Restrictive deed clauses trimmed in Schaumburg

Schaumburg trustees Tuesday approved a measure to keep the village's commercial district bustling while, at the same time, keeping former business owners from controlling the land's use.

The new law limits the ability of commercial landowners to restrict the use of their properties after they sell them to others.

Usually, this placing of restrictions on a property deed is intended to ban competitors of the earlier business.

Real examples that have already occurred include gas stations and grocery stores prohibiting the same types of business from locating on the land they once owned.

But while the desire to keep competitors at bay is understandable, Trustee Tom Dailly said, he felt this ability carried too much potential of keeping away businesses that would be good for the village.

If such power were gradually exercised among Schaumburg's auto dealerships, for instance, a large part of the village's economic engine could be permanently damaged, Dailly said.

The new law is modeled after one already in use in Chicago, where neighborhoods that sprang up around grocery stores became blighted after the original store closed and a second grocer was prohibited by a land deed restriction.

Dailly, who chairs the village board's general government committee, said he would have preferred the new law prohibit any restrictions on land deeds.

But he was persuaded to go along with the possibility of time-limited restrictions when an existing business is relocating nearby and wants to re-establish itself before its competition can.

As written, the new law allows anti-competitive restrictions to last up to two years in cases when the original business is relocating within half a mile.

While the law officially takes effect immediately, its first real test will come when a current or future business owner decides to challenge a restriction put on their property deed by a prior owner.