide what their stance would be on the festival being held on the Community Playfields.

The new playfields have never had a soccer or football game played on them, but they are in need of a lot of repair after SnowGlobe unpacked and left after their Dec. 29-31 event.

With the March 6 South Lake Tahoe City Council meeting slated to have SnowGlobe on the agenda, the Parks and Recreation Commission has called a special meeting in order to prepare a coordinated statement/recommendation to give Council.

The commissioners normally meet the third Thursday of the month but with the annual winter concert on the Council agenda before their next official meeting they wanted to meet to provide their opinion.

They meet at the SLT Recreation Center located at 1180 Rufus Allen Blvd, South Lake Tahoe. Start time for the special meeting is 3:00 p.m.

Residents in South Lake Tahoe will soon be paying more for garbage pick-up after the South Lake Tahoe City Council voted 4-1 to approve South Tahoe Refuse's request to raise rates for residential customers by 8.81 percent, the biggest one-time increase ever added to the service.

The rate increase will go into effect January 1, 2018.

The monthly rate for SLT customers will go from $26.55 to #28.89 for unlimited service, and increase of $2.34. Qualified seniors (65 and over and part of Liberty Utilities Care program) will pay an extra $1.95, taking their monthly rate to $24.15.

The new Douglas County Assistant County Manager Bradley Hurley has resigned his position effective October 31, 2017.

Hurley submitted his resignation to County Manager Larry Werner. “Probation periods are an opportunity for both the employee and the employer to determine if the relationship is a good fit," said Werner.

The Douglas County Commissioners have canceled their November 2, 2017 agenda meeting as two or more commissioners will be attending the Nevada Local Elected Officials’ White House Convention on November 3 in Washington D.C. The purpose of this event is to develop a working relationship between the White House/Federal Agencies and the County Commissioners and Legislators of Nevada.

The next regularly scheduled Board of County Commission meeting will be in Lake Tahoe on November 16, 2017 at 11:00 a.m.

The search for a new Assistant County Manager for Douglas County is almost over as Bradley Hurley and Philip Ritger have been chosen as the final two candidates. The public is invited to meet the two on August 21 from 5:00 p.m to 7:00 p.m. at the Carson Valley Inn.

Last Monday, panel interviews were conducted for eight applicants, and from that group Hurley and Ritger were chosen to be interviewed by County Manager Larry Werner.

Ritger is the current Town of Genoa Manager and Hurley the Deputy Communications Officer with the Department of Defense. Both are residents of Douglas County.

Douglas County will soon have an Assistant County Manager. Over 100 people applied for this new position, and that initial pool of applicants has now been narrowed down to eight after phone interviews with Human Resources.

The next step are panel interviews for those finalists which are scheduled for August 7, 2017. The panel consists of elected ofneighboring counties.

Panel interviews are scheduled for August 7, 2017. The panel consists of elected officials, employee representatives, department directors, and leadership from neighboring counties.

It's been a decade in the planning, with a long permitting and environmental process broken up by a lawsuit, but Sierra Colina is finally on the last lap of becoming a new housing project on the South Shore.

The 18-acre parcel in-between Lake Village and Sushi Pier will have 44 single-family homes and side-by-side townhouses ranging in sizes from just under 2,200 sq. ft. to 2,900 sq ft. They will be three- and four-bedroom homes to meet the different needs of the buyer according to Brian Helm, of Paradigm8 Partners, the developers of the project.

A new partner is now on board to help bring a new recreation center and swim complex to South Lake Tahoe, construction of which could start as early as 2018.

Voters in November approved a two percent Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) increase to fund the new project that benefits not only locals but tourists as well.

The Douglas County Board of County Commissioners authorized the County to enter into an Interlocal Agreement with the Carson Water Subconservency District

The public is being asked for feedback as Douglas County moves forward on planning their next four years. Their new strategic pan will be the roadmap on directions for the County and its Board of County Commissioners.

The commissioners and staff met on February 6, 2017 to review survey feedback from residents and map out new strategic priorities. Infrastructure, organizational sustainability and financial stability were all identified as top priorities. Economic vitality; safe community; and natural resources, culture and quality of life were also categorized as priorities.

Transient Lodging License taxes may soon be increased one percent at properties in the Lake Tahoe portion of Douglas County (Lake Tahoe Township) to fund redevelopment projects including the addition of an event/convention center.

