SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. – Tuesday’s city council meeting heard three topics from previous city council meetings: Lease to Locals and Placemate’s professional services agreement, Heavenly’s snow removal (and refusal of annexation), and the local tenant preference policy for housing programs in South Lake Tahoe.

Lease to Locals

Last year, city council discussed Placemate’s professional services agreement for providing the administrative portion of the Lease to Locals program—which is the only program in South Lake Tahoe targeting the “missing middle” class who do not qualify for affordable housing, but cannot afford market rate housing. According to housing manager Jessica Wackenhut Lomeli, “In the past three years, the program has unlocked 52 households, housed 127 residents, and 38 out of the 52 grants have been closed and completed.”

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Wackenhut Lomeli requested that city council pass a motion that would amend the program guidelines to include a six-month lease option for have of the one-year incentive grant amount, which was brought up to city council the last time this was on the agenda. She also requested that the council pass a resolution directing the mayor to execute an amendment to the agreement, which would extend the grant program until the end of January 2026. This would also authorize budget appropriations of $90,000 from the general fund undesignated excess reserves.

However, the current cost of the program gave pause to the council. Councilmember Scott Robbins requested the numbers on the costs of Placemate and the grant incentives; Over the past three years, the grants have cost $196,000 total, while Placemate has costed $253,000 for the administration of the program.

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“I think the cost of administration is out of hand… and I’m deeply uncomfortable moving forward with the Placemate contract for the administration of the program,” said Robbins. “This is not responsible spending if we’re spending more on administration than on the grants.” Robbins proposed a performance-based contract, which Mayor Pro Tem Cody Bass and Councilmembers David Jinkens and Keith Roberts expressed some interest in.

Bass also considered if the city could perhaps allocate funds and resources to supporting local realtors in order to stimulate renting long-term and buying property in the area.

Chase Janvrin, general manager of Placemate in the Tahoe region, said that one of the reasons that the transition rate of the program was lower was because of the lower incentives that South Lake Tahoe provides. “South Lake has always been the most restrictive program and the smallest incentive. The incentives in South Lake are less than half of what Truckee’s are.” Janvrin also pointed out that Placer County’s starting incentives were three times that of South Shore’s.

After discussion of whether the city council would be willing to use unrestricted general funds for the program, since the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds are no longer available for South Lake Tahoe’s Lease to Locals program, they eventually came to an amended motion.

Mayor Tamara Wallace moved to amend for six-month leases and passed the resolution for Placemate to continue the program until January 2026. She also indicated that South Lake Tahoe was interested in aligning with Truckee’s incentive funds of $24,500, and further discussion on the topic was relegated to the strategic meeting, where budgeting would also be a topic. The motion passed with one no vote from Jinkens.

Heavenly snow plowing

Despite the relatively mild winter, with hope for more snow coming next week, the item of Heavenly’s snow removal negotiations sparked much discussion. Heavenly and the City of South Lake Tahoe have been in negotiations regarding whether or not the Vail property should be annexed into the city. Heavenly representatives have been adamant about not wishing to be annexed. Last June, the city terminated its parking agreement and a debate on whether Heavenly would continue to provide snow removal operations ensued.

During public comment, Shaydar Edelmann, general manager of Heavenly urged the city to continue its agreement with Heavenly for snow plowing—as did Jerry Bindel, representing both the Visitors’ Authority and Lodging Association, citing reduced vehicle miles travelled (VMT) due to the shuttle, which would not be able to operate effectively with snow on the road.

However, the city does already plow those roads—Heavenly does supplemental plowing work. Mayor Pro Tem Bass mentioned that he was the one who requested the item be brought back to city council because as it previously stood, he felt there was not adequate compensation.

Councilmember Robbins moved to negotiate a snow removal agreement with Heavenly based on an earlier presented cost structure as presented, or to negotiate with Heavenly to provide a properly indemnified snow removal agreement at no cost, as well as a parking agreement, if Heavenly provided written support for annexation. The motion passed unanimously.

Local Tenant Preference Policy

Wackenhut Lomeli returned to the podium briefly to present that research was done to see if they could adopt a policy that preferred local tenants on housing waitlists, without that preference becoming discriminatory.

Tara Matthews from RSG Inc. presented the research findings, which found that tenant preference could apply priority to lease up period or properties financially assisted by city, restrict priority to high displacement areas, and set aside percentage of units, which could avert outside disparate impacts. However, the policy could only prioritize waitlist order and cannot use length of time as resident or worker as preference. These would also have to be approved by a Housing and Urban Development field office.

While some were excited for the policy to help with Sugar Pine Village’s lengthy waitlist for future phases, Wackenhut Lomeli specified that these policies would have to be agreed on by the developers, which was not guaranteed. It likely would only affect the final phase of Sugar Pine Village, although the first phase’s occupants are 90% locals.

“If we’re not building housing primarily for locals in need, people who work here in need, or others, I don’t know who we’re building it for,” said Councilmember Jinkens, expressing his frustration regarding how policies currently work.

During public comment, one attendee expressed that he was unsure that the policy was necessary, asking what the city would gain by excluding other applicants that otherwise qualify. Others expressed that they wished the policy had come into effect years ago, but hoped it would help with current projects such as the one on 3900 Lake Tahoe Boulevard.

Robbins was in agreement with that frustration, along with Jinkens. However, he was eager to make the motion on the policy considering it was something he brought to council in his first year of service. He moved to pass the resolution adopting the local tenant preference policy, with some modifications made by the city attorney. The motion passed, though Jinkens abstained from the vote.

Other items

The city officially recognized National Human Trafficking Prevention Month and Stalking Awareness Month.

Alexandra Pickett and Sebastian Guerrero, members on the superintendent’s student advisory council, presented on the Community Academy, which plans to teach participants about city operations and services from April 18 to May 28. Jinkens commended the program, which will be accepting 30 participants who reside, work, or attend school in South Lake Tahoe.

During public comment, Director of the South Tahoe Chamber of Commerce Duane Wallace gave an update regarding fire protection in the community. He said they were on track to put on a solid community forum, though some key figures at the state and federal level are currently busy with the fires in southern California.

Melissa Soderston thanked councilmember Jinkens for his commitment to fire prevention, but believes that fuel reduction is not as helpful as directing funds towards home hardening.

Eli Ramos is a reporter for Tahoe Daily Tribune. They are part of the 2024–26 cohort of California Local News Fellows through UC Berkeley.