Home occupations
(a) Purpose and intent. The purpose of this section is to permit residents a broad choice in the use of such residents' homes as a place of livelihood and the production of supplemental personal and family income, to maintain and preserve the character of residential neighborhoods by protecting them from adverse impacts of activities associated with commercial uses, and to establish criteria and development standards for home occupations conducted in dwelling units in residential zones.
(b) Conditions. Home occupations, as defined in section 21-22, are allowed subject to the following conditions:
(1) The use of the dwelling unit or, where permitted, an accessory structure by the resident for a business is incidental and subordinate to its use for residential purposes and occupies 25 percent or less of the floor area within the dwelling unit on the premises.
(2) No more than two nonresident employees are permitted on site.
(3) There is no change in the outside appearance of the building or premises or any visible or audible evidence detectable from the property line of the conduct of such business, except that one sign not larger than two square feet in area bearing only the name of the practitioner and occupation shall be permitted (words only). The sign shall be flush-mounted to the dwelling unit and shall not be illuminated internally.
(4) Traffic, including traffic by commercial delivery vehicles, shall not be generated in greater volumes than would normally be anticipated in a residential neighborhood.
(5) No hazard or nuisance, including noise, dust, odors, heat, glare, noxious fumes or vibrations, shall be created to any greater or more frequent extent than would normally be expected in the neighborhood under normal circumstances wherein no home occupation exists.
(6) There shall be no display of goods, outside storage, stockpiling of materials or retail sales on the premises.
(7) Parking for the home occupation shall be met on site.
(8) Permitted home occupations include but are not necessarily limited to the following, provided, however, the occupations do not violate subsections (b)(1) through (b)(7) of this section: dressmaking, sewing and tailoring; telephone solicitation work; photography studio; tutoring; home crafts; studios for artists or craftworkers; single-operator hairdresser; offices for doctors, dentists, attorneys, real estate agents, insurance agents, accountants, stockbrokers, engineers, architects, landscape architects, musicians, writers, data programming, and sales representatives; and family day care.
(9) There shall be no storage of commercial equipment on the property except as allowed under section 21-321.
(Ord. No. 95-3, § 1, 5-8-1995; Ord. No. 14-03, § 1, 1-16-2014)
Cross reference— Licenses, permits and miscellaneous business regulations, ch. 9.