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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1976-09-07; City Council; 3758; Home Occupations Raising of WormsCITY OF.CARLSBAD A6E.RDA BILL NO. DATE; September 7, 1976 DEPARTMENT:' ' PLANNING Initial: _Dept. Hd. City Atty City Mgr. SUBJECT: (ZCA-81) HOME OCCUPATIONS - AB-3555 RAISING OF WORMS - AB-3557 Statement of the Matter On December 16,-1975, Councilwoman Casler introduced AB-3555 idicating complaints have been made concerning business or commercial activities being operated out of homes in residential zones. AB-3555 further states that the applicable City codes were vague and in need of revision. The City Council then instructed Staff to prepare a report on how other cities handle home occupations. On January 20, 1976, Mr. Zuranski asked the City Council to provide a means to permit commercial raising of worms in residential zones. City Council instructed Staff to study the problems of worm propagation in residential zones and its relation to greenhouses and report-back with the staff report for home occupations.. Upon review, the problem with some semi-permanent garage sales was encountered and therefore has been added. Staff has completed these reports and has developed an outline for a zone code amendment that will update home occupations and provide for the administration of worm raising, and provide for administration of garage sales. Exhibit: Memorandum to City Manager from Planning Staff dated August 20, 1976 Los Angeles Times article Outline of proposed Home Occupation Report, Exhibit "C", August 20, 1976. Recommendations: . If the City Council is satisfied with the general concent of the proposed Home Occupation Ordinance, it is recommended that Staff be directed to draft appropriate ordinances and return for City Council review. . Council Action; 9-7-76 The City Attorney was instructed to prepare a sample Resolution regarding Home Occupations and the Planning Staff directed to prepare a report regarding a time element for the purpose of phasing out Worm Farms in the City of Carlsbad. c MEMORANDUM August 20, 1976 TO: CITY MANAGER, CITY OF CARLSBAD FROM: CARLSBAD PLANNING DIRECTOR SUBJECT: AB-3555 - STUDY ON HOME OCCUPATIONS AB-3572 - RAISING OF WORMS The City Council directed Staff to do studies regarding the subject topics and combine the reports so they could be discussed together. The study results are as follows: HOME OCCUPATION (AB-3555) The present provisions in Title 21 far home occupations contain criteria to protect the residential character in "R" zones. The provisions are as follows: "Maintaining mail address for commercial and business lic- ense purposes only, provided no stock in trade, supplies, professional equipment, apparatus or business equipment except such as are accessory to a permitted use are kept on the premises, and provided that no employees or assistants are engaged for services on the premises except in connection with uses specifically listed as permissible in this article, provided further, that one motor vehicle together with the equipment, tools and stock in trade maintained therein where such motor vehicle is used as a means of transportation by the resident of the premises, and further provided, that such tools or equipment are not used for the performance of services upon the premises and the stock in trade is not sold from the premises." However, these provisions are difficult to interpret and regulate. On the surface they appear to prohibit nearly all forms of home occupations except those using a vehicle that contains tools. Furthermore, since most businesses have some form of storage supplies or equipment, most businesses would be denied a home occupation, if the provisions are taken literally. In reality what happens is the applicant for home occupations simply claims that his equipment is that which is found in a home; i.e.: adding machines, table saws and a host of other equipment used by home owners and hobbyists. Presently home occupations are permitted in residences in the E-A, R-A, R-l, R-2, R-3 and R-P zones and omitted from R-3L, R-T, R-W, RD-M and C-LR zones. Home occupations have been omitted in the P-C zone, except P-C zones that conform to the new revised P-C provisions. Staff surveyed how other cities in the County handle home occupations and reviewed a recent study prepared by the American Society of Plan- ning Officials (ASPO). We found that the City of San Diego is also in the process of amending their provisions and their draft is based on the ASPO recommendations. Staff believes that the method proposed in San Diego is appropriate and superior to our present method. Generally, the San Diego Ordinance contains a list of operational regulations that control such things as traffic, signs, mechanical equipment, etc. The purpose of these regulations is to ensure that home occupations are utilized only as accessory uses incidental to the primary residential use of the property. The proposed San Diego process would be administered through the issuance of a "Home Occupa- tion Permit" signed by the zoning administrator. The proposed ordinance in San Diego is presently within the hearing process and its adoption is anticipated in late August and to be effec- tive in October. This ordinance is general by giving the basic frame- work for home occupations. The actual administration of the ordinance is presently being prepared by the San Diego Zoning Administration. These administrative guidelines will be'adopted by administrative order. This will give the flexibility necessary to administer the great variety of home occupation requests and activities. The City of El Cajon defines a home occupation as an "occupation law- fully conducted within a dwelling by an inhabitant of such dwelling, except that no name plate or sign designating said occupation shall be displayed in connection therewith". The definition then goes on to prohibit certain uses such as merchadising where commodities are stored on the premise, beauty and barbor shops, food handling, professional service, etc. The administration of the regulations is handled by normal business license processing. The cities of Escondido and Chula Vista have been using a process similar to that proposed for the City of San Diego. The City of Vista uses a process, not defined by ordinance, that is also similar. The other cities that we contacted use a process like our present one; i.e. review of business licenses for zoning compliance. Home occupation in Carlsbad are processed through the normal business license procedures. An applicant applies to the City Clerk for a busi- ness license; the Clerk sends an inspection request to the Departments of Fire, Building, and Planning; these departments respond with require- ments, approval or denial; if approved the business license is issued. If the license is requested for an address in a residential zone (home occupation) the Planning Staff determines if it is a permitted home occupation. If it is the applicant is requested to complete a form indicating that they are aware that the license is for a home occupation and operations and activities are limited. This is attached to the application for business license. Home occupations are a relatively minor proportion