Schaumburg revisiting when apartment buildings must switch from heat to air conditioning

Due to ongoing complaints from apartment residents, Schaumburg officials are revisiting the issue of when heat is required and air-conditioning can be available in buildings that can switch between them only twice each year.

Such buildings are usually equipped with boiler systems that make more than these two annual changes impractical. They account for 16 of Schaumburg’s 30 multifamily residences.

The village currently requires heat to be available from Sept. 15 to June 1, dates kept after a similar deliberation four years ago.

Because of the overriding requirement of a minimum indoor temperature of 68 degrees, complaints about these dates are invariably that they keep apartments too warm, Schaumburg Community Development Director Julie Fitzgerald said.

“I think they know the system is all-or-nothing,” she added. “I think they’re just frustrated with the lack of flexibility.”

Over the last nine years, 16 of the 58 complaints the village’s Health Division has received about heating and air-conditioning were specifically about these dates. And many of those were from residents of The Grove at Schaumburg Apartments and 21 Kristin Apartments.

Fitzgerald said it’s unclear why the complaints have been so concentrated in those two complexes. The management teams of both properties could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Village staff will present four options to the Planning, Building and Development Committee Thursday — with a recommendation of the one allowing landlords and property managers to choose their own dates within 30 days of the current required ones.

This would still guarantee the availability of heat as late as May 1 and as early as Oct. 15 each year, Fitzgerald said.

The other options include making May 1 and Oct. 15 the new required dates, leaving regulations as they are, or omitting a date range altogether as just a few nearby suburbs like Arlington Heights, Rolling Meadows and Park Ridge do.

The committee’s own recommendation will be forwarded to the full village board later this month.

“It’s a very complex issue,” said Trustee Jack Sullivan, who chairs the Planning, Building and Development Committee. “It’s something we take seriously. It’s the health and safety of our residents.”

Only a few surveyed suburbs changed their policies in the past four years, according to Schaumburg’s research.

Hoffman Estates added a time range for heat from Sept. 15 to May 31, Mount Prospect moved its start date for heat up from Sept. 15 to Sept. 1 and Naperville changed its end date for heat from May 31 to May 1.