Evanston City Council members have called a temporary halt to what one member dubbed “As the Vacation Rental Turns” (referring humorously to the old TV soap opera “As the World Turns”), weighing requests from individual property owners to turn their buildings into longterm vacation license rentals.

Council members on Monday approved a 90-day moratorium accepting new vacation rental applications to allow officials time to address concerns that residents as well as council members have raised about the process.

City staff has fielded a flood of applications since lifting an earlier moratorium on longterm vacation rentals this year. That moratorium ended after staff acquired software that allowed officials to identify the different vacation rentals that are now operating in the city.

Staff identified as many as 230 properties which may have been operating as vacation rentals and began sending out notices inviting owners to apply for a license.

But in the more-than-a-dozen proposals that have come before the council’s Planning and Development Committee in recent months, some residents as well as some council members have raised concerns about granting licenses, particularly when the properties are not owner-occupied or where complaints have been raised about the property.

Committee members have also raised concerns about how the issue affects the city’s goal of creating greater affordable housing.

“I think these are great for the investor, not great for the community because it decreases the housing stock that we have here in Evanston,” said council and committee member Shawn Iles (3rd Ward) at the committee meeting Monday.

Staff has been working with the city’s Housing and Community Development Committee to shape a new ordinance. The committee is scheduled to discuss the issue at their Oct. 21 meeting.

In the meantime, applications already received will be presented to the Planing and Development committee for consideration, said Sarah Flax, the city’s community development director. Applications that have not been submitted won’t be accepted until the code is changed, she said.

Councilmember Matt Rodgers (8th Ward) said the moratorium “just gives us time to figure out what the policies need to be.”

Committee OKs three applications

At Monday’s meeting, Planning and Development members approved requests for vacation rentals at 1503 Fowler Ave., 2005 Emerson St. and 606 South Blvd.

On the Fowler request, owners Andrew and Keri Kelly, live a few doors down the street from the property, “So it’s not owner-occupied but its about as close as you can get to being an owner,” said Flax, introducing the couple. “It’s a very straightforward application.”

Opening the discussion, Councilmember Juan Geracaris (9th Ward), chairing the meeting, likened the issue to a daytime soap opera such as “As the World Turns.” He asked whether the couple had previously tried longterm rentals at 1503 Fowler.

Keri Kelly said they did, “and we didn’t get any hits. So we thought we would move toward the short-term model rental and it has been increasingly popular. And I believe it’s been a driving force for a lot of things that we have happening here in Evanston, with Northwestern, with the city in general. I think it draws a lot of people that will enjoy spending their time and money here in our city.”

The committee rejected a request for a vacation rental license for three units within a multi-story residential building at 1717 Ridge Ave.

Brandon Kim, representing the owners, told committee members that the company, Evanston Partners, specializes in longterm rentals to Northwestern University professors, business travelers and others.

He said the company is now looking to accommodate parents of students traveling to spend time with their children “when it comes to them being sick, injured or or when they just need to spend time with their parents for a little while.”

Councilmember Iles read a letter into the record from two nearby owners voicing opposition to the proposal.

“These would be simply be big party rentals for short-term football games basketball games etc.,” wrote  Tom and Sandy Kaeding, who have lived in the area for 15 years. “There is no place to park for multiple people. It is an area of quiet multiple unit properties. Apartments, condos, senior rental apartments, nursing home and domestic violence properties,” the Kaedings said in the letter. “The applicant is simply trying to make money instead of having yearly leases as the usual custom for apartment rentals.”

Committee members voted unanimously against the application moving forward.

Kim said afterward that the “big party” description didn’t fit the profile of the people and professionals his firm works with.

A description attached to the applicant’s application described one of the two-bedroom, two full bath units as having “elegant finishes and a sweeping Sky Terrace view of downtown Evanston,” holding “resort-like amenities with fitness center, outdoor pool that welcome you to a comfortable stay near Northwestern University, Loyola and Kellogg and minutes from Chicago Downtown.”