of business licenses. Presently, there are 80 home occupations among over 1700 business licenses in the entire City. The City Clerk has indicated that the process appears to function adequately presently and if improvements are made they should be in clarifying the uses permitted as home occu- pations and their limitations. -2- /»»>, WORM RAISING (AB 3572) The City Council directed Staff to study the problem of worm raising and to determine its relationship to home occupations and greenhouse provision. The basic concern of worm farm operations is the potential creation of obnoxious odors and attraction of flies. Under proper controls, such as periodic inspection by the County Health Department repre- sentative, these problems can be kept to a minimum. Staff feels that worm farms should be classed as an animal husbandry operation and permitted in the appropriate agricultural zones. Worm farms in residential zones can properly be reviewed and controlled by CUP similarly to greenhouses with limitations on size and distances from property Line and buildings. GARAGE SALES/YARD SALES: In the review of these matters the City Clerk mentioned a problem with garage sales. This activity is very popular and is an acceptable method for citizens to exchange household or personal material or equipment on a casual basis. The problem occurs when a garage sale becomes a semi-permanent operation. Evidently* this has occured in Carlsbad and is the cause of some neigh- borhood concern. It appears that these semi-permanent garage sales actually bring in merchandise from outside the home and operate basi- cally as a second hand store. Garage sales are not exactly the same as home occupation in that there is the sale of merchandise, they normally are for a short duration and a business -1icense is not required. However, they do occur in residen- tial areas and should be considered as part of this study even though they may be handled separately in any proposed regulation. EXHIBIT "C", 8/4/76 The attached Exhibit "C" is Staff's suggested outline of an ordinance amendment that provides regulations on home occupations. This outline is based on the proposed ordinance of San Diego City and reflect the latest thinking on how to regulate home occupations. Generally, this method provides for formal processing of home occupa- tion permits prior to requesting business licenses. This formal proces- sing is desirable to give more in depth review of each request and give the procedures for approvals, denials, appeals, hearings and revocations A clarification of the limitation of home occupation is also provided. -3- The negative aspect is that there is added processing with the permit, If the City Council feels that the present method of processing is adequate the proposal can easily be modified to delete the rela- tively formal processing procedure. The end result would then be an ordinance amendment providing for a better definition of home occupa- tion, clarification of uses and limitation of activities control of worm raising, and administration of garage sales. OAA:BPP:MZ:mdp:cs Attachments: Exhibit "C", 8/4/76 -4- EXHIBIT "C" August 4, 1976 OUTLINE OF HOME OCCUPATION REGULATIONS: 1• Defini ti on: Develop a definition for home sory use in a dwelling for employment of a disruptive to the residential character of occupation as an acces- resident that is not the neighborhood. Issuance of Home Occupation Permits: Staff suggests developing a generalguideline for issuance of home occupations instead of a list of specific uses. The reason for this is: a. A list of uses can be very long and still not cover all of the possibilities. In a list of this nature a use not listed is considered prohibited. Because of omission the regulations become arbitrary and have little relationship to the purpose of the ordinance. b. By establishing guidelines for approval the request for home occupations is considered as its effect on the residential character of the neighborhood. The guidelines will contain provisions for automatic appeal of Planning Director decision to the Planning Commission. c. The guideline will include a process that permits the Planning Director to administratively issue a permit if no problems are foreseen, submit application for public hearing to the Planning Commission if there is the possibility for problems, or deny application if it is determined that there will be problems. A denial may be appealed to the Planning Commission. 3. Prohibited Home Occupation: Certain activities will be expressly 'handling of food products, storage of con- etc. prohibited, such as, struction material and equipment, Operati onal^ Regulati ons: To insure that the home occupation is not disruptive to the residential character of the neighborhood a set of operational guidelines will be established. Generally, they are: a . b. c. d. Limitation on equipment usage, for example, only domestic mechanical equipment less than 2 hosepowers each or 6 horse- powers total. Limitation of sale of products, for example, only products produced or raised on the premises. No signs. Limitation of ton or less. vehicles, for example, limited the size to one e. No employment other than residents. f. Limitation on storage, for example, no outdoor storage with a limit of 1000 cubic feet of indoor storage. g. Limitation on where occupation is conducted, for example, not in yards or garages. h. Retain all required off-street parking. i. Performance standards, this will be a general statement. j. Need a business license. ^- Revocation -of Permit: A method of revoking a home occupation permit will be developed for those permits that are in violation with the operational regulations. A period of time will be permitted to a public hearing to the Planning Commission if controversy exists or the permittee may appeal the Planning Director decision to the Planning Commission. 6. Procedures: Prior to the City Clerk issuing a license for a busi- ness in a residential zone, the applicant must acquire an approved Home Occupation Permit from Planning. Planning Department will pre- pare an application form that will request description of the occupation, equipment and vehicles to be used and the activities required of the occupation. The Planning Department will submit copies of submitted applications to the Fire and Building Departments for their comments. Upon re- ceipt of comments, the Planning Director may approve, approve with condition, deny, or forward to the Planning Commission for hearing. In addition, Staff will prepare an administrative order in the process and guidelines for review of home occupation applications. This order will include a routing method for Fire and Building Departments' review. 7. Raising of Worms: Staff suggests an ordinance amendment to the E-A and R-A zones permitting raising of worms as a permitted agricul- tural use. In the Residential zones, worm raising'.for commercial purposes will be permitted with limitation, such as", 2000 square feet of bin area or less by right, larger requiring CUP.* 8. Garage Sale, Yard Sales: Separate requirements should be written that permit periodic merchandizing of personal and household mate- rial and equipment at a residence orovided such merchandizing is 1 i m i t e d i n d u r a t i o n