Naperville city staff have recommended a ban on short-term rental properties like Airbnb and VRBO within the city stay in effect.
In August, Naperville City Council voted unanimously for the ban after multiple incidents of house parties getting out of control. The group asked to revisit the issue in six months.
City Staff’s Recommendation
Half a year later city staff have recommended the ban remain in effect.
“Since we haven’t received a whole lot of interest in getting rid of the ban and the ban seems to have addressed the issues that council is trying to address, staff did recommend that those changes to the ordinance be made at this time,” said City Attorney Mike DiSanto.
No Citations Issued
DiSanto said there have been some complaints about violating the ordinance, but the city didn’t issue any citations. The ordinance sets fines at $1,000 for first violations and $2,500 for subsequent violations.
“When we received complaints our code enforcement went out and investigated and at times had to speak to people regarding the rules and either give clarification that they were not violating it, or make sure they understood that the ordinance is in effect and that they could no longer engage in short term rentals,” he said.
About five people have inquired about the ban, which DiSanto said is not unusual for an ordinance that was put in place with the intention that it would be reevaluated after a period of time.
Revisiting the Short-Term Rental Ban
Any city council member or the mayor can ask that the issue be revisited during new business at a council meeting. Three of the nine members need to agree in order to add the item to a future council agenda.
Naperville News 17’s Casey Krajewski reports.
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