Claim:
Short term rentals in Park Township are a huge problem.
Complaints were said to be filled with noise violations and other disturbances in 2020 and 2021.
“This is a huge issue. I think as time goes on it just becomes bigger and bigger.” – Jim Gerard, Park Township Supervisor, in the Feb. 12, 2022 Board of Trustees meeting.
Facts:
The facts show that there were not a huge number of complaints filed against short term rentals, and that they do not show a huge problem.
A small number of complaints
According to Park Township data obtained through a FOIA request, there were a total of 14 code complaints between 2019 and 2021.
Of those, 4 were deemed violations. 7 were simply about the existence of a short term rental.
But in February 2022, the Board of Trustees began discussing the need to “give direction” regarding short term rentals due to them being a “huge issue”.
Few violations
And again, only 4 of the 14 complaints received over the 3 years were deemed violations. On average, that’s approximately 1.33 violations per year.
This does not seem like a “huge problem” for ~250 vacation homes in a tourist destination. In fact it suggests that 98.7% of them cause no problems.
Thoughts on complaints
Social media posts by those who do not like short term rentals frequently cite parties, loud noise, and parking as being issues, and call living in a neighborhood with STRs a nightmare.
When asked why there weren’t more complaints for this “huge issue”, typical responses to the small number of code complaints are:
- that they don’t count complaints against short term rentals that were made to the township via email, phone calls, or in person
- that most problems don’t rise to the level of a code complaint
- and finally, that people “don’t like” to complain
Presumably the township has a system in place to record complaints that come in via email, phone calls, and in person. (This seems to be borne out by notes on the complaint forms as to how some of the complaints were received.)
The Park Township ordinances cover a lot of potential issues, even regarding “noise-creating activities” like “hooting”. So if something doesn’t rise to the level of a code complaint, is it really an issue?
That leaves the idea of people not liking to complain. To check the validity of that proposed explanation, PTN requested the total number of overall code complaints in Park Township for the same time periods.
It turns out that people are not shy about filing code complaints.
Overall code complaints
There were 777 code complaints filed against all types of properties in Park Township between 2019 and 2021.
That’s 14 complaints against short term rentals, and 763 complaints against the rest.
Here’s the breakdown:
- There were 284 complaints filed against in 2019. One concerned a short term rental.
- In 2020, there were 262 complaints filed. Two concerned a short term rental.
- There were 231 complaints in 2021. 11 concerned short term rentals, with 3 violations found.
According to data shared by the Park Township Planning Commission in August 2021, there are 7,555 single-family units in Park Township. 250 of those were estimated to be short term rentals, leaving 7305 non-short term rentals.
Math tells us this means 5% of short term rentals received complaints, while 10.4% of other properties received complaints. This means that short term rentals received 50% fewer complaints than other property types.
What about public comments?
In our research of publicly available minutes and FOIA data from the township, two small neighborhoods generated the majority of negative public comments to the board and planning commission.
In fact, after months of public comment, by August of 2022 a pattern had become evident. While short term rentals are spread throughout the township (with most closer to the lakeshores), negative public comments about short term rentals were mainly concentrated in two small areas.
The map above shows short term rentals (as identified by the township) in red. The source of negative public comments are shown in green. You can see that the negative public comments are concentrated in the two areas highlighted in yellow.
Now it would be easy to conclude that the yellow highlighted areas experienced a lot of issues, since they are the source of the majority of negative public comments / complaints.
But only 1 of the 4 valid complaints over the three years was from one of the highlighted, complaint-filled neighborhoods. It’s clearly not that they are neighborhoods dealing with problem rentals.
Instead, combined with the actual code complaints received, the data suggests that a few people are strongly against short term rentals, or possibly that a few people are highly attuned to anything related to short term rentals.
This does not suggest a problem with STRs that the township needs to solve.
(All of this is not to discount the very small number of real issues identified. Those absolutely needed to be taken care of. And it’s worth noting that all issues were covered by existing ordinances, and also by the Good Neighbor Guidelines PTN had hoped to propose to the board.)
What about now?
Looking through data for the current year (2023), the complaints are still mostly from the complaint-filled neighborhood, and they are mostly regarding existence.
Some even border on frivolous. There is one complaint about a short term rental involving “a poisonous weed growing over the fence into my yard” with the photo below included as evidence.
Another 2023 complaint is about “Parked cars causing congestion on residential roadway” with this photo included to illustrate the difficulty of driving past cars parked along the side of a 20 foot wide road:
If you’re curious about what the three years of complaints were like that appear to have caused the Park Township Board of Trustees to ban short term rentals in 2022, you can read them below.
