All zoning districts allow for a “no impact home based business” which is defined as:

A business or commercial activity administered or conducted as an accessory use which is clearly secondary to the use as a residential dwelling and which involves no customer, client or patient traffic, whether vehicular or pedestrian, pickup, delivery or removal functions to or from the premises in excess of those normally associated with residential use.

This means that you can use a small part of your home form business purposes, however your business can have no signage, no deliveries, no customers or clients, basically there is no way a neighbor could tell from the outside of the home that you are working there. No permit is needed for a no impact home based business.

Certain zoning districts allow a “Dwelling in Combination.”

A Dwelling in Combination is essentially a single building divided for a business use in one portion and a residential use in another. The proposed commercial use must be permitted in that district under the zoning code.

If you are constructing new space or renovating a space for dwelling in combination there are specific code requirements for safety features that will need to be considered.

If you have questions about whether the use you are interested in would be permitted in a particular location please check the zoning laws and feel free to contact us.