MemorandumDate: July 18, 2000
To: George Worley, Community Development Director
From: Maureen King, City Clerk~~~
Subject: NEW ZONING ORDINANCE
I have reviewed Section 24-159, Home Occupations, of the proposed ordinance and submit the
following comments:
Background•
Prior to the passage of Ordinance No. 90-89-146 in August 1989, all Home Occupational.
Licenses required aUse-by-Exception. This meant an applicant had to appear before the
Community Development Board, who made a recommendation to the City Commission. The.
application was then advertised for a public hearing and brought before the City Commission for
final approval. This process took from six to eight weeks to complete.
Most Commission agendas had at least one, and sometimes several, applications for home
occupational licenses, and in the interest of freeing up the Commission agendas and providing
better service to residents who wished to operate a home based business, the ordinance was
amended and a list of business for which home occupational licenses would no# be approved, was
established. Conditions for home occupations were developed, and if an applicant could meet the
requirements, their application for a home occupational license was approved by staff. In the
event the application for a home based business is not approved by staff, the applicant may appeal
that decision to the City Commission and apply for aUse-by-Exception.
Proposed Ordinance:
Section 24-159tc) establishes a list of Professional and Service occupations which would be
allowed by exception and it would appear that while many of these businesses could meet the
regulations set forth in Section 159th}, others could not.
Please consider the. following comments:
*~
Beauty salon barber shop This type of business could not comply with
Section 159(b)(6} and it is appropriate that if
the City Commission wishes to approve a
beauty/barber shop as a home occupation, it
should require Commission approval so they
may set additional conditions, if desired
Travel Agents Since clients often want to meet face to face
with their travel agents, and the business may
therefore, generate some traffic, it may be
appropriate that the City Commission approve
these applications
Business offices of carpenters and minor These people should have no difficulty in
contractors (doing remodeling or home complying with the requirements of the
repairs, wall papering, floor covering or ordinance since their work is carried out at the
the work) location of their clients, and their homes are
Repairmen (household appliances) used for office purposes only. I see no
Painters reason why their applications should not be
Window Cleaners approved at stafflevel
Maid or lawn service
Cosmetic sales
Pet Grooming As long as these people go to their clients and
do not have anyone coming to their homes,
they should be able to meet the requirements
of the ordinance and applications could be
approved at staff level
State licensed Massage Therapists All massage therapists must be licensed by the
State of Florida. If they can comply with the
regulations as set forth in Sec. 159(b), and
they go to their clients rather than their clients
coming to them, I see no reason why their
applications should not be approved at staff
level
Section 159(c)(1) -This section lists "typical occupations that are acceptable as home
occupations." Can the businesses listed here be approved at stafflevel? The ordinance does not
state who approves the application.
Regarding seamstress/tailor and music instructor, - it is customary for clients to come to these
businesses, and while the amount of traffic would be light, Sec. 159(b}(6) states "there shall be no
~ pedestrian or vehicular traffic. If this is the case, then these applicants could not comply with this
-2-
e,, w "/ -
section. Perhaps this language should be amended to say something like "there -shall be no more
pedestrian or vehicular traffic than would normally be expected in a residential area."
____ _.
I offer these comments because the number of home occupations has increased over the years.
Because of changes m the law such as Workers' Compensation insurance and .the like, many
cantractors do not hire "employees," but prefer instead to hire "sub-contractors." Hence many
former employees in the construction industry, such as carpenters, dry-wall hangers, painters, etc.,
aze now forced to have their own businesses, and a$en are in a hurry for their licenses.
The ordinance as currently written, will slow down the process for many applicants and encourage
some to operate their businesses without licenses, while others will not be able to work at alt.
xc: City Manager