Residents on the 900 block of Lathrop Avenue are asking the village council to create regulations for short-term rental properties in Forest Park, restrictions not mentioned in the village code.
At the March 23 council meeting, Samantha Treadman Blaga said that, since last year, a rental property at 905 Lathrop Ave. is a revolving door for large groups of guests, who often bring excessive noise, loitering and cars parked overnight on the street. According to village ordinances, there are noise restrictions between 9 p.m. and 7 a.m., and drivers must get permission from the village to park from 2 a.m. to 5 a.m.
A Forest Park resident since 2018, Blaga said during public comment that visitors have thrown out trash in their garbage cans and left litter in the street. Last summer, their block party was crashed by a bachelorette party, and one woman left a cannabis vape in the bounce house they rented.
“My daughter was the one that found the device that they dropped,” Lathrop resident Sarah Cutsforth told the Review of the incident. “It caused us to open up a conversation about drugs with my then-8-year-old. … They are not residents. They don’t pay taxes. They just don’t care.”
Now, Lathrop residents are calling for the village council to create regulations for short-term rental properties, mainly restricting rentals to 30 days, and prohibiting rental properties within a certain distance from a school.
The next step would be for the council to direct Village Administrator Rachell Entler to tell Steve Glinke, head of the village’s building department, to proceed with amending the code with rental restrictions. There would be a public hearing with the Planning and Zoning Commission to approve the changes before the council takes an official vote.
Mike Utomi, owner of 905 Lathrop since Oct. 2024, said restricting rentals to 30 days would negatively affect his business, as well as the people who stay at his properties. For example, recent guests were staying at 905 Lathrop until their home was repaired.
“I operate my business on a short-term rental. That’s what ensures that I can pay the mortgage, my cleaners, the partial assistance I have, as well as pay taxes in the community,” Utomi told the Review. He said 905 Lathrop has been a short-term rental property since he bought it, along with about a dozen other properties in the Chicagoland area. Utomi said he’s had contact with his neighbors over the phone and knows that everything he’s doing as a property owner is legal.
Utomi said guests at 905 Lathrop must sign an agreement when they book the property to abide by house rules, including quiet hours and filling out the village form if they’re parking on the street overnight, though he encourages them to park in the property’s garage. After complaints about guests throwing trash in the neighbor’s garbage, Utomi tagged his garbage cans with the property address.
Glinke said there’s no policy regarding short-term rentals in the village code. And while there are maybe a dozen short-term rentals in Forest Park, Glinke said most of them are responsibly managed.
“What it ultimately comes down to is who’s got the property and how do they manage it?” he said. He added that the village has had few issues with other rental property owners, mainly one man who subdivided his properties to rent out individual rooms to different guests. Glinke ordered a consent inspection for those properties.
Forest Park Police Chief Ken Gross said his department was notified of Blaga’s public comment at the March 23 meeting, asked to monitor the property, issue citations or arrest if appropriate and enforce parking ordinances when able.
“Our streets look and feel like a vacation destination, not a residential neighborhood. Every single week, the neighbors and I are on edge. We do not know who is coming. We do not know how many people,” Blaga said during public comment. “Short term rentals like this do not belong in residential neighborhoods. They turn family homes into unregulated hotels.”
Calling the police
From Jan. 1, 2021 to April 2, 2026, there’s only been one incident report involving 905 Lathrop, and it was in 2021 before Utomi owned the property. Since Jan. 2021, there have been 10 law enforcement calls to the address, four of which were received after the March 23 council meeting this year.
Cutsforth accounted for two of those calls, one when there were several unattended children inside some of a dozen visiting, cars parked on the street and a group of men talking loudly on the property. Cutsforth called the police and, later that afternoon, said her daughter was late coming home from school. Cutsforth walked to the school and found her daughter on the swings.
“I was worried because there were so many unknown people on our street, in and out of cars, coming and going,” Cutsforth told the Review. “This is a small town. I shouldn’t be worried if my kid is five minutes late walking home from school on a beautiful day.”
Cutsforth said she also wants the village to restrict how close a rental property can be to a school, since Field Stevenson Elementary is no more than two blocks from 905 Lathrop and she worries about increased traffic congestion and the safety of her kids.
In an email she sent to commissioners and Entler, Cutsforth said: “Under Illinois law, certain registered sex offenders are prohibited from residing within 500 feet of a school. While this restriction applies to established residency, the transient and short-term nature of occupants at this property creates an inherent gap in oversight and accountability, making it difficult for neighbors to reasonably assess or ensure compliance with the intent of these protections. This raises legitimate and serious safety concerns for nearby families.”
The same day Custforth called police, she called them again after guests at 905 Lathrop woke up her kids by slamming their doors and yelling by their cars.
Utomi said he spoke with guests staying at the rental and police after the incident. He said he asked the guests to be mindful of their noise.
Cutsforth said neighbors have addressed the issue amicably with Utomi over the phone, but their concerns remain. Though they haven’t called the police for all their issues with the property, they now plan to in order to document complaints.
“It feels like a waste of resources for me to be calling 911, an emergency number,” said Cutsforth, a nurse. “But if that’s what it takes to get the village to see what’s actually happening here on our block, I’m not afraid to use that resource.”