After decades of actively allowing short term rentals, in March of 2022 Park Township set revisionist history in motion with a press release aimed at property owners and Realtors.
The press release proclaimed that, “Short Term rentals are currently illegal in Park Township, and have been since the Zoning Ordinance was adopted on February 7, 1974.”
(See have short term rentals always been illegal for more on that assertion.)
Naturally the public believed what the township said in the press release, concluding that short-term rental owners must be lawbreakers, or perhaps assuming the owners did not check the ordinances themselves.
But that is not the case.
The truth is that vacation home owners were told that there were no restrictions or requirements on renting in Park Township.
There’s ample evidence
In connection with the Park Township Neighbors’ (PTNs) lawsuit over the short term rental ban, Park Township was required to release documents related to the case.
These documents, spanning decades, strongly support the experiences of short term rental owners. They reveal that Park Township representatives:
- Consistently affirmed the legality of short term rentals.
- Repeatedly assured inquiring individuals that there were no regulations or restrictions on renting single-family dwellings on a short-term basis, and that no inspections or permits were required.
- Told residents who complained about short term rentals that no regulations existed.
- Never cited any short-term rental owners for operating a short-term rental prior to the ban’s effective date of October 1, 2023, despite decades of open short-term rental activity.
A sample of recent emails follows, drawn from the numerous documents that underscore these facts.
What the documents reveal
The documents show a clear pattern of township representatives communicating that short-term rentals were unregulated and would be grandfathered in as a valid and lawful non-conforming use. This is in stark contrast with the township’s current claims that these rentals were always illegal.
These revelations shed light on the shifting narratives and highlight the inconsistencies in Park Township’s stance, reinforcing the legitimacy of PTN’s case.
Supporting documents
The names and contact info of people who emailed to inquire have been redacted by PTN. For ease of reading, emails have been placed in chronological order.
The sampling of email responses below are from former Park Township zoning administrators, code enforcement officers, and community development directors.
July 2018 emails
July 2018 emails, with a community development director responding:
July 2019 emails
July 2019 emails, with a code enforcement officer responding:
November 2019 email
A November 2019 email, with a zoning administrator responding:
October 2020 email
An October 2020 email, with a zoning administrator responding:
December 2021 response
The following from the end of 2021 is a reply to a lengthy email that contained photos and complaints about multiple properties. Regarding a short term rental, that email asked, “Is this legal in a residential neighborhood?”
Here’s that December 2021 response from a former code enforcement officer:
Three months after that, the township issued its press release.
A matter of trust
It’s reasonable to rely upon what your township representatives tell you regarding zoning ordinances. Particularly when those representatives are zoning administrators, code enforcement officers, community development directors, and more.
Property owners contacted the exact people in charge of enforcing and interpreting Park Township’s zoning laws, and their words matched the ordinances.
Which is why short-term rental property owners believed them when assured there were no rental regulations, and that they would just need to comply with the other zoning ordinances.
The words of those township representatives consistently and repeatedly show they believed short-term rentals were legal.
The facts behind PTN’s lawsuit against Park Township prove it.