DuPage County committee approves zoning text amendment to regulate short-term rentals

The Basement Development Committee of DuPage County approved a text amendment on Oct. 7 to the county zoning ordinance to create a regulatory framework for short-term rentals in unincorporated areas.

The amendment adds short-term rental units to county code under a licensing and inspection regime while leaving core zoning limits—such as prohibitions on more than five unrelated occupants and vehicle limits—unchanged. Committee members voted to send the text amendment to the County Board for final action.

The committee’s discussion centered on how the county will identify, license and inspect units, how often licenses will expire and what fees will be charged. The committee was told staff will return with a separate ordinance and administrative program to set license fees, renewal timing and inspection standards.

Chair Tornatore said the amendment “will be a resource for us. It will not change our current zoning code,” and described staff expectations that licensing would allow the county to regulate properties it currently learns about mostly through complaints. He said committees expect licensing revenue to support housing programs: “there’s potential for somewhere between 250,000 and $300,000 in revenue streams every year for the… housing solutions,” language used by the chair during discussion.

The draft ordinance defines a short-term rental as stays of 30 days or less and applies to dwelling units, which committee members confirmed would include condominiums. The packet described an initial estimate of roughly 125 short-term rentals in unincorporated DuPage County but staff said the actual number could be higher and that many units are only discovered after neighbor complaints.

Committee members pressed staff on enforcement capacity and fee setting. The chair and staff said the county would develop an inspection program with life-safety checks (smoke detectors, handrails and similar items) and that fee levels and license expiration dates would be determined later and modeled on existing license programs (for example, liquor licenses that expire on June 30).

The committee approved the text amendment and will forward it to the DuPage County Board. Staff said a subsequent ordinance will set the annual fee, expiration date and operational details for inspections and enforcement; those figures were not set at the meeting.

The action does not itself authorize an operating fee or a specific annual revenue commitment; those are to be proposed by staff and adopted separately by the County Board.

Looking ahead, the committee expects the licensing program to roll out over time, with enforcement initially driven by complaint investigations and expanded inspections after the licensing ordinance is adopted.