vacation rentals

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. - 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.

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 Scott Robbins

Profession: National Security Analysist

How many years in SLT: 4

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - With a changing vacation home rental (VHR) landscape in the City of South Lake Tahoe, those wishing to rent their homes may be turning to "shared rentals."

There currently is no ordinance that covers shared rentals as the current VHR ordinance addresses the rental of an entire dwelling for a period of less than 30 consecutive calendar days, Shared rentals deal with renting less that the entire dwelling on a short-term basis.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - If you were planning on setting off fireworks around Lake Tahoe this 4th of July, you can forget about it. They are illegal around the lake and in neighboring counties. A mild winter and a large amount of forest fuels put the area at a high risk of fire this summer, and fireworks could be devastating.

Without the official fireworks shows at the north and south ends of the lake, many fear people will resort to the fireworks bought at roadside stands and Indian reservations. While those are legal in the areas they are sold, they are not legal at Lake Tahoe.

EL DORADO COUNTY, Calif. - The El Dorado County Board of Supervisors are holding a special meeting on Tuesday, June 2 at 1:00 p.m. to discuss expansion of the County's Stage 2 attestation announced by the Public Health Administrator Dr. Nancy Williams.

The only item on the agenda is discussion and possible action on expanding Stage 2 to include all businesses and industries identified in Stage 3 of Governor Newsom's Resiliency Roadmap.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - The City Council voted Tuesday to amend their Emergency Order No. 1 from April that authorized administrative citations and fines of $1,000 for violations of the Governor's Stay at Home Order.

The City will not be fining second homeowners who visit their home in South Lake Tahoe but they will continue to fine those found renting out vacation homes until the Governor's ban on non-essential travel is amended.

The following is a letter sent to El Dorado County and City of South Lake Tahoe. It is published here in its entirety at the request of the author.

The South Tahoe Chamber of Commerce would like to offer encouragement and support of a revival of the local economy, while continuing to keep the health and safety of our residents in mind. Cases of COVID-19 have remained low in our region when compared to other more populated areas around the State and Nation. We applaud the quick action taken by the County and City that has helped us keep the case count low.

STATELINE, Nev. - In what has been a hotly debated topic for months between the five Douglas County Board of Commissioners and members of the public, the Tahoe South Events Center passed the final hurdle Thursday. In a 3-2 vote, the commissioners approved bond issuance, the final step in the approval process. The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) had previously unanimously approved it.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - In a time when many in the community are upset with the second homers or their renters who came to "shelter in place" in South Lake Tahoe, many of homeowners have come together to provide needed housing to agencies bringing in the essential workforce.

"VHRs for Essential Service Workforce" will be providing housing for 7-29 days for those needed in the community during the coronavirus pandemic, those who need to quarantine for themselves or are in town to assist, and not for any other purpose by owners or guests.

EL DORADO COUNTY, Calif. - Hotels, motels, vacation rentals, and campgrounds are to be used only to house homeless, COVID-19 emergency workers or continue to house residents according to an El Dorado County directive issued on Tuesday. Staying in one of these types of temporary housing is not considered "essential" by Governor Newsom's March 18th "Stay at Home" order.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Vacation Home Rentals (VHR) in South Lake Tahoe continue to be the hot topic, even months after a measure to ban most of them in the city limits narrowly passed in the November 2018 election. Voters approved Measure T by 58 votes.

The subject has created a big divide in the community and a decision by the South Lake Tahoe City Council Tuesday will not lessen that division though their intent is now clear.

The following 91 businesses took out a license to operate in South Lake Tahoe during the months of March and April 2019:

March

3/4
MANZANITA 5 PLEX RENTAL
HUI HUI XIU MASSAGE THERAPIST
KMART
NESTLE TOLL HOUSE CAFE BY CHIP
SULLIVAN SHARED HOME RENTAL

3/6
FARRY SHARED HOME RENTAL
SAVAGE LANDSCAPERS
THE ISLAND SHARED HOME RENTAL

3/7
GOOD KIDS PEDIATRIC

3/11
DREU MURIN PRODUCTIONS
KIZ CONSTRUCTION INC
RIVA ENGINEERING AND CONSULTING

3/12
BRH CONSTRUCTION

STATELINE, Nev. - Vacation Home Rentals (VHRs) in Douglas County were on last Thursday's agenda for the Board of County Commissioners, leading them to seek additional representatives for their newly appointed VHR Task Force.

