Regulations on short-term home rentals listed on hosting platforms like Airbnb and Vrbo may soon be coming to Kane County.

The topic has been under discussion in the county for a few months, and now the proposed regulations are set to go to the Kane County Board next Tuesday for a final vote.

In recent months, the county has heard from some residents concerned about short-term home rentals in their neighborhoods.

In October, local resident Susan Blassick said during a meeting of the Kane County Board’s Development Committee that she lives on a quiet, dead-end street, but a short-term rental has become a disruption for her and her neighbors.

“We all bought homes here because of the serene environment, never envisioning that a short-term rental would be on our street,” Blassick said.

Saying that a short-term home rental “has no place here,” she cited loud parties, party buses and overflowing parking on the street as some of her concerns, and expressed gratitude for the county taking up the issue.

Another resident of the same street, Deanna Davisson, said that a large group of people coming to stay in the short-term rental is “literally doubling the population of (their) street,” and pointed to concerns about safety.

“When you clutter our tiny little street, our tiny little cul-de-sac, with 18 additional cars and people who don’t know the area, with animals that don’t know the area, if something happens in our community, getting out is going to be very difficult, if not impossible,” Davisson said. “We feel that there’s a major safety issue that needs to be addressed.”

At that same meeting, Mark VanKerkhoff, the director of the county’s Development and Community Services Department, presented the county’s first pass at additions to the county code meant to regulate such rentals.

Kane County is not alone in considering this sort of measure — Skokie has discussed regulations on them and Chicago aldermen have mulled giving themselves the power to ban short-term home rentals from opening in their wards. And Lake County, for example, has outright prohibited short-term rentals in unincorporated areas.

VanKerkhoff noted that Kane County looked at regulations passed by area municipalities, and said the proposed additions to the county code do two things, broadly: require a rental to get a license from the county’s Development and Community Services Department, and allow for fines to be assessed if there are violations of the regulations on short-term rentals. He noted that all other aspects of the county code still apply to such properties.

At that meeting in October, members of the Kane County Board discussed the proposed ordinance, but ultimately held off on moving it forward to allow for further discussion and revisions.

Board member Mohammad Iqbal at the time said the ordinance was not in its final form, echoing the concerns about short-term rentals being allowed on cul-de-sacs, among other issues. And board member Michael Linder said limits in the proposed regulations on how many people can sleep in a short-term rental home doesn’t address the issue of frequent large parties.

“People on vacation just behave differently than neighbors,” board member Deborah Allan said about the issue. “The neighbors know that, tomorrow, they have to face their neighbors, whereas vacationers are just there for a good time, and then they leave. And I don’t know how we protect a neighborhood, but we need to try and do that.”

At subsequent Development Committee meetings, a few residents suggested that the proposed ordinance did not go far enough, and the committee continued to discuss revisions to the proposed amendments to the county code.

At its Dec. 16 meeting, the committee ultimately opted to recommend approval of the revised ordinance, which included modifications to things like parking restrictions and what information had to be provided for an individual to register to operate a short-term home rental, VanKerkhoff noted. The committee also recommended two related ordinances related to noise levels and trespassing in the county’s unincorporated areas.

Then, the proposed additions to the county code came to the County Board’s Executive Committee on Wednesday.

At that meeting, Davisson — one of the residents who had initially come to the county with concerns about a short-term rental in her neighborhood — asked the committee not to move the ordinance, which she called “well-intended,” forward to the full board, essentially saying that the ordinance as it stands endorses the operation of short-term rental properties.

“The introduction of (a short-term rental) introduces a revolving door of risk into our daily lives, it reduces our property values simply by virtue of the fact that it is there, it erodes the character of our community, and, by signing this ordinance, you are codifying all of that,” Davisson said, noting that the ordinance doesn’t limit short-term rentals from opening in the future. “This is a one-size-fits-all, blanket permission slip for transient lodging businesses to operate in residential communities.”

