LITH to revise law that limits home meetings

Several Lake in the Hills trustees fear a proposed new law, as written, would keep Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and other groups from meeting or doing business inside people's homes.

The proposal reads: “Attendance of up to four persons per day may be allowed for the purpose of receiving private instruction or training. Any subject or skill except singing, dance or musical instrument shall be limited to no more than two pupils at a time, up to four pupils per day, and shall only be permitted in the single family detached or attached dwelling.”

The purpose is to avoid a situation where multiple people are constantly circulating in and out of homes throughout the day, Community Development Director Dan Olsen said.

But trustees Ray Bogdanowski and Paul Mulcahy expressed concern that it bars Scouts, who could be learning new things, as well as Mary Kay makeup groups and Tupperware sellers from congregating inside someone's home.

“We're not intending to go out and bust those,” Olsen said, adding that enforcement would be complaint based.

Trustee Steve Harlfinger questioned whether this was the best use of the village's time.

“Is this really an issue? Are we going to start kicking doors in? Let it go,” Harlfinger said.

Bogdanowski said the issue originated from a complaint he heard about in November.

A resident held a religious meeting at his own house that attracted more than four people, and one of the guests backed into a neighbor's car, Bogdanowski said.

That neighbor complained to the village and the village asked that the resident apply for a business license if he wanted to keep having religious meetings, Bogdanowski said.

“If we're trying to do a specific thing, let's say that,” Bogdanowski said.

Village Administrator Gerald Sagona said he will research how other towns handle the issue and will return an amended proposal to the board.