HomeMy WebLinkAboutItem Work SessionCity of Lakeville
Planning Department
Memorandum
To : Planning Commission
From: Frank Dempsey, AICP, Associate Planner
Date: May 30, 2014
Subject: Packet Material for the June 5, 2014 Planning Commission Work Session
Agenda Item: Discussion regarding home occupation employment provisions
INTRODUCTION
Patricia May, 17870 Irons Court, has requested to informally meet with the Planning
Commission to discuss her home occupation, which staff has determined does not
comply with Zoning Ordinance requirements. Ms. May is owner of Tembua, Inc., a
company that provides translation services to worldwide cliental. She has operated
the business from the home since 1994 and hired her first employee approximately 11
years ago. There are currently three persons working in the home that do not reside in
the home.
Section 11-32-7K of the Zoning Ordinance states that the home occupation shall not
include employees that do not customarily live in the home. Staff was informed of Ms.
May’s home occupation from a compliant from a neighbor. Staff contacted Ms. May to
make her aware of the violation on June 29, 2012 and in a follow-up letter dated May
2, 2014.
Ms. May has requested the opportunity to speak with the Planning Commission
regarding her home occupation to gauge the Planning Commission’s to support for
an amendment to the Zoning Ordinance to allow employees who do not live in her
home to work in her home. In meeting with Ms. May, staff informed her of the stated
purpose of the Home Occupation section of the Zoning Ordinance that reads as
follows:
The purpose of this chapter is to maintain the character and integrity of residential
areas, to prevent competition with commercial districts, to encourage telecommuting,
and to provide a means through the establishment of specific standards and
procedures by which home occupations can be conducted in residential
neighborhoods without jeopardizing the health, safety and general welfare of the
surrounding neighborhood.
Options presented by staff to Ms. May include:
1. Operating the business from her home with all employees living outside the
home telecommuting from their own homes in compliance with Zoning
Ordinance requirements.
2. Relocating the business to a commercial office space.
3. Applying for an amendment to the Zoning Ordinance to allow employees not
living in the home to work in the home.
Staff has experienced similar zoning enforcement situations in the past where
businesses were established in the home by the property owner as the sole employee
which subsequently grew to include non-resident employees. One instance was a
employer benefits management company and the other was an insurance business.
In both situations, the businesses were relocated to commercial office space in
Lakeville.
Attachments:
A. Aerial Photo of property and neighborhood
B. Zoning enforcement letters dated May 2, 2014 and June 29, 2012