Bear Boxes

By Architectural Control Committee

THE CITY OF SOUTH LAKE TAHOE (CSLT) has granted the Tahoe Keys Property Owners Association (TKPOA) an exemption to the VHR Ordinance for mandatory Bear Box requirements.

The following is a brief history of how we arrived at this exemption.

During 2014, the TKPOA Board of Directors asked the Architectural Control Committee (ACC) to work with staff to draft a Bear/Garbage Management Plan for our Association.

The main reasons for the Board’s action were:

1. The resident bear population in the Tahoe Keys had grown to about nine individual animals. 2. The bears were encouraged to stay in the Keys due to the prevalence of uncontrolled human food sources (open dumpster containers at the pavilion and townhomes, open trash containers on common areas, uncontrolled residential garbage at single family homes), and unacceptable behaviors by some residents and their tenants (allowing bear dens on properties and actual feeding of bears). We even found a bear den under the pavilion!

To address these issues, TKPOA produced the very first comprehensive Bear/Garbage Management Plan by a private entity here in the Lake Tahoe Basin which stated:

1. Garbage must be secured away from access from animals at all times. Garbage may only be set to the curb for pick-up after 6 a.m. on Fridays. An exception was provided for non-garbage landscape and construction materials. 2. Property owners, their guests and tenants are encouraged to use animal resistant garbage containers with lock-tops, even on pick-up day. Several species of wild animals can make quite a mess in just few hours when they get into open-topped containers (magpies, raccoons, coyotes, ground squirrels). 3. TKPOA provides a bear-proof dumpster facility for property owners, available 24/7 at the pavilion office. All trash containers on common areas were converted to bearproof designs. Townhome developments were required to convert their open dumpsters at centralized locations to bear-proof designs. 4. TKPOA implemented an Information & Education Plan (I&EP) for its members, visitors, guests and tenants. These handouts are available for download from the TKPOA website or hard copy from the pavilion office. 5. Planting of new fruit trees is prohibited, existing trees may be kept if fruit is harvested and removed when ripe. Outdoor feeding of pets and wild birds and geese is highly discouraged. These too are human provided food sources that can throw-off natures balance. 6. TKPOA Security and ACC compliance officers’ stepped-up enforcement for trash violations. If your garbage is unsecured or on the street before 6 a.m. Friday, TKPOA maintenance crews will remove it and a fee of $75 will be charged. ACC can also levy a fine of up to $250 for each occurrence.

The results were impressive. The dozens of calls and complaints from homeowners and tenants over bear-encounters and break-ins have all but evaporated since 2015. At last count, only 2 to 3 individual bears could be identified as frequenting the TKPOA portions of the Tahoe Keys.

So, why did TKPOA ask the CSLT for an exemption from the Bear Box ordinance?

1. Small lots close together. The Tahoe Keys residential developments (single-family and town homes) were designed for high-density use. The lots (parcels) are compact, being generally much smaller than are those found outside the TKPOA. Then consider that up-to 50% of these small (waterfront) lots are actually under the water, in the channels and lagoons. Often there is very little space between lots where they meet at the curb. 2. Putting bear boxes at curbside in areas where driveways of adjacent lots are close presents many problems such as parking access, snow storage, first-responder access, etc. 3. If all TKPOA properties had a double bear box at curbside, in many areas property owners would feel like they are hemmedin by a “wall-of-steel”. So, this is also an aesthetic consideration. 4. Part of the CSLT ordinance requires multiple-boxes for VHRs, depending upon the allowed over-night capacity. There are about 300 VHRs in the TKPOA. Enclosures for as many as 2, 4 or even 6 standard trash cans would be required at each VHR property. 5. The ACC and Board of Directors correctly determined that TKPOA property owners had several viable options for properly securing and removing human garbage without the need for bear boxes. Property owners renting their properties routinely require cleaning crews to remove garbage between tenant reservations; TKPOA maintains community bear-proof dumpsters 24/7 at the pavilion; South Tahoe Refuse (STR) provides for free drop-off of garbage at its Ruth Avenue facility (easy access for owners and guests leaving town).

BEAR BOX EXEMPTION

Any questions can be

forwarded to Linda Callahan,

Architectural Control

Department Manager at

Lcallahan@tahoekeyspoa.org

or by calling

(530) 542-6444, ext. 239.

6. Bear boxes are the most costly option for storing and removing solid waste. Not only do they cost about $1,000 per double-can enclosure to install, they forever cost about 3–4 times more to service/pick-up. 7. Why are bear boxes more costly to service? The average “stop time” for STR trucks removing garbage set-to-the-curb on pick-up day is about 10 seconds, while the average “stop time” to service a double-can bear box is about 25 seconds due to the bear box needing to be opened (unlocked) and each container checked for contents. Think about a VHR having up-to 4 or 6 cans to check! Then the boxes must be re-secured (locked) before the truck can proceed to the next stop. Now consider that about 60–70% of all single-family homes are unoccupied during any given week. Potentially, if every TKPOA single-family home had one double-can bear box, needing to be checked weekly, year-round, our collection costs would soar! 8. The bottom line for those wanting bear boxes is for personal convenience. They could avail themselves of the several options for proper storage and removal of garbage. Think of the property owner with a bear box who uses their home 5–10 weeks a year...but expects their surrounding neighbors to “look at” the installation 52 weeks a year, then help pick-up the extra cost of the special servicing STR requires of the bear box. 9. If at some point in the future, STR makes provisions for servicing bear boxes beyond the 20’ front set-back, and is willing to charge that resident the appropriate amount for this extra service, we may be able to make more general use of bear boxes. Currently STR depends on a fee design where all customers underwrite the total cost of collection, much like an insurance company. 10.TKPOA and the ACC are committed to working with our property owners to help them to properly secure and remove the garbage portion of their solid waste. Please check with ACC if you need assistance in this regard. ACC does make allowances for special storage designs, but they are not allowed within the 20’ front setbacks and may need to be screened from view.