South Lake Tahoe is a getaway for many Bay Area folks and families, but it’s changing with the times. Is it trending more toward high rollers, or for the budgeted? Campgrounds and RV parks are full. Million dollar condos are being built. Casinos now charge for parking. Service workers can’t find affordable housing. City transit budgets are being cut. There’s a push to ban most vacation rentals, steering people to hotel alternatives.
Who are tomorrow’s Tahoe tourists?
Housing is tight, and tourist accommodations are tightening. Currently, there is a cabin conflict brewing that is headed toward a fall ballot measure. The future of middle-ground housing — cabins — is in the crosshairs.*   On the plus, VHRs (Vacation Home Rentals) are a bittersweet addition to the local economy. They provide lodging for families, large groups, the budget-conscious, and those who don’t like hotels or tents. Cabins provide extra bedrooms, kitchens, outdoor space. Renters can bunk together, cook their own food, play games with their children, save a buck, play cornhole, and easily explore the forests and trails surrounding them.
On the flip, rented cabins can contribute noise, pollution, parking problems, and daily disturbance to their full-time local neighbors. Imagine groups of new people coming and going every week in the house next door. They bring kids, dogs, or friends attending bachelor parties that might be held on site.
Multiple cars pack the driveway. Renters get up early and stay up late, slam doors, start engines, listen to music, watch television, bark in the yard, and get chatty on the back porch high on weed and Chablis. Friends from other cabins stop by to visit. The local bears may pop in to munch on the outside garbage that didn’t make it into a secure metal bear box.
The dual nature of vacation rental homes in peaceful neighborhoods presents a big problem for city government. Local citizens bothered by VHRs want them banned outside the tourist corridor. Locals whose income is dependent on VHRs want them to be better supervised, but left alone.
Opponents say VHR owners are running a commercial business in a residential zone. Proponents say VHR owners are using their private property as they choose in a free country,  if they follow the laws. They reside, they charge others to reside, and thus it’s all residential.
That difference of opinion and interpretation of the law may have remained as a constant community undercurrent, but it has been brought to the forefront thanks to the internet, AirBnB, VRBO, Booking.com, and property owners who have found it suddenly easy to make a sizable buck from renting out their second homes when not in use.
VHR rental has become big business. Investment groups that buy up houses for the express purpose of renting them out short term are further clouding the line between commercial and residential use.
Besides the noise, opponents say it’s now much harder to find permanent rentals. Landlords are inclined to make bigger faster bucks with the overnighters.
Many VHR owners say renting is the only way they can keep their property and also use it themselves sometimes. They’re sincere and provide written contracts with renters, listing rules and expectations, but sometimes renters don’t follow all the rules. Noise makers, slobs, and the inconsiderate are on the rise and many locals are fed up.
In a wild attempt to try and solve the problem with a pen stroke, the city imposed a $1,000 fine to any cabin renter who parked on the street. After it made national news, that ordinance quietly left the stage.
Lots of locals are cool with VHRs. Most tourists are polite and orderly. The neighbors feel no disturbance and enjoy the company of new friends. They likely know the VHR owners personally,  accept the tourist economy, and are happy to share the beauty of Tahoe. It’s better than having an empty, unkempt building next door buried in needles, pine cones and dust, inviting critters to nest. Empty houses can become an eyesore and a fire, burglary, and infestation threat.
The battle of words rages online. Facebook has opponent watchdog groups and proponent watchdog watch groups. They post and comment back and forth their different opinions that sometimes lapse into insults and name calling. Sometimes it spills over to the real world. For a while bumper stickers saying “Homes not Hotels” were being plastered about in public places.
Yep. We are VHR owners. Susan and I co-own her parents’ 1960s family cabin along with our daughter Kristi and husband Chad. Yep. We hope the measure fails. If it passes, we will have to suspend our rental arrangement in three years making it hard to afford our little getaway. Yep. We’ve followed all the rules, kept our place clean and well equipped, and trained our tenants on rules and etiquette.
We believe negligent landlords and the mega-houses with eight bedrooms and commission-based rental managers are the primary fuel in this fire.
Most accept that Tahoe is a party town. Living here requires greater tolerance. Tourists come for noisy reasons sometimes — reunions, bachelor and bachelorette parties, weddings, birthdays, and bar mitzvahs. Still, when living full time nextdoor to a VHR, or trying to rent an apartment, opinions can change.
We oppose the ban, but understand the conflict. We think it comes down to having good manners and clear rules.

Steve Gibbs is a retired Benicia High School teacher who has written a column for The Herald since 1985.

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