A ballot measure to ban all vacation home rentals in South Lake Tahoe’s residential neighborhoods after three years — and reduce their occupancy limits almost immediately — has passed by a margin of 58 votes, the El Dorado County Elections Department announced Tuesday.

The City Council plans to meet Monday to accept the final results of the November election. Ten days later, Measure T will take effect, said Chris Fiore, a spokesman for the city.

Any voter can demand and pay for a recount, but that doesn’t seem to be in the works despite the measure’s thin majority of 50.42 percent.

“We have talked about a recount, but I don’t believe we are going to ask for one,” said Jerry Williams, president of the Sustainable Community Alliance, a group of home and business owners who opposed Measure T. “We are disappointed in the outcome but remain committed to working with city leaders in protecting jobs” and tourism.

The measure can only be overturned or modified by another vote. Williams said his group has not discussed a subsequent ballot measure and he has not heard if anyone is planning a lawsuit to challenge Measure T.

The measure applies to homes rented for 30 days or less outside the city’s tourist core. The core generally runs along Highway 50 from Ski Run Boulevard to Stateline. There are about 1,400 short-term rentals outside the core and only 400 inside.

“The voters have spoken, and we respect that,” Fiore said. “The only thing we can do is wait for the fiscal shoe to drop. That has been our concern all along, what it will do monetarily to the city of South Lake Tahoe.”

The city estimated that it could lose up to $4 million a year in tourist taxes and other fees.

A group of residents called Tahoe Neighborhoods Group gathered enough signatures to place the measure on the ballot. Although homes in the city have been rented to vacationers for decades, their numbers have increased with the growth of rental sites such as Airbnb and VRBO. Measure T proponents said tourists don’t belong in neighborhoods zoned as residential. They say visitors disturb their peace and make it harder for full-time residents to find housing.

A year ago, the city limited vacation home rentals to 1,400 outside the tourist core and imposed stiff rules and fines aimed at cracking down on loud parties, parking problems and late-night hot tub use. Opponents of Measure T said these were working, but many neighbors were still unhappy.

“Our mission was to get this in front of the voters. We felt the broader community hadn’t been listened to,” said Peggy Bourland, a member of the neighborhood group. Their victory “is a caution for our community and all communities.”

She said a similar ballot measure in Pacific Grove near Monterey passed with 57.5 percent of the vote. That measure will prohibit short-term rentals in residential areas outside the coastal zone and phase out existing ones within 18 months.

The California Coastal Commission plans and regulates land and water use along the state’s shoreline, excluding the San Francisco Bay, in partnership with local governments. The commission opposes “blanket vacation rental bans” along the coast and has found them inconsistent with the state Coastal Act because they “unduly limit public recreational access opportunities,” it said in a December 2016 letter to coastal communities.

In Del Mar, just north of San Diego, the City Council adopted an ordinance that would limit short-term rentals in residential areas to 28 days per year, with a minimum stay of seven days. The commission refused to certify the ordinance, proposing instead a minimum stay of three days for up to 100 days per year. The City Council has taken legal action challenging the commission’s authority.

Some states have taken stronger steps to limit local authority on short-term rentals. “Arizona, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Tennessee and Wisconsin have enacted legislation prohibiting short-term rental bans,” the National Council of State Legislatures said in a report.

In South Lake Tahoe, the 1,400 homeowners with existing vacation home permits in non-core neighborhoods can continue to operate them for three years. Those permits cannot be transferred to anyone, including a new owner. Once Measure T takes effect, the city can issue no new permits outside the core. After Dec. 31, 2021, anyone still operating a vacation home rental outside the core will have to stop, although they could rent it for more than 30 days at a time.

Measure T also reduces occupancy limits on short-term rentals outside the core effective Dec. 20. The current limit — two people per bedroom plus four per home — will shrink to two per bedroom period, and no home can have more than 12 occupants.

Fiore said the city will issue permits that reflect the new occupancy limits by Jan. 7, but that it will enforce them “the same way we did before.” The city responds only when it gets a complaint. The city will give affected owners until Jan. 7 to bring their ads and property signs into compliance with the new limits.

Michael Keller, a real estate broker and owner of Keller Properties in South Lake Tahoe, said the cap imposed last December and uncertainty over Measure T have already impacted the market, especially large homes designed for families and groups. After the city imposed the 1,400 home limit last December, the waiting list for vacation home permits grew to about two years, he said.

He listed a newly built, seven-bedroom, 6,000-square-foot home on Regina Road near the base of Heavenly ski resort at $2.25 million in August 2017. After seven price cuts, it’s now listed at $1.55 million. At that price, the owner — an investor who built it as a vacation rental — would take “a substantial loss,” Keller said. “The majority of the buyer pool (for that type of property) has disappeared.”

A new owner could rent it out for more than 30 days at a time, but it’s not the kind of property that would be turned into workforce housing.

Lower- and moderate-priced homes have been less affected because many people who buy them as a second home may rent them out as a sideline. They also could be more easily converted to full-time rentals.

Evan Goldin lives in Menlo Park but couldn’t afford to buy a home there, so he bought one in South Lake Tahoe instead. He and his wife use it about half the year and rent it short term the other half. In the five years he has owned it, he has had no violations and paid the city about $50,000 in taxes and fees.

“I’m really disappointed and worried about the future of South Lake Tahoe, the hole it will blow in the budget and all the businesses that have started up in the last few years,” Goldin said. “Personally, it’s disheartening to have my property rights taken away. We are not some giant company, just one married couple that owns one home” and are not sure what to do.

Measure T does not impact homes outside the South Lake Tahoe limits, but El Dorado County has also discussed imposing a moratorium or cap on vacation home rentals in unincorporated areas. “From an economic standpoint that can have some of the same effect” as an outright ban, Keller said.

Kathleen Pender is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. Email: kpender@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @kathpender