A 2018 measure designed to limit the use of vacation home rentals in South Lake Tahoe was struck down on Thursday.
El Dorado County Superior Court Judge Gary Slossberg ruled that the permanent resident exception in Measure T can’t be severed from the rest of the ordinance rendering it void.
Measure T passed in November 2018 by a narrow margin aimed to phase out VHRs in residential areas by Dec. 31, 2021, while permitting them in designated commercial zones and the Tourist Core Area.
The measure also included an exception allowing permanent residents to rent their properties on a short-term basis for up to 30 days per year.
The measure’s constitutionality was challenged by the South Lake Tahoe Property Owners Group, which argued that it violated property rights and discriminated against those who own property but don’t live in the Basin.
“This is a resounding victory for property rights and individual liberty in South Lake Tahoe,” the group said in a statement issued on Friday morning. “For too long, hardworking property owners have been unfairly burdened by restrictive regulations that trampled on our fundamental Constitutional rights.”
According to the Group, the case was remanded to El Dorado county in June 2023 by the California Court of Appeals, which said while the city could ban vacation rentals in residential area.
However the appeals court did question whether treating nonresidential property owners differently from residents could be unconstitutional.
In a statement issued by the City of South Lake Tahoe, once the judgment has been entered, the city council will have 60 days to decide whether to file an appeal.
Douglas County has been adjusting its vacation home rental since it was first implemented in the summer of 2021, and was greeted by a federal lawsuit.
A petition to put a vacation home rental ban in residential property across the county on the ballot was deemed insufficient last year.
The petition would have reduced the number of vacation rentals at Lake Tahoe to one but would have implemented them on property zoned neighborhood commercial, which would bring them to East Fork Township.