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Lauderdale Lakes BREEZE Summer 2017 • First Edition
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MYWALWORTHCOUNTY.COM
Homeowners want to rent, neighbors cry foul
Controversy over shortterm rentals in county dates to ‘50s
by Vicky Wedig STAFF WRITER
Controversy over homeowners renting out their houses for weekends or nights-at-a-time stays is nothing new in Walworth County. On one side of the debate are homeowners who believe they have a right to rent out their homes if they wish; on the other side are their neighbors who say renting creates a nuisance. “This topic is very controversial,” said Michael Cotter, director of the county’s Land Use and Resource Management Department. “There are people who are passionate on both sides of the issue. Some people really want to do it; some are very angry that their neighbors want to do it.” Short-term rentals, or the use of singlefamily homes as “lodges,” as the county refers to them, have been prohibited since the county’s first zoning code in 1971. But, homeowners had concerns about their neighbors renting out their
houses decades before that. “Short-term rentals as an issue for concern dates before then,” said Shannon Haydin, deputy director of the county’s Land Use and Resource Management Department. Haydin was hired just over a year and a half ago and has dedicated more time than code enforcement staff had to research the issue of “lodges” and enforce the county’s ordinance. Haydin discovered a petition from 1955 signed by 100 property owners requesting their neighbors be prohibited from renting short-term. The biggest concern that property owners have is the party atmosphere and ensuing nuisances lodges create, she said. Residents’ complaints have included discovering a man in their pool at 3 a.m., people on their piers, people passed out on their lawns, cars parked in places that make it difficult for them to get to their properties and trash piled up when renters leave on Monday and then strewn around by raccoons before it’s picked up on Wednesday, according to Haydin. She said some of those concerns such as unruly
subjects or people lighting off fireworks at 3 a.m. can be mitigated immediately by police. But residents wanted a longer-term, preventative measure.
Clarification
Although county ordinance had prohibited lodges in single-family residential zones for more than 40 years, until about two years ago, the ordinance had only been enforced in response to complaints. In December 2014, the county clarified its ordinance to better define what constitutes “transients,” which are prohibited in residential zones. It defines a transient as someone staying at a lodging facility for less than 30 consecutive days while staying away from his or her permanent residence. Such “lodges” are allowed as a principal use in only one zoning district in the county – P-2 zoning, which is for public assembly use and is rare in Walworth County. Short-term rentals are
See RENTALS • Page 5
Rest stop
Left: Hundreds of sand hill cranes take a break from their migration flight north near a cornfield and creek north of Elkhorn earlier this year. Above: Following the brief rest stop, two cranes take off and are captured flying in sync once high in the sky.
BOB MISCHKA Lauderdale Lakes Breeze
Lauderdale Lakes BREEZE
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