The proposed additions to the code under consideration note, for example, that a $200 licensing fee would be levied on short-term rentals, and outline what information is required for someone to register a short-term rental property with the county: things like a 24-hour contact for the rental, proof of liability insurance, documentation of a completed safety inspection and an affidavit confirming that the rental’s owner will comply with all the provisions of the county code regarding short-term rentals.

Should the additions to the code be approved, such rentals will be limited to housing a maximum of two guests per bedroom, with a cap of 16 guests. Commercial vehicles would be prohibited, as would parking things like campers, food trucks and portable hot tubs and saunas.

The code would also require, among a number of other provisions, that the property’s smoke and carbon monoxide detectors be tested regularly, that an emergency plan be made available to guests and that the property’s short-term rental license be in a location visible to guests. Under the proposed language, a rental cannot have more than 12 rental contracts in a year, or 180 days’ worth of rentals, whichever is greater.

As for the rental’s neighbors, the regulations, if approved, also stipulate that a short-term rental’s owner send a letter by mail to adjoining property owners informing them that the residence has been approved as a short-term rental at least one week before the first rental in a calendar year.

Violating any of the code’s provisions could result in suspension or revocation of the rental license, and operating a short-term rental without a license could lead to a fee of up to $1,000.

At Wednesday’s meeting, Development Committee Chair Rick Williams explained that issues with a short-term home rental that has been discussed by several residents at county meetings “sort of precipitated” the county getting involved. VanKerkhoff said at the meeting that there have been issues with rental properties occasionally within the county.

Williams said the county believes it has the authority to regulate such rentals — which is what this ordinance aims to do — but not to ban them outright.

Under the ordinance, Williams said, anyone who wants to rent out a property for less than 30 days at a time must apply and pay for a license, have the property inspected and follow the regulations outlined in the ordinance. The ordinance also enables fines or license revocation for those who violate it.

An outright ban, on the other hand, wouldn’t apply to rentals that already exist, nor would it impose any regulations on them, he said.

“This ordinance has a lot of teeth in it,” Williams said, noting that he thinks this ordinance — combined with the noise and trespassing ordinances the county board is also considering — “will alleviate a large majority of the problem” with the property in question.

Board member Clifford Surges said he was in favor of a measure that allowed the county to quantify the number of short-term rentals in the county, but said he hopes the discussion of the issue doesn’t stop with this measure.

And board member Leslie Juby asked about enforcement, and it was clarified that the Kane County Sheriff’s Office would handle calls about violations.

Board member Mavis Bates called the proposed language a “good step,” and suggested the county should consider things like what percentage of homes can be devoted to short-term rentals and where they can be located. Board member Michelle Gumz also said that, while she wouldn’t support a complete ban, the county should look at regulations in other places on the percentage of properties that operate as rentals.

Kane County Board Chair Corinne Pierog said she had “real concerns about continuing to allow these kinds of residences, these short-term rentals, within the unincorporated areas” in the future. But, she suggested that, because the county as it stands has “no authority” to regulate the rentals, the committee should move the measure forward to the board, and then consider additional regulations in the future.

The committee ultimately voted on Wednesday to move the ordinance forward to the full Kane County Board for a vote.

Also discussed were two other ordinances related to the county code — aimed at addressing noise issues and trespassing.

Williams explained that the county’s existing provisions regulating noise are “very vague,” and that this ordinance provides decibel limits for daytime and nighttime noise that can be enforced by the Sheriff’s Office.

Gumz said she took issue with the decibel limits, which she called “pretty low.”

“If you don’t like your neighbor, and they’re having a backyard barbecue, you know, we might have a problem here,” she said.

Following some discussion, however, that measure was also recommended for approval by the committee, and will go on to the full board for a vote. Likewise, the committee also recommended approval of an ordinance declaring trespassing on privately-owned land in unincorporated areas of the county a public nuisance, another item set to go to the full board next week for final approval.

mmorrow@chicagotribune.com

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/01/08/kane-county-airbnb-short-term-rental-regulations/