Residents sound off on vacation rentals

The South Lake Tahoe City Council is eyeing a impermanent prohibition on any new licenses for holiday lease places after occupants and council members shared their concerns about the impact of the leases on neighborhoods."We're fold to merchandising our place and joining the hegira (from Tahoe) because of the holiday lease issue," said Crick DeVries, who dwells in the Aluminum Tahoe vicinity next to a holiday lease home."This is something that is tearing apart the very cloth of our communities," deVries said.The metropolis launched a formal holiday place lease programme in 2003, partially in response to ailments about the rentals, including noise, parking, overcrowding and rubbish left out improperly.The metropolis had 1,318 holiday leases as of May 1, up from 1,183 in September 2003.On the surface, it might look that holiday lease places have got been causing fewer problems. The figure of ailments related to the leases was 22 in financial twelvemonth 2006-07, down from 49 ailments in 2003-04.But some say that figure is down because occupants have got got go so Federal up with the leases that they have moved away.Even Councilwoman Kathay Sir Bernard Lovell said she and her hubby are considering moving to a different country of South Lake Tahoe because they're tired of jobs arising from the many holiday leases in their Tahoe Keys neighborhood. Out of 17 places on her street, only two are occupied by full-time residents, Sir Bernard Sir Bernard Lovell said, recalling a nighttime when so many autos were parked on the street that she couldn't acquire into her driveway.But Lovell said she is among those who are loath to name police force about the problems, assuming military officers have got more than of import issues to cover with. "I don't name and complain; I just dwell with it," she said.DeVries said he always is discerning when he sees people arriving at the holiday lease next door but experiences relieved if it turns out to be a household rather than a wedding ceremony response or other big gathering."We're just wondering, how much slumber are we going to lose that weekend?" he said.DeVries was 1 of four occupants who spoke at the meeting about the jobs holiday leases are causing in their neighborhoods.No one representing the holiday lease industry spoke. Sir Bernard Lovell said the state of affairs with holiday leases have improved over the old age and noted they are an attractive lodging option for many people vacationing at Tahoe. She also acknowledged the gross they convey to the metropolis - about $1.4 million per twelvemonth in transeunt tenancy taxation (TOT) and about $70,000 to $90,000 in license fees.Councilman Bill Thomas Crawford said abolishing existent holiday leases likely wouldn't be practical. As an alternative, he proposed capping their Numbers by not issuing any more than holiday lease permits. And if a rental didn't bring forth any transeunt tenancy tax, or TOT, over a three-month period, he said its license should be suspended and not renewed."The house cannot just sit down there going to pot," Thomas Thomas Crawford said.The council didn't vote on Crawford's proposal Tuesday. But in response to a petition from Councilman Kraut Birdwell, the council at its adjacent meeting will discourse a possible impermanent ban, or moratorium, on issuing any new licenses for holiday rentals. The metropolis would work on a longer-term solution to the holiday lease jobs while the moratorium was in effect.A moratorium would necessitate a four-fifths ballot of the council.The council also will see amendments to its holiday lease ordinance, for example, adding commissariat regarding animalproof rubbish containers. Council members Thomas Crawford and Birdwell were appointed to constitute a subcommittee to work with metropolis staff on possible solutions to the problems.