Schaumburg trustees don't favor imposing condo, townhouse rental restrictions

Schaumburg village board members have recommended by a 6-1 vote that the village not impose limits on the number of rental units allowed within condominium and townhouse developments.

The decision was reached during a meeting lasting more than two hours Tuesday in which trustees heard from homeowners for and against villagewide restrictions.

Trustee Mark Madej cast the dissenting vote, saying a rental cap is needed to keep Schaumburg from becoming a village in which rented condos, townhouses, manor homes and row houses were common.

"I'm very disappointed that the (homeowners associations) can't take care of this on their own," Madej said. "I see it as getting out of hand and that we should assist these HOAs to work something out."

The debate did not concern developments intended as rentals, but rather multifamily housing meant to be owner-occupied.

Village staff members, who did not recommend any specific action, conducted a poll of 16 other Illinois municipalities and found none imposed a government restriction on rental percentages. These included Arlington Heights, Barrington, Bartlett, Bloomington, Champaign, Des Plaines, Elk Grove Village, Grayslake, Hoffman Estates, Niles, Naperville, Northbrook, Orland Park, Park Ridge, Urbana and Wheeling.

Each multifamily housing association within the village remains free to impose its own restrictions on the number of rentals, and at least 15 currently do.

The village's involvement in one association's wish to amend its policy last fall led to the more recent discussions of a villagewide restriction.

Mayor Tom Dailly said he believed the audience of about 65 homeowners at this week's committee-of-the-whole meeting were fairly evenly divided on the subject.

While the village staff found crime rates not to be a recognizable pattern among rental units over the past five years, some who spoke Tuesday said owners of rented units were slow to fix things on their properties, Dailly said.

The village board is expected to formalize its recommendation with a final vote on Tuesday, June 25.

Dailly said he considers the decision to be a long-term one.