VHR petition lawsuit inches forward

As of Thursday morning, no date has been set for a hearing on the appeal of the insufficiency of a petition seeking to place a ban on vacation home rentals in residential neighborhoods.

But that could change after Senior Judge William Maddox ordered a shortened schedule for motions on April 19.

With three weeks for attorneys to file their arguments, petitioners hope to get their day in court by the middle of May.

The deadline for a decision on the petition is June 28, 130 days before the general election. If the judge upholds the petition, it could go on the ballot.

The petition seeks to ban vacation home rentals from all residential neighborhoods in Douglas County. Presently, vacation rentals are only legal in Tahoe Township. They are prohibited in East Fork Township, which includes Carson Valley and Topaz Ranch Estates.

Under the petition, rentals would be permitted in areas zoned mixed use and neighborhood commercial across the county.

That includes one site at Tahoe and up to 160 in East Fork, according to the county. There is a request pending for apartments in neighborhood commercial along Carson Valley Golf Course north of Riverview Drive.

Part of the delay in getting the appeal of county commissioners’ February vote to deny a request to overturn the clerk-treasurer’s decision was finding someone to transcribe the hearing, according to documents filed in Douglas County District Court.

According to the clerk’s office the group brought petitions with 4,852 signatures.

Of those, one person removed their signature, and 574 signatures were disqualified, bringing the total count to 4,277, 112 signatures short of the required number.