INC NEWS - Size of Home-based businesses in UDO

[pat carstensen]

Before the UDO, the maximum use of any residence for a home occupation (that 
is, a home-based business) was 400 square feet. Under the UDO there is no 
maximum cap. It was set at less
than 30% of the total square footage of a residence. This could be a problem 
for neighborhoods where there are 10000 sq ft mansions (so the home-based 
business would be bigger than a lot of houses).  Even for 2500 sq ft homes, 
this allows SUBSTANTIALLY bigger operations, since 30% of 2500 is 750 sq ft.

The UDO does have substantial controls on operations -- no delivery of goods 
to be distributed, limits on the number of employees, prohibitions of 
unusual modifications to the dwelling, making traffic congestion a no-no.  
So in principle, no matter how big the operation is, the rules make it 
invisible to the outside, and a neighborhood shouldn't care.

I haven't gone thru the details to find out what the remedies are when a 
home-based business is a problem -- which will, sooner or later occur.

My one suggestion is that neighborhoods with larger houses that are in the 
process of creating Neighborhood Protection Overlays may want to look at the 
home occupation restrictions (page 5-56, more or less, of the UDO) to see if 
it meets their needs.  INC may also want to look at re-instating a square 
footage cap.

Regards, pat

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