The Municipal Code of Chicago has been amended to allow a legal voter in a precinct containing residentially zoned property to propose to restrict new or additional shared housing units and/or vacation rentals from operating in that precinct. To be eligible the following requirements must be met:
1. The individual seeking a Petition from the City Clerk must be a legally registered voter in the precinct the individual seeks to restrict; AND
2. The precinct sought to be restricted must contain at least one residentially zoned property with a RS1, RS2, or RS3 designation pursuant to the Chicago Zoning Ordinance. To find out if your precinct qualifies, please see the Chicago Zoning and Land Use Map at: gisapps.cityofchicago.org/ZoningMapWeb/.
Restriction Process Overview
In addition to meeting the two eligibility requirements identified above, a legal voter seeking to circulate a Petition to restrict new or additional shared housing units and/or vacation rentals in a precinct ("Legal Voter") must utilize the following steps:
(1) The Legal Voter must first submit a Notice of Intent Form IN PERSON to the City Hall Office of the City Clerk, along with proof of residency in the precinct. The Notice of Intent Form can be obtained in the City Hall office of the City Clerk, or downloaded here.
(2) Upon receipt of a completed Notice of Intent Form, the City Clerk will post the Notice of Intent Form online, and will provide the Legal Voter with a Petition. The Legal Voter may begin circulating the Petition the day the Notice of Intent Form is posted online – but NOT before. The Legal Voter will have 90 calendar days to circulate the Petition.
(3) The completed Petition must be returned to City Hall. For a Petition to be valid and legally sufficient it must comply with all of the requirements listed in the Petition Guidelines that are attached to the Petition. The Petition must be completed no more than 90 days after the City Clerk posts the Notice of Intent Form.
(4) Upon the Petition's completion and return to the City Hall Office of the City Clerk, the City Clerk will post the Petition online at www.chicityclerk.com/houseshare for a 30-day comment period. During the comment period the public may submit comments regarding the Petition. Comments may be submitted in person to the City Hall Office of the City Clerk, or to clerk.houseshare@cityofchicago.org, and will be available for public inspection at the City Hall Office of the City Clerk.
(5) During the 30-day comment period, the City Clerk will also review the submitted Petition for legal sufficiency. At the end of the 30-day comment period, the City Clerk will publicly post online its determination of whether the Petition is accepted as legally sufficient or rejected as legally insufficient. If the Petition is rejected as legally insufficient, the reasons for such rejection will also be posted online.
(6) If the City Clerk determines that the Petition is legally sufficient and valid, the City Clerk will officially notify the Alderman of the affected ward.
(7) The Alderman may then review the Petition, along with other relevant factors about the precinct identified in the Petition, such as its geography, population density, and character, the prevalence of residentially zoned property within the precinct, the current number of shared housing units or vacation rentals within the precinct, and the prevailing viewpoint with regard to establishing a Restricted Residential Zone within the precinct.
(8) Following such review, the Alderman may introduce in City Council an Ordinance that seeks to establish a Restricted Residential Zone.
(9) If the Ordinance is passed, the restriction identified in the Petition will take effect on the effective date of the Ordinance.
(10) All current shared housing units and vacation rentals located in a newly-established Restricted Residential Zone that were operating prior to the restriction becoming law will be deemed to be lawfully established and will be able to operate in conformity with Chapter 4-16 or Section 4-6-300, as applicable, and to list on a platform, until such time that the respective license or registration is allowed to expire, or the ownership or tenancy of the vacation rental or shared housing unit changes hands.
Definitions
"Circulator" means an Illinois legal voter who is at least 18 years of age or older (or 17 years of age and qualified to vote in Illinois) and a citizen of the United States.
"Legal voter" means a person: (1) who is duly registered to vote in the City of Chicago; and (2) whose name appears on a poll list compiled by the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners since the last preceding election, regardless of whether the election was a primary, general or special election; and (3) who, at the relevant time, is a resident of the address in Chicago at which he or she is registered to vote; and (4) whose address, at the relevant time, is located in the precinct where such person seeks to circulate or to sign a petition, within the meaning of Section 4-17-020, for an ordinance establishing that precinct as a restricted residential zone. As used in this definition, the term “relevant time” means at any time that: (i) a notice of intent is filed, pursuant to Section 4-17-030, to initiate the petition process under this Chapter 4-17, or (ii) the petition is circulated for signature in the applicable precinct; or (iii) the petition is signed by registered voters in the applicable precinct.
"New or additional" means, as applicable, any vacation rental or shared housing unit that was not properly licensed by or registered with the City as of the effective date of the Ordinance establishing a Restricted Residential Zone within the precinct where the vacation rental or shared housing unit is located.
"Platform" means an internet-enabled application, mobile application, or any other digital platform used by a short term residential rental intermediary to connect guests with a short term residential rental provider.
"Precinct" means the smallest constituent territory within the City of Chicago in which electors vote as a unit at the same polling place in any election governed by the Illinois Election Code.
"Primary Residence" means a dwelling unit where a person lives on a daily basis at least 245 days in the applicable calendar year. The failure of a person to claim a Cook County homeowner exemption for a dwelling unit shall create a rebuttable presumption that such dwelling unit is not the person's primary residence.
"Residentially Zoned Property" means property that bears an RS1, RS2 or RS3 designation pursuant to the Chicago Zoning Ordinance.
"Shared Housing Unit" means a dwelling unit containing 6 or fewer sleeping rooms that is rented, or any portion therein is rented, for transient occupancy by guests. The term "shared housing unit" shall not include: (1) single room occupancy buildings, (2) hotels, (3) corporate housing, (4) bed-and-breakfast establishments, (5) guest suites, or (6) vacation rentals.
"Tenant" means a person who has a rental agreement for a dwelling unit in which rental payments are paid on a monthly or other regular basis for permanent occupancy of the dwelling unit. As used in this definition, the term "permanent occupancy" means occupancy on a daily or nightly basis, or any part thereof, for a period of 32 or more consecutive days.
"Vacation Rental" means a dwelling unit that contains 6 or fewer sleeping rooms that are available for rent or for hire for transient occupancy by guests. The term "vacation rental" shall not include: (1) single room occupancy buildings or bed-and-breakfast establishments, (2) hotels, (3) a dwelling for which a tenant has a month-to-month rental agreement and the rental payments are made on a monthly basis, (4) corporate housing, (5) guest suites, or (6) registered shared housing units. As used in this definition, the term "transient occupancy" means occupancy on a daily or nightly basis, or any part thereof, for a period of 31 or fewer consecutive days.