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Airbnb Set To Be Banned In More Neighborhoods Near Midway Airport

 Ald. Marty Quinn (13th) displayed the petitions signed by homeowners to ban Airbnb near their homes.
Ald. Marty Quinn (13th) displayed the petitions signed by homeowners to ban Airbnb near their homes.
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DNAinfo/Heather Cherone

CITY HALL — Tourists who want to use Airbnb or other home-sharing services to stay near Midway Airport would be out of luck under a measure that won the endorsement Wednesday of a City Council committee.

Ald. Marty Quinn, who represents the 13th Ward — where 90 percent of the residents live in single-family homes — moved to ban short-term rentals in parts of West Lawn, Ashburn and Garfield Ridge.

Under new regulations that went into effect earlier this year, short-term rentals can be banned in each precinct of the city if more than 25 percent of residents sign a petition within 90 days demanding that the practice be outlawed.

In 10 of the 48 precincts in Quinn's 13th Ward, residents did just that — with the number of signatures "far exceeding the required threshold," Quinn said.

Short-term rentals have already been banned in four precincts in the 13th Ward, and efforts are underway in another 12 precincts, Quinn said.

"I don't see why [short-term rentals] wouldn't be banned in all 48 precincts," Quinn said. "When we talk to people, they ask 'Where do I sign?'"

The additional bans, which are expected to be approved by the full City Council at its meeting Tuesday, would make parts of West Lawn, Ashburn and Garfield Ridge the first neighborhoods to ban short-term rentals in Chicago. The measures were endorsed unanimously by the Committee on License and Consumer Protection.

"Without this protection, anyone could turn their house into a hotel," Quinn said, adding that two homes rented on Airbnb earlier this year drew multiple complaints.

However, the ban endorsed by the committee would block only new short-term rentals, not force existing home-share hosts to shut down, according to the ordinance.