At the April 24, 2012 Board of Supervisors meeting
the issue of banning vacation rentals on Lake Tulloch was a hot item. Those in
favor felt it would reduce the lake noise and what they deemed excessive
partying. Those opposed felt it was an infringement on property rights and a
potential negative economic impact.
Currently there are eleven home owners associations
in Copperopolis yet only five of those are affected by what is being considered
the core of the vacation rental issue – lake noise. Those are Peninsula
Estates, Conner Estates, Shore of Lake Tulloch (Poker Flat), Copper Cove
Homeowners Association and Calypso Bay. Of those associations it is reported
that three – Connor, Penninsula, Poker Flat - have passed a ban on vacation rentals
with the HOA’s solely responsible for ban enforcement.
The BOS had requested a noise ordinance be drafted
in 2008. In September 2009 Captain Jim Macedo spoke at a town hall meeting held
at the Outcast Hall in Poker Flat stating that he had felt, "after
countless hours of his time and that of county council," he had drafted an
“ordinance that is enforceable.” Stating that the Sheriff Office felt it was
necessary to “build a comprehensive noise ordinance for the entire county.” One excerpt from the draft noise ordinance is
as follows:
No
person shall cause, suffer, allow, or permit the operation of any sound source
on property or any public space or or public right-of-way in such a manner as
to create a sound’ in previous stated places “in such a manner as tp create a
sound level that exceeds the background sound level by at least 10 dBA during
daytime hours (7am to 10pm) and by at least 5 dBA during nighttime hours (10pm
to 7am) when measured at or within the real property line of the receiving
property, which shall constitute a noise disturbance, provided however, that if
the background sound level cannot be determined, the absolute sounds limits set
forth in Table 1 Maximum Permissible Sound Levels, provided that if the sound
source in question is a pure tone, the limits of Table 1 shall be reduced by 5
dBA.
The ordinance was not adopted.
In a phone interview with Sgt Mercado he stressed
the efforts made by the SO (Sheriff Office) to inform the public about noise ordinances, “If the
issue is noise then the noise needs to be addressed.” When asked if the SO was
able to differentiate between response calls to vacations rentals versus
residents he responded, “I have seen giant parties at rentals and at private
homes.” Pointing out that some of the lake front homes are second homes where
families bring friends for the weekends or lend the home to family or friends
for use. If a ban or restriction is placed on vacation rentals the concern from
the SO is the enforcement of a possible ban on short term rentals because there
is no current “mechanism to enforce those issues.” He further stated the SO
does not support restricting or licensing short term rentals.
