The village’s Land Use Regulation Committee will hold a public hearing at 7 p.m. in the cultural center on North Main Street.

"We welcome everybody to come out," said Jim Havener, chair of the committee.

Havener said the zoning laws are being proposed to address the proliferation of short-term rentals in the village and to address the village’s comprehensive plan, which called for implementation of land use regulations. Currently there are no land use regulations in the village.

"We just want to deal with some of the issues that come up with short-term rentals," he said. "They have very dramatically impacted the village."

Havener said the zoning regulations are not an attack on short-term rentals, which the village welcomes. He said they were fairly standard regulations and not as restrictive as those in other area municipalities.

"We’re not dealing with any type of aesthetic or historic preservation issues," he said.

According to a draft copy of the law, the regulations are "designed to lessen congestion in the streets; to secure safety from fire, flood, panic and other dangers; to promote health and general welfare; to provide adequate light and air; to prevent overcrowding of the land; to avoid undue concentration of population; to facilitate the adequate provision of transportation, water sewerage, schools, parks and other public requirements."

The regulations would create three districts within the village:

R-A Residential-Agricultural District

R-l Residential District

B-1 Business District

Havener said the business district consists basically of the four corners area. Most of the village is residential and some of the outlying properties are zoned as residential-agricultural districts.

The zoning law would allow for most home businesses, Havener said, as long as they take up no more than 50 percent of a property’s floor area. Short-term rental owners would have to get permits under the regulations, he said.

After the hearing, Havener said the committee will get together and reconsider the regulations and make any modifications deemed necessary. The committee will then vote to send it to the village board for consideration, likely before the board’s next meeting.

The village board will then schedule a separate public hearing and make any changes they feel are necessary before voting on it, Havener said.

A copy of the draft regulations are available for inspection at the clerk’s office and also available online, located here.