City Council voted 8-0 Monday night to pass an ordinance that will update city code on short-term vacation rentals, after postponing the vote during two prior meetings.

Ald. Tom Suffredin (6th) was not present for the Council’s vote.

Ordinance 2-O-26 will amend city code regarding Evanston’s vacation rentals to define in detail what constitutes a short-term rental, limit the number of them, outline a process for appealing denials to the Council and raise penalty fees for non-compliance.

Before the final vote, Council voted 6-2 to approve an amendment proposed by Ald. Matt Rodgers (8th) that struck language requiring short-term rentals to be a minimum of 600 feet from any other short-term rental property except in multi-unit buildings, where no more than 25% of units could be licensed.

Ald. Juan Geracaris (9th) and Ald. Jonathan Nieuwsma (4th) voted against the change.

The amendment removed details about the proximity and number of short-term rentals. It instead broadens the rules to ensure proposed short-term rentals “will not cause a negative cumulative effect” on neighborhoods or the city when considered in “conjunction” with other short-term rentals in the area.

“If you have two single-family homes that are renting out a single bedroom versus two five-bedroom homes that are renting out the entire space, those are very different impacts on the neighborhood,” Rodgers said.

He also argued the distance requirement could inadvertently concentrate short-term rentals in certain areas of the city. The new language, Rogers argued, will allow more discretionary leeway for city staff to make licensing decisions to spread rentals more evenly throughout Evanston.

Several councilmembers expressed concerns about removing the specific distance requirement.

Nieuwsma said he wanted to keep the rule, arguing it gave clearer guidance to both applicants and Council when evaluating applications. He suggested inserting the new sentence drafted by Rodgers alongside the ordinance’s existing language rather than replacing the rule.

“I’m concerned that we are eliminating prescriptive and quantitative direct guidance and leaving development to some interpretation that might have some unintended consequences,” Nieuwsma said.

Rodgers pushed back, explaining that including both prescriptive and broad directions in the ordinance could risk conflicting interpretations when evaluating licensing applications. He added the ordinance already puts a cap of 144 total short-term rental units in the city, based on a 1-to-100 ratio of short- to long-term rentals.

Geracaris said removing the distance requirement introduced too much subjectivity into licensing and instead suggested capping licensed units at two to three per building, down from the current six.

Ald. Bobby Burns (5th) said he would like to keep the distance requirement and a cap on the percentage of short-term units in a building. However, he said he wanted units with managers in Evanston, including owner-occupied short-term rentals, to be exempt from the new rule.

“We’re still controlling how many of these are in Evanston. We’re just saying that if they have property management in Evanston, they would still be allowed to apply,” Burns said.

Neither Geracaris nor Burns’ requests were formalized.

Prior to Monday’s meeting, City Council made several changes to the ordinance. At its Feb. 9 meeting, the definition of short-term rentals was narrowed to units that can be rented for less than 30 days.

Other earlier amendments tightened the property manager proximity requirement from 10 to three miles, raised the citywide cap ratio of long-term rentals and increased the minimum distance between short-term rentals from 300 to 600 feet.

The vote to adopt the ordinance comes in time for the March 9 expiration of a moratorium on the issuance of short-term rental licenses.

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— City Council tables vote on Vacation Rentals Ordinance

— City Council postpones Vacation Rentals Ordinance until next meeting

— Evanston property owners wary of proposed changes to Vacation Rentals Ordinance