Overwhelming support for the tax increase was evident at the Douglas County Commissioner's meeting Thursday, where the elected officials voted 4-1 to approve the increase which would go into effect May 1, 2017.

It’s been great seeing all of my friends and acquaintances who have lived here for less than 10 years posting photos and sharing how Snowmageddon 2017 has blown them away. I did the same when I first moved to Tahoe back in the 70’s and storms like this were not uncommon. Back then playing was more important than clearing the snow. I had a big Dodge Ram 4x4 pickup and I j drove over the snow in my driveway and packed it down. I did not own a snowblower and can’t remember shoveling much. One year the packed snow was so high I could not get the truck under the carport.

It looks like the SLT Parks & Recreation Commission is about to get bigger as the City has found that its too big of a job for just five people with the number of sub-committees and other tasks needed as the creation of a new recreation city is on the horizon.

During Tuesday's South Lake Tahoe City Council meeting they appointed five commissioners, then took the first steps to expand the commission by two members. In a resolution at the next Council meeting, that will be a done deal, if approved.

The Douglas County Board of Commissioners have declared a State of Emergency in preparation for the significant flooding event forecast for this weekend. The declaration has been submitted to the State of Nevada and will allow regional partners to speed up the delivery of resources required to more effectively respond to an emergency and meet the needs of the community during a time of crisis and well as take the first steps toward a State declaration.

The El Dorado County Commission on Aging is actively recruiting to fill a vacancy.
The Commission plays a very important advisory role to the Area Agency on Aging, the El Dorado County Board of Supervisors and the Cities of South Lake Tahoe and Placerville on matters of interest to senior residents. All volunteer positions are by appointment.

Roman Kreminski lives in South Lake Tahoe and, like many others, makes his living in building "Spec Homes," the process of building and selling homes for sale without any particular buyer in mind. It used to be a good business for Kreminski based on speculation of a strong real estate market and buyers waiting to invest in paradise.

He kept about five local families working full time to build the homes.

After Thursday's South Lake Tahoe Planning Commission meeting Kreminski said, "I'm done."

The future of the Blue Granite Climbing Gym in South Lake Tahoe was made much clearer Thursday during the South Lake Tahoe Planning Commission meeting.

7:00 a.m. 11/9 update: 100 percent of the precincts have been counted in Douglas County.

Douglas County School Board

Area 3
Keith Byer 13,009 65.88 %
Michael Kiger 6737 34.12 %

Area 4
Linda Gilkerson 11,760 58.19 %
Larry Lippman 8450 41.81 %

Cave Rock General Improvement District

Ralph Miller 53 43.80 %
Joanne Zerg 45 37.19 %
Michael Rooney 23 19.01 %

Tahoe Douglas Fire Protection District

Greg Felton 1710 27.57 %
Ann Grant 1680 27.08 %
Larry Schussel 1678 27.05 %

Citing concerns for safety, under-age party goers and an already taxed law enforcement staff, the Douglas County Board of Commissioners denied an outdoor festival permit for SnowGlobe Late Night events December 29-31 at Stateline.

Chad Donnelly proposed the after-party each night of the annual concert to be held under a tent in the parking lot of Hard Rock Lake Tahoe from 10:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m. The proposal was just in writing as neither Donnelly or representatives from the Hard Rock attended the meeting.

The Placer County Supervisors today approved one portion of the controversial Martis Valley Project on 1,052 acres adjacent to the Northstar California Resort, west of State Route 267.

Known at Martis Valley West, the project will add residential and commercial uses while permanently preserving 6,376-acres known as the East Parcel. Even though the acres will be preserved, 760 units and 6.6 acres of commercial area previously approved for the East via the Martis Valley Community Plan will be transferred to the West Parcel.

A home being built on Overlook Court near Heavenly Mountain Resort is the first one to be denied a Vacation Home Rental permit under the Planning Commission's interpretation of the new VHR guidelines created by the City of South Lake Tahoe.

During their monthly meeting at the airport on Thursday, the commission voted 2-2 to uphold the denial of the permit made by the zoning administrator, John Hitchcock. The fifth member of the commission, Shannon Eckmeyer, was not at the meeting due to another engagement.