Business at home: Permits may be required
Posted on Wednesday, June 25, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/gentry/News/2612/
GENTRY ó Special use permits may be required of all home-based Gentry business enterprises operated in residentially-zoned areas.
Gentryís planning and zoning commission held an open, public hearing on the matter Thursday.
Under current city code, some business licenses were issued in residential areas in which the business activity itself was reported to be conducted in a non-fixed location, with the home being used only as an office and business mailing address. Other applicants were required to seek a special use permit before a license was issued.
Of concern to the commission, as well as to some who spoke from the floor during the public hearing, are businesses being operated from homes in residentially-zoned portions of the city in which customers are coming and going, supplies are being delivered or stored, or a number of commercial or employee vehicles are being parked.
ì Iím hoping people will be able to operate businesses from their homes, î said business owner Amos Carver, but if customers are coming and going and supplies are being delivered and stored, itís different. î
Planning and zoning commission members present said people with business addresses in residential zones should be required to have a special use permit to give the commission some control over what business activities are being carried on in residential areas.
In order to prevent abuses, the planning and zoning commission will recommend that city ordinances be amended to require a special use permit for any business operated in a residentially-zoned area.
If the change is made, the planning and zoning commission would review permit applications before permits and business licenses are issued, and the permits would be subject to review again each year.
The proposed ordinance change would allow the city to deny permits to business owners using homes to park more than one commercial vehicle, store supplies and materials or as a point of delivery for business transactions with customers.
The matter was referred to the city attorney for draft ordinance changes which will be reviewed by the commission at its next meeting before being sent to the council for action.