South Lake Tahoe Vacation Rental Ban to be voted on

South Lake Tahoe Vacation Rental Ban to be voted on

I just found out that South Lake Tahoe has enough signatures to ban vacation rentals within the city limits. 

 

What can we do? 

 

https://www.tahoedailytribune.com/news/local/volunteers-collect-signatures-for-vhr-ban-in-south-lake...

12 Replies 12
Christian748
Level 2
Oakland, CA

This is pretty sad 😞

Pete69
Level 10
Los Angeles, CA

How ridiculous! City councils are alway in bed with the hotel industry because of campaign money (AKA bribe money). Airbnb is a sign of the times. What's next? Ban the internet because it's bad for mom & pop businesses? Ban use of digital cameras within the city because they're putting Kodak out of business?

Airbnb said they are aware but couldn't give me any more information. 

Hi Nikki,

 

I have a VHR in South Lake but outside the city limits luckily, within the unincorporated area, where city council regulations don't affect us. Still, county residents are also becoming very upset and pushing for stronger regulations of VHRs. I've been quite involved in town meetings and news this past year, and we are quite involved with the Tahoe community in general.

 

SLT City residents will be voting on the ban this november, and from what I picked up it seems like it has good chances of passing. There's nothing you can do now, especially if you're not a resident. If the ban passes, it is my understanding that it would not be retroactive, meaning that property owners who already hold permits would get to keep them. However, this past spring, the city also approved a set of what can only be described as draconian measures to regulate existing VHRs. Three strikes within a 2 year period and you're out. They remove your permit, and you can never get it back. Neigbhor residents are so upset about the proliferation of VHRs that they're constantly on watch trying to find a reason to complain to the sheriff so that violations will be filed against VHR owners. They are being quite successful. Even the San Francisco Chronicle printed an article about this. And it doesn't help that VHR guests have been quite efficient at providing neigbhors with the perfect excuses to call the sheriff. 

If you truly want to get involved, I would suggest the first step is to get deeply informed from both sides. There are deep biases on both sides, but there are also some strong arguments on both sides. And that includes strong arguments for why VHRs should be strictly regulated (yes, I know this impacts me directly as a VHR owner, but it's what I have come to believe after much digging).

Airbnb has made statements supporting these measures if you care to know.

I do believe that a total ban is extreme, but I also have come to see why many SLT city residents were left feeling that it was the only way. They've been fighting the fight for several years now, they haven't seen the changes they requested, and now they've had it.

It is most certainly a sad situation when two opposing groups are unable to get together and solve a problem through collaboration.

Hope you find this tiny summary helpful.

From what I can see in my area is that it seem the vacation rental agencies are more of an issue than folks like my brother and I who are super responsible hosts. I totally feel the locals pain, I would hate to live somewhere so peaceful and have a frat party happening next to me all the time. I just hope that this doesn't affect law-abiding responsible folks like myself who work really hard to make sure our guest are respective of the neighborhood. So far we have had no issues with our neighbors or the city. 

 

 

Is Meyers outside the city limits/influence?     Do I need to get a permit for that area?

Irit1
Level 2
Cupertino, CA

Measure T passed. This means we can rent short term till 2021 and after that for 30 days or longer. It seems like most of the folks that come to Airbnb are mainly interested in less than 1 week rentals. I wonder if anyone has recommendations on how to find renters for longer periods of time. I’d also be interested to hear what others are planning on doing now that the measure has been approved. 

from what i understand its still pretty close and hasnt been decided yet. the last count from last Friday only saw a 25 vote margin and there still are about 500-700 ballots that havent been counted. There is still hope that this awful Measure  doesnt pass.

Melissa40
Level 3
South Lake Tahoe, CA

Join the fight against measure T (the VHR Ban) at www.StoptLegalfund.com

Has anyone heard anything about this? It has been pretty quiet. 

Clary2
Level 2
Phoenix, AZ

Following.