ordinance

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, CALIF. - El Dorado County Sheriff's Office responds to calls throughout the county. The following are calls that only pertain to the South Shore. There may be some missing calls due to sheriff's logs not being completed at time of story.

Some of those recently added to last week's log:

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2:10 p.m. - Disorderly Conduct: Alcohol - Sierra-at-Tahoe - ADULT MALE WAS ARRESTED FOR PUBLIC INTOXICATION

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1/8/18 6:00PM Update: It has been confirmed that Tahoe Wellness Center has reopened their doors for sales of medicinal marijuana. It is unknown at this time why they closed as both the State and the City did not ask him to close.

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As of Monday, January 8, 2018, Tahoe Wellness Cooperative (TWC) in South Lake Tahoe is closed, but the reason for the closure differs between the parties involved.

There is an item on Tuesday's El Dorado County Board of Supervisor's agenda that caught many by surprise, especially those supervisors appointed to address the issue. Supervisor Shiva Frentzen is seeking conceptual approval of urgency ordinance to place a moratorium on the issuance of new vacation home rental permits in the unincorporated portions of the County located in the Lake Tahoe Basin.

Over the first weekend of enforcement of the new South Lake Tahoe Vacation Rental Ordinance, eight violations were issued at a price tag of $8,000.

Parking was the biggest offense with renters having more cars than allowed, something that caught many by surprise as they thought noise would bring in the most violations for vacation home rentals (VHR). Four citations were issued for parking, two for exceeding occupancy, one for parking and noise combination and one for being an unpermitted VHR.

The SLT City Council voted in the new ordinance to take effect December 22, 2017.

The City of South Lake Tahoe put the finishing touches to the new Vacation Home Rental (VHR) ordinance Tuesday, paving the way for what community members have asked for: More enforcement, better monitoring and rules to bring reasonable calm to their neighborhoods.

"This is a code with real teeth," said SLT Police Chief Brian Uhler. "It's a clear and simple message that we're not fooling around. There are strong laws for staff to carry out."

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, CALIF. - El Dorado County Sheriff's Office responds to calls throughout the county. The following are calls that only pertain to the South Shore. There may be some missing calls due to sheriff's logs not being completed at time of story.

Some of those recently added to last week's log:

11/27

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, CALIF. - El Dorado County Sheriff's Office responds to calls throughout the county. The following are calls that only pertain to the South Shore. There may be some missing calls due to sheriff's logs not being completed at time of story.

Some of those recently added to last week's log:

11/17

10:58 p.m. - Driving without a license - Stockton Ave - A TRAFFIC STOP WAS CONDUCTED ON A VEHICLE FOR AN INFRACTION. IT WAS LATER LEARNED THE DRIVER OF THE VEHICLE WAS UNLICENSED. THE 32-YEAR-OLD FEMALE DRIVER WAS LATER CITED AND RELEASED.

After months of debate and community discussions, South Lake Tahoe will have a new Vacation Home Rental Ordinance (VHR) starting December 21, 2017, but don't expect the discussions to be over.

The City Council will continue to evaluate the ordinance and look at it during a meeting a least quarterly as they look at what is working and what still needs adjustment.

Main points of the VHR ordinance:

The El Dorado County Board of Supervisors have voted for a temporary ban of commercial licenses for both medical and recreational cannabis in El Dorado County with the exception of medical cannabis dispensaries allowed to operate under ordinance 4999.

At the same time, they voted to create a new ad hoc Cannabis Advisory Committee to study and create ballot measures for different cannabis commercial uses tied to
taxation for a local election.

Supervisor Sue Novasel, who represents the South Shore will join Supervisor Ranalli on the new committee.

"We need the community to get together and collaborate," said SLT Councilman Jason Collin during Tuesday's Council meeting. "Its polarized the community."

Collin was discussing the South Lake Tahoe Vacation Home Rental Ordinance after another full day of a City Council meeting focused on the subject of vacation homes in the community.

Its election time and the only local issue is Measure C; an increase of one-half percent in local sales tax (excludes groceries and prescriptions) for a term of 15 years to fund road rehabilitation. I voted YES to the measure because there is no long term funding solution within the current budget or the foreseeable future. And, our roads are in terrible shape.

The El Dorado County Tax Collector will be holding a meeting to discuss vacation home rentals (VHRs) in the non-city limits portions of South Lake Tahoe on Wednesday, November 1 at 2:00 p.m. at the SLT library.

C.L. Raffety is holding the public meeting to discuss recent changes in the ordinance, and hear suggestions for amendments. Under consideration for changes include no sub-leases of vacation homes, signage requirements and looking at ways to eliminate clusters of VHRs in neighborhoods.

