Tulloch rentals plan sent back

By Kristine Williams | Posted: Friday, February 15, 2013 9:48 am

http://www.calaverasenterprise.com/news/article_3fe9b8ea-7796-11e2-b9f4-0019bb2963f4.html

The controversial proposed special permit process for Lake Tulloch’s short-term rentals was again sent back to the Calaveras County’s Planning Department during Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting.

Planning Department staff re-introduced an ordinance initially adopted contingent upon board recommended revisions with a 4-0 vote (Supervisor Merita Callaway being absent) during a Jan. 22 meeting.

The ordinance was presented Tuesday with a new definition of the Lake Tulloch area to include all subdivisions contiguous to the lake’s shoreline, a new determination of occupancy standards based on housing size as opposed to the structure’s number of rooms, exempting Driftwood Townhomes from the ordinance because the development has no direct access issues, and adding common interests docks to the boundary definition.

Despite the board’s previous support of the amended Title 20 ordinance, Callaway voiced concerns over the county’s ability to effectively manage rental properties and enforce any adopted regulations, citing a lack of department time and resources and no verifiable comment regarding the issue from any affected homeowners associations.

“I’m really concerned about the county having resources to manage this. We are then going to become the HOA manager for this subdivision. … There was no letter from the Copper Cove Lake Tulloch Owners Association either in support or not in support for this,” said Callaway.

Due to the high volume of interest, public comment was limited to three minutes per speaker and many lined up to voice opinions both supporting and condemning the ordinance.

Some Copperopolis residents, like Scott Fraiser, stood at the podium to voice frustrations of learning about the ordinance “after the fact.”

District 2 Supervisor Chris Wright recommended that planning staff go back and try to contact more property owners – only about 50 had received direct notification from the Planning Department.

“I think we should notify all landowners within the affected boundary of this ordinance. As much as I would rather not do that, I think it is important in this case,” he said in response to staff, noting that contacting the Copper Cove subdivision alone would cost at least $1,000.

Both District 5 and District 4 Supervisors Darren Spellman and Debbie Ponte viewed the ordinance as important for protecting public safety – a concern voiced by numerous Lake Tulloch residents, most poignantly by Kathi Copeland.

Copeland, a Copper Cove resident who lost her right arm during an accident last fall, said the timing of the accident was fortunate.

“Thank goodness it wasn’t during the summer,” she said, voicing concern that emergency response vehicles would have been unable to reach her because of boats, trailers and portable restrooms clogging roads.

“I support this kind of ordinance,” said Supervisor Ponte, though she agreed to revisit the issue at a later date. “I do believe we need some kind of permitting process in place. … I would hope that we could all be responsible and neighborly but it has clearly gotten out of hand.”

Supervisor Spellman was more adamant in his desire to take immediate action on the agenda item, noting the summer vacation season is fast approaching.

“That is what we do with the money we collect,” he said. “We protect the public safety and welfare. This needs to get done now. This needs to get done ASAP.”

The board ultimately voted to again revisit the issue tentatively at the March 12 board meeting. Before then, Ponte is to conduct public outreach to assist the Planning Department in notifying affected property owners and gain more public input.