Wrongly zoned rentals raise issues in Joliet

The Joliet Zoning Board showed leniency this week to a homeowner and a home buyer who said they found out too late that rental apartments were not allowed on their property.

Kamar Tiller said he only learned this year that the garage apartment he has been renting out since buying his house at 429 Buell Ave. in 2018 did not have the needed zoning.

“We are longtime Joliet residents,” Tiller said.

Tiller lives at the house with his wife and kids and said the garage apartment was being rented out before they bought the house.

“Of course, since my family lives on the property, I’m very careful with who I let live there,” Tiller said.

It was hardly the first time the zoning board dealt with such a situation.

Indeed, at the same meeting Thursday, a lawyer sought a similar variance so a house at 142 Akin Ave. could remain a two-unit building even though it is zoned for single-family residency.

“This is a very big issue, and it’s a very serious issue,” said zoning board member Brigette Roehr, referring to how the area has many so-called carriage houses where large detached structures have been converted to rentals.

Roehr voted for the variance for Tiller, saying it was for a family that faced some duress if it was not allowed to continue collecting rent from the apartment. However, she voted against the Akin Avenue variation, pointing to how the purchase was a business transaction.

The owner, NSC Enterprises Inc., wants to rent out both units in the Akin Avenue house.

The zoning board voted, 4-1, for the Buell Avenue variance and then voted, 3-2, for the Akin Avenue variance. The City Council will have the final vote on both variances, which are expected to be on the council agenda Sept. 21.

City planners said rentals started on both properties at a time when zoning in the neighborhoods allowed it. However, the city downzoned a number of neighborhoods in the 1990s, changing the legal status of many rental units in those areas.

Zoning board Chairman Ed Hennessy said individual property owners had an option to apply for exemptions from the downzoning, but “many people didn’t bother. That’s why we have so many of these now.”

The downzoned status can pop up during change of ownership but not always. Tiller said he learned of the downzoned status on his house when looked into refinancing this year.

According to a staff report, the the owner of the Akin Avenue house, NCS Enterprises Inc., was not aware of the downzoned status when buying the house in 2019 and learned of it when applying for building permits this year. The report states the house has been a two-unit since 2030.

Barry McCue with the Cathedral Area Preservation Association told the board the neighborhood group opposed the variance for the Buell Avenue house, which is in the Cathedral Area. McCue said the variance would stay with the house forever.

“We believe that more rental units in the neighborhood is detrimental to the character as well as the value of what is there,” McCue said.