Throwaway polystyrene coffee cups, soup bowls, plates, trays, meat packing trays, egg cartons, to-go boxes and packing peanuts are already a thing of the past in cities across the country, and South Lake Tahoe might soon have their name on that list.

City Council members heard a presentation at their October 17 meeting, testing the waters to see if there is a desire to eliminate or limit the use of Polystyrene within the City limits.

Single use plastic bags in grocery stores were banned in South Lake Tahoe in 2013 and recently made a pledge to use 100 percent renewable energy by 2032.

The last meeting of El Dorado County's Medical Marijuana Advisory Committee was a packed house, with a majority of those in attendance made up of cannabis growers in the area, and more of the same is expected at their next meeting.

One of the organizers, County Supervisor Sue Novasel of the South Shore, said all participants were respectful of each other's opinions. "It was a good meeting," said Novasel. She said many were concerned about a proposed registration procedure.

The following is a letter received concerning the Sass Talk published on October 7:

I hate to waste my time, but I cannot let the erroneous propaganda put out by the Emperor of City Hall go unrebutted. The City will not let go of this “nuisance” problem as it diverts focus on the dismal road conditions that the City has neglected for years. Also, City management has totally failed to provide a reliable snow removal system as we experienced last winter.

On Tuesday, a majority of city council agreed on a revised VHR (Vacation Home Rental) ordinance. In two weeks we will vote on the first reading of the ordinance and if a majority supports it, on November 7th would be the final vote to adopt the revised regulations and rules. The ordinance would then go into effect 30 days later.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Eight hours, and testimony from 29 people later, the City Council has crafted a new ordinance that attempts to strike a balance between locals and vacation home rentals (VHRs).

"While tourism is the lifeblood in our town, the residents are the heart and soul," said SLT City Councilman Jason Collin.

Passionate testimony from all sides was presented at Tuesday's meeting as has been the case for the 20+ meetings on the subject of VHRs.

The direction from the City Council to staff is to create an ordinance that will contain the following:

The Medical Marijuana Advisory Committee for El Dorado County will meet again on Thursday, October 12 in Placerville to discuss proposed ordinance changes to both the cannabis cultivation ordinance and code compliance ordinance that will create a civil enforcement process for marijuana cultivation.

Supervisors Sue Novasel and Michael Ranalli were appointed to the ad hoc committee in March 2016 and have been meeting with stakeholders since then as well as looking at what similar counties are doing in their communities. The Medical

I read with great interest Mayor Sass’s recent editorial of how he and Wendy David have been living, sleeping, and eating the VHR issue for over 2 years. I internalized these words and reflected how we, as responsible vacation home rental managers, have been dealing with inept City Councils and City Management for over 12 years.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - There are two topics that fills the City Council chambers: Marijuana and Vacation Home Rentals (VHR). Interested residents and other stakeholders in the City's proposed changes to the VHR ordinance not only filled chambers, but filled seats surrounding televisions in the lobby where the proceedings were aired.

After almost six hours of presentation and conversation, the City Council voted to bring back the new ordinance in one month on October 5.

"Our job is to make a decision, not continuing to kick the can down the road," said SLT Mayor Austin Sass.

Renting a home while on vacation is the trend in many tourist destinations, not only in Lake Tahoe, but across the globe. This new way of vacationing has not come without issues so many towns are creating ordinances or, like in Anaheim and other cities, banning them.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, CALIF. - El Dorado County Sheriff's Office responds to calls throughout the county. The following are calls that only pertain to the South Shore. There may be some missing calls due to sheriff's logs not being completed at time of story.

8/20

1:40 a.m. - Discharging Firearm - Chippewa St - 25-YEAR-OLD MALE SUBJECT WAS ARRESTED FOR FIRING A HANDGUN INSIDE OF HIS RESIDENCE AND BEING DRUNK IN PUBLIC. A REPORT WAS GENERATED FOR DOCUMENTATION.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, CALIF. - El Dorado County Sheriff's Office responds to calls throughout the county. The following are calls that only pertain to the South Shore. There may be some missing calls due to sheriff's logs not being completed at time of story.

8/6

12:09 a.m. - Vacation Rental Complaint - Plumas Cir - NOISE COMPLAINT

2:23 a.m. - Vacation Rental Complaint - Elks Club Dr - NOISE COMPLAINT

2:56 a.m. - Vacation Rental Complaint - Tionontati St - NOISE COMPLAINT

3:20 a.m. - Vacation Rental Complaint - Bonanza Tr - NOISE COMPLAINT

The city received some good news this week. We were successfully awarded $2.9 million in federal funds to complete all of the funding for the Sierra Blvd. Streetscape project-we are now 100% funded through construction. Kudos to Stan Hill with the City for his excellent grant application. Per Jim Marino, Asst.