Douglas County uses the services of Host Compliance, the same company hired by the City of South Lake Tahoe to seek out unlicensed VHRs and under-reported Tourist Occupancy Tax (TOT). They charge the County $94,000 annually for their services.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - It has been just two weeks since the final count of the November 2018 election was certified in El Dorado County and there is already a lawsuit surrounding the outcome of Measure T.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Another round of votes were released Friday, narrowing the gap between yes and no on Measure T once again. The citizen generated measure call for a ban of all vacation rentals in South Lake Tahoe except for those in what is called the "tourist core."

49 votes were added to the Measure T count, 19 "for" and 30 "against."

There were approximately 2,600 vote by mail ballots still to count this week for all of El Dorado County which includes provisional ballots and 160 conditionals ballots from South Lake Tahoe.

That leaves about 1,800 left to tally.

With a narrow margin in the ballot measure concerning the future of vacation rentals in South Lake Tahoe, and other races still close, everyone is awaiting the release of more results from Tuesday's election.

You'll still have to wait a bit longer.

On Friday, November 9, El Dorado County Elections will post the next round of results, but it won't be the last as there are over 24,000 ballots yet to count.

13,372 mail-in ballots were dropped off at the polls
2,614 provisional ballots

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - From 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., local voters will be casting their decisions for the future of South Lake Tahoe government, El Dorado County government, cannabis, vacation rentals and state and federal issues and candidates.

A historic number of voters are expected both nationally and locally. During the last California gubernatorial election in 2014 voter turnout was at a record low, but the opposite is expected in 2018.

I am surprised that some people call Measure T “too extreme,” when the measure a) still allows fulltime residents to rent out their houses for 30 days per year, b) promotes the development and expansion of VHRs in areas properly zoned as commercial or part of the Tourist Core.

Do you know what is really “too extreme”?

• Local businesses struggling to fill open positions because their employees can’t find long-term housing in Tahoe.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Each of the nine candidates for City Council answered the same ten questions that were given to them by South Tahoe Now. For nine consecutive days the candidate's responses will be shared in the order received.

Today, the current Mayor Pro Tem Tom Davis gives his responses as he seeks re-election to the South Lake Tahoe City Council:

LAKE TAHOE, Nev. - Vacation rentals are a hot issue on both sides of the state line, and Douglas County Board of County Commissioners have approved updating their County Code concerning short-term rentals of homes for 28 days or less in the Tahoe Township.

The follow letter was given to South Tahoe Now and mailed to the South Lake Tahoe Mayor, City Councilmembers and staff:

Dear Mayor David and Council Members:

I am writing to you as a follow-up to my letter of May 12, 2018 (see at end of story) regarding Policy Priorities and Issues for City Government.

Quality and Affordable Housing for Residents is Very Important

Efforts to bring a second vacation home rental initiative to November's ballot have hit a roadblock after the El Dorado County Elections office said they did not have enough valid signatures to take it to the voters.

The Sustainable Community Alliance (SCA) turned in 1,843 signatures, thinking that would be enough to guarantee the needed 1,005.

Elections staff did a random count of 500 of those signatures to verify the person signing was a registered voter in the City limits. They found 243 valid signatures in that sample.

Palm Springs voters have resoundingly rejected a measure that would have banned vacation rentals in the city's residential neighborhoods.

As of Wednesday morning, with all precincts in the city reporting, no on Measure C had received 68 percent of the vote. The measure called for phasing out rentals of fewer than 28 days in Palm Springs' single-family neighborhoods over the next two years.

Bruce Hoban, co-chair of anti-Measure C group We Love Palm Springs, said that with 6,764 votes counted against the vacation rental ban, his group was declaring victory.