SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. – On Tuesday, city council met to discuss the revetments at El Dorado Beach, a tobacco business moratorium and receive a report on unpermitted vacation home rentals (VHRs) and enforcement actions. They also discussed the five year capital plan and an ordinance change for citations on nuisance properties.
Public comment and proclamations
During public comment, Ed Mosur commended the removal of the steel plates on the sidewalk outside of the restaurant Izabella, and urged city council to put attention to rehabilitating the walkways there.
An item on the agenda concerned the renewal of Pride Month proclamation for June, which was requested last year to be an annual renewal. Lake Tahoe Pride typically receives the proclamation, but it was actually not requested this year—instead, it was moved by city council.
Councilmember Heather Horgan expressed how much the item meant to her, her family and other families visiting South Lake Tahoe. Mayor Cody Bass agreed and said he was glad to see South Lake Tahoe becoming a more equitable place. Bass read aloud the proclamation, which will be in the display at City Hall.
Consent agenda
Mosur commented to say that the agreement currently underway for the buses should establish in writing those bus routes from El Dorado to Sacramento. He cited that people sometimes use those bus routes for receiving medical care at UC Davis, and also said more tourists could possibly use it rather than driving.
Councilmember Scott Robins pulled an item regarding land exchange with the California Tahoe Conservancy, saying that he wanted to put more work or research into the parcels before the city lost control of it. A representative for the California Tahoe Conservancy indicated that they would be interested in fixing the bike path, which often floods, and said they would put “endeavor” language into the agreement.
Robbins also asked if the Conservancy would take parcels of Upper Truckee River that are outside the city’s jurisdiction, which was not an option—the parcels were already listed in the agreement and could not be changed.
Bass and Robbins both agreed that there could be more research done into the parcels, especially around potentially building housing there. Horgan indicated that she was more interested in the space being used for public recreation and open space.
Robbins motioned to hold the item’s approval, which passed.
Snow removal equipment purchase
The council had the annual public hearing for snow removal equipment purchases, which are funded through an existing county service area parcel assessment. Public works director Mohammad Qureshi (also called Dr. Q) said that the assessment would pay for portion of snow graders, which cost $540,000. The assessment generates $234,000 and supports the acquisition of equipment, not snow removal work.
The council passed a motion directing the city clerk to submit the hearing’s minute order to the El Dorado County board of supervisors.
Amendment for ordinances on nuisance properties
The council was presented an ordinance for nuisance properties that will authorize, but not require daily citations to such sites. However, staff recommended that the issuance of citations remain at the discretion of the city building official or their designee.
Robbins was unimpressed by the ordinance, saying, “The current pace we are at has motivated exactly zero change in behavior… and has been fundamentally ineffective.” He suggested a graduated citation structure, citing issues with the Chateau site (also called the Hole in the Ground) and the citations it received.
Horgan recalled an industrial building that had a roof collapse from snow and said, “I caution us about being excessive, but I agree we should functionally be more defined in how we operate this enforcement… and move to improve safety.”
Mayor Pro Tem Keith Roberts said that there was more work to be done on the ordinance. Councilmember David Jinkens also expressed that he felt the ordinance did not achieve the goals they had set out on enforcement. Jinkens also said that he believed the Chateau site was a more complex situation than others.
Bass said that other options for enforcement were present and that codifying a graduated citation structure would disallow flexibility for responsible staff.
Through a motion, the council amended that after two 60-day citations, it triggers a review by city council for future action. The ordinance will go to first reading at a future meeting.
Five year capital improvement plan
The city received a presentation on the five-year capital improvement plan and recommendations for the 2026-2027 fiscal year budget. It included some of the following critical items:
- Transportation needs: $350,000 for Dennis Machida Bikeway Phase 1C
- Building and Facilities: $500,000 for long term capital replacement
- Parks: $500,000 for El Dorado Beach Revetment, $2,100,000 for existing rec center demolition, $150,000 for golf course improvements, $600,000 for new parks shop, $250,000 for new rec center’s snowmelt boiler
- Police: $350,000 police department parking and drainage upgrade
- Vehicles and equipment: $1,107,404 (partially will be funded through help of Tahoe Regional Planning Agency mitigation fees)
- Complete Streets: $250,000 for traffic safety and calming projects
- Stormwater and environmental improvements: $1,000,000 drainage pipe replacement and $800,000 for the Bijou Park Creek CEQA and matching funds towards the Lake Tahoe Restoration Act Grant.
