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Zoning
Laws
and Home Based BusinessZoning Laws must be considered when
planning your home based business. Failure to do so could bring
your business to a quick end.
Local governments set up the zoning laws in order to regulate
land use and to protect it's residents. Protecting the
residents is one of the primary concerns when it comes to
zoning for home base business.
With the growing trend toward home base business (about half
the businesses today are home based), the zoning laws are
becoming more friendly to business. Zoning requirements
can vary greatly from county to county and even city to city.
Zoning is normally done at the local level by the
counties, cities and townships.
Zoning Laws Purpose
- Safety - Will
the business threaten the safety of the nearby
residents.
- Nuisance - Will
it create odors, noise or activities that the nearby
residents would not appreciate.
- Appearance -
Signage is generally prohibited or highly restricted.
Parking of commercial vehicles, generally trucks or
vans with a lot of signage will not be permitted. Same
would apply to trailers and to using the yard for storage
of supplies and equipment for the business. Even the
changing of the appearance of the outside of the house for
the sake of the business is generally prohibited. One
would not want a house to start looking like a retail store
or industrial shop.
- Traffic - This
can come in several ways. Neighbors have been know to
complain when there were too many delivery vehicles
stopping to drop off or pick-up packages. Having
customers come to the house will is generally quite
limited. Employees pose another problem. They are
either prohibited or the number is severely limited.
Enforcement is generally not a high priority for local
government. Rarely will you ever find a case where
they go door to door looking for home businesses. The
zoning laws are normally enforced when there is a complaint
from someone in the area.
The key is to use common sense. Be very respective of
your neighbors. Operate your business with very low
visibility, so it does not attract a lot of attention from your
neighbors. Put yourself in your neighbor's shoes, and ask
yourself, if I were them, would I be upset with the activity I
create. Remember, there is occasionally a "busy body"
resident who has nothing better to do than cause trouble.
So you will want to know what your local zoning laws are.
The last thing you want to have happen to you is have
your local government official come out and shut you down.
A quick trip to the city or township hall can save much
grief. Zoning Laws are often found on the website for
your community.
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