Officials Get an Earful on Tahoe Vacation Rental Ordinance

Susie Vasquez
January 21, 2005

STATELINE - Douglas County residents spoke to the county commission Thursday on subjects ranging from bear-proof containers to fines levied on homeowners and property managers when new laws are adopted.

The discussion was sparked by a new ordinance in the works regulating rentals homes on the Lake Tahoe side of the county.

Last year the Lake Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, which governs housing policy within the basin, agreed to allow counties and cities to establish their own ordinances regarding vacation homes that draw unruly people to them.

To allow vacation rentals to continue operating in the Tahoe basin, cities and counties are required to adopt the ordinances, which were supposed to be in place by September 2004. Douglas County is the last county in the basin to adopt such an ordinance.

Among the ordinances elsewhere in the basin is South Lake Tahoe's, which fines property owners who do not address the nuisance issues after several complaints are made to city officials and the police department.

Craig Morris, director of Lake Tahoe Accommodations, which handles 400 rentals around the lake, said no new ground was broken at Thursday's commission meeting.

"No property management companies want to deal with tenants who misbehave," he said. "For us, it means additional work and employee time."

Resident Doris Nolan asked the board to consider an ordinance that would designate some neighborhoods - especially those with a high volume of vacation home rentals - as commercial zones rather than residential.

"That's a special concern to us," Nolan said. " We need to define when a neighborhood is no longer a residential."

Commissioners emphasized they want the ordinance to be specific but not too restrictive.

"If we draft an ordinance that protects every person who comes here, we won't be able to get it out of the room," said commissioner Kelly Kite. "We want an ordinance that we can enforce.

"This is a cottage industry that's been going on for a long time. We don't want to destroy it, but we do want to protect permanent residents," he said. "We want to go after the people abusing the privilege. That's our goal."

Excessive noise, disorderly conduct, vandalism, overcrowding, traffic and congestion are just a few of the resident complaints received by Douglas County officials concerning vacationers.

An ordinance proposal based on public input was held up to scrutiny by Douglas County officials for the first time on Jan. 11, after a copy of the draft was sent to over 30 interested parties.

"About a dozen people showed up and we identified a number of issues," said Douglas County Manager Dan Holler. "We're going to hold a second community workshop before next month's board meeting and have a second reading, to give residents to add more input.

"At that point, I hope we're ready to adopt (an ordinance,)" he said.

No date or time for the meeting was set, but information should be available at local Improvement Districts, Holler said.