The presentation also indicated that the city’s current roadways budget of $4 million annually was insufficient to keep pace with the 20-year life cycle of roads in the area. They would need to allocate an additional $8.85 million per year for a total of $12.85 million annually.
Horgan noted that she considered replacements for the snow melt boiler at the new rec center to be important, as at Barton Health she saw how devastating falls can be on health outcomes, especially for the elderly.
Everyone agreed on the importance of environmental improvement projects.
The council ultimately requested staff to add some items on rerouting Lakeview Avenue around Harrison Avenue for a pedestrian zone, the addition of permanent public restroom facilities at beaches around the city, as well as the assessment of geothermal heating as a possibility rather than a reliance on natural gas for snowmelt.
Tobacco moratorium
After hearing community concerns for a vape business near Slice of Sierra, the council considered an ordinance to regulate tobacco retail businesses, including through buffer zones around schools. Staff suggested a temporary moratorium through an urgency ordinance to stop approval of new tobacco retailer applications.
The item received support from the Tahoe Alliance for Safe Kids (TASK), who were concerned about the levels of nicotine and vape use among students, especially its potential to impact elementary schoolers.
Placerville and El Dorado County both previously put moratoriums on tobacco retail, but both were repealed in 2025.
Bass said that a repeal could potentially drive the creation of an illicit market for nicotine products.
Horgan, Jinkens and Robbins all agreed on the urgency of such an item, with a shared interest in establishing the moratorium despite it requiring a special meeting to be held in July to extend it.
Bass voted no on the item because of the urgency requirements, but said he was interested in regulation of tobacco within the city. The council will be holding a special meeting to address the moratorium again before its expiration on July 17.
Unpermitted vacation home rentals enforcement
The police department presented their findings on unpermitted vacation home rentals, which are tracked through a platform called Rentalscape. The reports include violations of listings that do not include a VHR permit number as well as ones that offer occupancy in excess of the maximums allowed by the city.
There are roughly 490 residential permits and 850-900 within the city. From 2022 to May 11, 2026, Rentalscape’s platform helped the department issue 511 citations. In 2025, there were 70 citations, and from January 1 to May 11 of 2026, there were 41 citations.
Staff also noted that platforms like vrbo and AirBnB were cooperative with requests to not list or advertise unpermitted VHRs.
During city council questioning, Chief Jeff Roberson noted that some properties were being cited and continuing to operate despite citations. Repeat citations increase the price from $1,000 to $3,000 to a maximum of $5,000. Roberson also said that there are other remedies for filing lawsuits, which would also require them to collect the Transient Occupancy Tax first.
The council received and filed the item.
El Dorado Beach revetment
On Friday, May 22, El Dorado Beach was closed for sand replenishment as part of the revetment for the site. Sand replenishment will continue as needed throughout the summer until the second phase can begin.
Phase 2 will involve removal of the plastic sandbags, the installation of rock below the bottom step of Lakeview Commons and backfilling that area with sand. The final phase would be to install features for long-term beach protection.
Given the high lake level, staff felt that the first round of sand replenishment was largely successful, though higher erosion is happening on the east side of the beach. They recognized that work on the area would be reliant on lake level changes, and hoped to split the second phase in two. The first base bid would concern the area where the sacks are currently located and would be $600,000 to $800,000. The second bid would be to replace and repair the rip rap and boulder revetment east of the stairs, which would be $800,000 to $1.1 million.
Staff are also currently conducting studies on the soil and wind-wave modelling at the site in order to help design for the long-term protection of the beach.
Public comment was largely supportive of the project, with some stating that it was possible that to protect the lake, they may have to remove the beach entirely. Horgan agreed with the urgency of the matter and need to get plastics out of the lake.
Agenda planning calendar and councilmember reports
The council will be having a special meeting in early July to begin consideration of a new city attorney.
Bass gave a brief update on transit from the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency’s (TRPA) strategic retreat. He also noted that the TRPA was open to restrictions of diquat and glyphosate in the Tahoe Basin, clarifying that the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit (LTBMU) would not be doing any spraying until 2028. However, areas outside their jurisdiction, such as Sierra-at-Tahoe and other parts of the El Dorado National Forest are currently being sprayed. Bass said they didn’t necessarily have the ability to tackle that in the same way, but advocated for the prevention of spraying such herbicides in other areas of the Tahoe Basin.
The next city council meeting will take place on June 16.
