Home Occupation Ordinance Concept - Proposed Ordinance

The answer to this question is found in the EDC home-based occupation ordinance which, though addressed at the staff level, was never finalized for BOS approval. With the new Zoning Ordinance moving forward a review of the EDC Home Occupation Ordinance (HOO) uncovered numerous restrictions that might work within urban areas, but clearly did not meet the needs of rural land owners. In researching this issue Regulatory Reform members discovered how home occupations were being regulated within other California areas.

The ordinance that best met the needs of EDC's predominantly rural county with urbanized areas was the San Bernardino County Home Occupation Permit (HOP). This permit addressed San Bernardino’s diverse areas geographically and regulated according to classes that were used to set standards for what was allowed. Following suit the coalition of HOO supporters offered the following Home Occupation Ordinance within El Dorado County.

Class I: Community Regions: This class provides that a parcel of less than one acre could have one employee by right: Parcels between one and five acres are allowed two employees by right; Parcels of five acres or more are allowed four employees by right. Work is predominately to be done by telephone, mail, fax and/or internet.

Class II: Rural Centers: This class allows one acre parcels to have one employee by right: Parcels between one and five acres are allowed two employees by right; Parcels between five and ten acres are allowed five employees by right; A parcel of ten acres or more is allowed ten employees by right. This class allows a limited number of clients/ customers on site at one time. Student instruction is allowed by appointment only with group lessons limited to a maximum of eight at any one time but twice per day. Business may have a limited impact on the neighborhood.

Class III: Rural Regions This class provides that parcels less than five acres can have four employees by right; Parcels between five and ten acres may have seven employees by right; Parcels of ten or more acres is allowed ten employees by right. It also allows a larger number of clients or customers on site at one time than other Classes.

The business may have more impact on the neighborhood than those allowed in Classes I or II.

The full proposal has many additional and detailed suggestions and it should be noted that this is merely a proposal, at this time, an alternative to EDC’s original ordinance that did not allow for any employees. If adopted by the BOS, this more flexible ordinance will stimulate rural commerce activities and will be analyzed as part of a range of options to the new Zoning Ordinance effort, after the environmental review is completed near the end of 2012.

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via Business Alliance…Update February 15, 2012 The Business Alliance…Update is a bi-monthly publication of the El Dorado Business Alliance (BA). The BA is made up of the following organizations: El Dorado Builders’ Exchange, El Dorado County Association of Realtors (EDCAR), El Dorado County Chamber of Commerce, North State Building Industry Association (NSBIA) and Shingle Springs-Cameron Park Chamber