No Moratorium on Permits. No Decision on Grocery Outlet.

Big Bear News – Big Bear Lake, CA – At Monday night’s meeting of the Big Bear Lake City Council, the meeting, including a three hour closed session, lasted over nine hours.  Among the subjects covered, in a 3 to 1 vote, the Council agreed to fill resigned Councilmember Dave Caretto’s seat by an appointment instead of holding a costly special election.  A resolution was approved to authorize the construction contract of the Moonridge Corridor Project with a budget of nine million dollars paid for by City Transient Occupancy Tax funds and gas tax funds.  Construction will begin this summer with drainage and other infrastructure.  The project is expected to conclude by early 2023 resulting in two round abouts, a bike lane, landscaping and street side parking.  The last minute addition to the agenda which included a temporary moratorium of 60 days from issuing private home rental permits was voted down by 1 vote.  This moratorium was meant to allow stakeholders on both sides of the private home rental issue to come to the table and find common ground while not creating a panic to get home rental permits.  The room was filled with private home rental owners and real estate representatives speaking during the public comment session who claimed the temporary moratorium could hurt property values.  Because it was an emergency ordinance, it would have taken a unanimous vote to pass.  Also, later in the evening, an appeal for the plot plan for Grocery Outlet, to be located on Big Bear Boulevard just north of Stater Brothers, was concluded with a continuation into the next meeting.  A clear path to approval or denial of the appeal was not apparent as the meeting went past the 11pm hour.  Deliberations will be scheduled to conclude this matter at either a special meeting or the next regularly scheduled City Council meeting which will be held on Monday, July 19th with open session starting at 6pm.