(A) General. This section includes rules and regulations for occupations or activities which may be maintained or conducted within a dwelling. These uses shall exist only if the following general provisions are fulfilled.
(1) Any use of a residence for a home occupation shall be clearly incidental and subordinate to its use for residential purpose by its occupants. It shall not change the character or adversely affect the uses permitted in the residential district of which it is a part.
(2) Such use shall be conducted entirely within the dwelling unit.
(3) Such occupation shall be conducted solely by resident occupants, non-resident employees are expressly prohibited.
(4) No more than one room or 25% of the gross floor area of the dwelling, whichever is less, shall be used for such purposes. Use of accessory buildings or detached garages for these purposes is prohibited.
(5) No use shall require internal or external alterations or involve construction features or the use of electrical or mechanical equipment that would change the fire rating of the structure or the fire district in which the structure is located.
(6) There shall be no outside storage of any kind related to the home occupation. Generally speaking, with a nameplate as permitted herein excluded, a home occupation shall be “invisible” from outside the dwelling.
(7) Only one nameplate shall be allowed. It may display the name of the occupant and/or the name of the home occupation. It shall not exceed one square foot in area, shall not be illuminated and shall be attached flat to the main structure or visible through the window. The limitation to one nameplate is extended to apply to all lots, including corner lots.
(8) The home occupation may increase vehicular traffic flow and parking by no more than one vehicle at a time. Off-street parking shall be provided without encroaching upon required front-yard open space or setback requirements.
(9) No use shall create noise, dust, vibration, smell, smoke, glare, electrical interference, fire hazard or any other hazard or nuisance to any greater or more frequent extent than that usually experienced in an average residential occupancy in the district in question under normal circumstances wherein no home occupation exists.
(10) The home occupation shall not involve the use of advertising signs or any other local advertising media which calls attention to the fact that the dwelling is used for business purposes, telephone number excluded;
(2004 Code, § 7-700)
(B) Professional offices; special restrictions. A physician, dentist, lawyer, clergyman, engineer, insurance agent, real estate agent, consultant or other professional person may use his or her residence for office work, consultation, emergency treatment or performance of religious rites, but not for the general practice of his or her profession and not for the installation or use of any mechanical or electrical equipment customarily incidental to the practice of any such profession.
(2004 Code, § 7-701)
(C) Variance procedure available. Non-residential uses which are either expressly prohibited as home occupations or which do not conform to all of the conditions and restrictions of this section, may be conducted in a residential dwelling only upon submission of a variance petition to the town’s Board of Zoning Appeals and receiving a favorable decision from said Board. The procedures and requirements for submitting a variance petition to the Board of Zoning Appeals are found in § 156.100 of this chapter.
(2004 Code, § 7-702)