New Schaumburg rules no fun for playhouses

It'll no longer be all fun and games for Schaumburg's playhouses and tree houses if newly recommended restrictions are approved next week.

Based on a recent complaint against one backyard playhouse that had deteriorated into a storage shed for trash, the village's planning, building and development committee Thursday recommended a staff proposal for new regulations.

"It's no longer a playhouse when you're using it to store your lawnmower," Planning Services Manager Julie Summers said. "That's what we're trying to get away from."

The new rules apply only to constructed playhouses built on permanent foundations, not the prefabricated plastic ones found in toy stores.

Permanent playhouses still won't need a permit to be built, but the new regulations would govern how they're designed and maintained.

Under the proposal, playhouses would be restricted to back yards, a minimum of 5 feet from the property line, no more than 15 feet in height, properly maintained and not used for storage.

They would also be confined to a maximum of 100 square feet or 40 percent of the total backyard area, whichever is less.

Temporary tree houses are not addressed by the proposed regulations, but permanent ones would be prohibited.

Permanent tree houses are considered to be structures in which people might actually live, like the Swiss Family Robinson for instance. There are no current examples in Schaumburg, officials said.

"We're not advocating some over-regulation in which a father and his kids couldn't go out in the backyard and put together a playhouse with some spare lumber," Summers said.

The three trustees on the committee were fascinated by photos of elaborate playhouses already in the village.

"All joking aside, I can understand having some parameters around this a little bit," Trustee Tom Dailly said.

Summers said staff members initially were concerned about how difficult it might be to find examples of playhouses. But once they started, they easily found some type of playhouse on every fourth or fifth lot.

If approved at next Tuesday's village board meeting, the new regulations would take effect March 1. Existing playhouses still will be permitted as long as they're maintained and used for their original purpose.