OGDEN DUNES | The calls of gulls and the gentle lapping of Lake Michigan waves belies a thorny and expensive legal battle brewing in this shoreline town.
The conflict centers on vacation rental homes, and specifically the practice of renting lakefront homes to strangers for short stays of less than a month.
Ogden Dunes officials say it violates local zoning laws by turning residential homes into lucrative commercial businesses for the owners, in the process threatening to turn the close-knit town into a resort area.
The town says violations carry penalties of $2,500 per day, which could amount to more than $100,000 in fines for one home.
But the home's owners, Lauren and Steven Siwinski, of Highland Park, Ill., say the town's supposed "crackdown" on short-term rentals is unfair because town officials are selectively targeting rentals by people who have second homes in Ogden Dunes.
"The Town Council and the town marshal and building commissioner did not want to take any measures ... against primary residents of the town who have openly operated businesses out of their homes," a lawsuit from the Siwinskis says.
The Siwinskis say they are the only targets of an enforcement lawsuit in the whole town, although town attorneys denied that claim in a legal filing.
The lawsuit filed by Town Attorney Charles Lukmann against the Siwinskis in Porter County court says the Illinois owners repeatedly have been violating the town ordinance, which carries a fine that may amount to more than $125,000.
In response, the Siwinskis have filed their own lawsuit against the town in U.S. District Court alleging selective enforcement and requesting damages of more than $75,000 for violations of the equal protection clause of the Constitution.
Attorneys for both sides and several town officials did not return calls for comment.
Public records say the Siwinskis took out a 30-year mortgage of $630,000 to buy the residence at 126 Shore Drive for use as a second home in April 2006.
The property's backyard faces the beach.
The Siwinskis admit to renting out the home for short stays, including about 50 days of rentals to various people between June and August 2007.
Neither lawsuit says what the Siwinskis were charging. Rates for similar home rentals in Ogden Dunes still advertised on the Internet vary widely, from $700 to more than $3,500 per week.
