Hide the air conditioning units in Addison
If you've got a window air conditioner, Addison officials don't want to see it.
Oh, it's fine if it faces the neighbors to the side or, even better, to the rear. But toward the street?
Not on their watch.
Acknowledging the new ordinance passed this spring affects rental properties more than houses, officials say they're trying to make the village more visually pleasing.
And those jutting-out air conditioners? They simply don't qualify.
"We have some serious issues with rental units, and we're making sure that rentals are not reducing the overall aesthetics of the community," Mayor Larry Hartwig said.
The new ordinance says portable air conditioners are acceptable, but only if they're flush with the building. In other words, they can't stick out, only in. Sleeves inserted through walls to hold a unit are acceptable because the bulk of the air conditioner remains inside.
In truth, the problems aren't the cooling units themselves, but the stuff that gets stuffed around them to block openings between windows and sills.
"We see various forms of side panels, cardboard, pieces of cloth … it becomes to a varying degree an eyesore," said John Berley, the village's community development director.
Depending on when the village annually inspects each rental unit, landlords will have between one and two years to comply. That means residents shouldn't find themselves suddenly without air-conditioning, Berley said.
But the new requirement is causing concern among some quarters, particularly because it has the potential to affect those residents least able to afford to move or pay for changes. Berley said they're estimating it would cost $1,000 to install a sleeve into an exterior wall.
"Let's face it, it's going to affect low-income families and older homes more than anybody else. And at the end of it all, what do you have?" said Bernie Kleina, executive director of HOPE Fair Housing Center of DuPage.
Hartwig said they're hoping they have nicer rental properties.
"If (landlords) start to lose their tenants, that will be motivation to get their building up to a standard people start to expect," he said.
But community activist Rita Gonzalez suggested the law might be discriminatory.
"To me, obviously, it's targeting certain people," she said. "I think it's another type of harassment."
Berley disagreed.
Absentee landlords, who consistently give the village problems and resist requests to maintain their property, reap rewards without any sweat equity. Officials hope this is one way to change that, he said, even though they're not aware of any other municipality that's attempted such an ordinance.
"We have landlords making a lot of money off their units. They can spend a little money to help the residents," Berley said. "That's who we're targeting. We don't mean to hurt the residents. We're trying to keep everyone on a level playing field and stop people from exploiting tenants."