Read the 2019-2021 complaints for yourself
Here are all of the the complaints filed between 2019 and 2021. These are the issues that rose to the level of a code complaint; things people felt it was worth making a formal complaint about.
The complaints are broken down by year, and identifying information has been redacted by PTN. A number of the complaints (originating from one neighborhood in particular) included photos.
Typically those photos were of the exterior of a house, with anywhere from 1-5 cars parked in the driveway. There were a few other types of photos. Some complaints included listing information and research as well, especially the more recent complaints.
2019 complaints:
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Neighbor emailed complaining that property is used solely as an Air BB rental, and some renters park their cars in the street and create excessive noise at night.
This single 2019 complaint was listed as a violation.
2020 complaints:
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listed on line for a vacation rental airbnb. [Name] is the owner. they are not supposed to be renting with the governor’s restrictions.- no vacation rentals The caller has contacted the police, loud noise, people screaming
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compl form filed by [redacted] that said that on 2 occasions loud music and talk could be heard well into the night. Home is listed as an Air B B and compl has had no results when he contacted Air BNB.
Of the 2020 complaints, none were listed as violations. However one was listed as “Handled by other agency” so it’s possible that was a violation.
2021 complaints:
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neighbor says there has been a lot of commotion here, people coming and going then saw on airb&b that they a renting a tiny house that was added to the back yard. see attachments this also appears to be a second accessory building 2/10 another call from neighbor. He insisting that they have not shut down renting the tiny house. he said the renters are wandering through properties/trespassing on neighbors yards. 2 elderly neighbors are scared. He said [name] informed him that no inspections or permit were issued for the tiny house that he says has a kitchenette. Neighbor is concerned about a possible fire because of not being inspected
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offered for rent [followed by text from rental listing]
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rental home. a lot of cars, parking everywhere. Possible overcrowding. How many people can live here
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received voice mail from [name] at [number]. Report that this is still a STR and that they have groups come in and sleep more that allowed. Problem with events (birthday, bachelor, reunions) being held with 20 + people in attendance [includes photos of bunk beds]
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upon investigating [redacted] in the area I found that this property is renting out the main house and an accessory building as a rental. Prior violation reported in 2013 under previous owner
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rental. see attached pictures [includes 3 photos of house]
- while doing follow up on other rental air bnb property, I located this rental in an accessory building
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Rental issues – Drunk renters, trying to light a floating light/ luminary- Huge fire issue for this area converted the shed to a game room, now the party goes on al night-loud and obnoxious. (shed is on the property line) The constant unresolved issues for neighbors is upsetting. Neighbors call the owner and they don’t care- they rake in the cash for renting and they don’t live in the area so they don’t deal with renter/ issues The filer also was upset that this overlay district was “pushed” through during COVID-who does this?
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VRBO rental- appears to have a second unit. – 2 bedrooms, bathroom, private entrance. [includes exterior & interior photos and a listing]
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renting accessory structure [includes photo of large tent on platform plus Tentrr listing]
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renting basement apartment [includes url and about this space description]
What happened in 2021 and 2022
Of the 2021 complaints, 3 were listed as violations, and 3 appeared to be real issues. Things PTN wants to address and shut down! No one wants those kinds of things. But a significant number are not violations.
Those 11 complaints were given to the Board of Trustees in the February 2022 board meeting, and may be the basis for their decision that there was a huge issue that needed to be addressed.
In spring of 2022, the Park Township Planning Commission and Park Township Board of Trustees began repeatedly telling the public and news organizations that short term rentals have been “illegal” since 1974. As you might expect, people then began reporting the “illegal” STRs.
(See Have short term rentals always been illegal in Park Township? for our thoughts on that.)
Throughout 2022, both Park Township and the vacation rental owners themselves were actively encouraging people to file complaints if there were any issues.
We all want the same thing: a peaceful and pleasant issue-free community.
2022 complaints:
Likely due to the encouragement from the township and vacation rental owners, there were more complaints in 2022: 31.
Of the 31 complaints in 2022, 6 were listed as violations.
That makes 45 complaints over the previous four years — most of which were still from the highlighted neighborhoods — and 10 violations.
Overall, this is significantly less than what a few vocal opponents would have the public believe. And certainly not “hundreds”.
With all this, it’s evident that short term rentals in Park Township are not a huge problem. In fact, they received 50% fewer complaints than other types of properties.
It’s clear that instead of being a problem, they are a valued and vital part of our community.