Deschutes County commissioners are seeking feedback from owners or future owners of
Home-based businesses (also known as home occupations), regarding proposed changes to the current home-based business rules.

The Board of County Commissioners will hold their next public hearing Tuesday, Oct. 28 at 5:30pm in the board’s hearing room, 1130 NW Harriman St., Bend.

To be discussed at the hearing are proposed changes to Title 18 of the Deschutes County Code, the Deschutes County Zoning Ordinance that if approved, would change the county land use regulations for home occupations.

The proposed changes include creating three types of home occupations and standards for each type. These regulations, if adopted, would affect property located outside of the urban growth boundaries of Bend, Redmond, and Sisters.

The proposed regulations include three types of home occupations.

One type of home occupation, Type 1, would not require a permit from the County and is suited for a sole proprietor working from home or a small business with occasional customer trips.

A new category, Type 2, designed for businesses having a small number of employees (one or two) and will generate little traffic to and from the residence.

The third category, Type 3, reflects the current rules in place today for a home occupation with proposed changes to allow employees and outdoor storage.

The Planning Commission recommended revising two categories of Home Occupation rules (Types 1 and 3) and adding a brand new category (Type 2) to better fit a group of business owners who didn’t fit well into the two existing categories.

After holding several hearings to receive public input, county commissioners will consider this month which home-based businesses will not be regulated by the ordinance.

Businesses that will be considered for exemption are those that usually go unnoticed by neighbors; for example, the screenwriter writing out of his home office or the traveling sales person who uses a home office when not on the road. This is one of the primary topics that will be discussed during the hearing on Oct. 28.

At the hearing, the commissioners will consider the three categories of home occupation, and more specific issues that relate to property size standards and home-based businesses.

As an example, for a Type 3 home-based business, the board may decide to allow outdoor storage if a property is ten acres or more in size. On the other hand, in the instance of a Type 2 home-based business, a property may have to be at least a half acre in size to apply for the Type 2 home-based business permit.

During the hearing, commissioners will be looking for your input on sizes of home-based business properties and what should be allowed and not allowed on those pieces of land.

After the hearing, commissioners working with the Community Development Department (CDD http://www.deschutes.org/cdd/), will be much closer to a first and second “reading” of the ordinance, which are the final steps in ordinance adoption.

CDD management believes the ordinance adoption process will be complete before the holidays of this year.

For more information, please contact Deschutes County Senior Planner Damian Syrnyk at 385-1709.

This entry was posted on Monday, October 13th, 2003 at 9:44 am and is filed under Oregon Press Releases, Top Stories. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.