By Shay Bowman
Buena Vista City Council has unanimously approved changes to an ordinance regulating home-based businesses after complaints from neighbors drove the city to revisit its code for the first time in 40 years.
Council adopted the new rules at its March 5 meeting, about a year and a half after starting the process to revise the ordinance. The code had not been updated since 1986.
“Anything that helps facilitate entrepreneurism in the healthy, correct avenues, I am just so excited about,” Carpenter said.
The revised code limits the number of customers, restricts delivery times, prohibits tractor-trailers and requires business vehicles to have off-street parking spaces.
not been updated in 40 years. The code regulates the number of customers, parking, deliveries
and staffing. Graphic by Shay Bowman
Long-time home business
Susan Beverly runs Sweet Confections Home Bakery, selling cakes, pies, breads and all kinds of desserts. She said she has had the business for over 20 years and believes she is grandfathered in under the old rules.
But she’s still unsure exactly how the ordinance will impact her, particularly the customer limits – which say she can only have 12 customers come to her home per day and only three customers at any one time.
“I’m not going to know how it affects me until the coming weeks, because there’s a limit of three customers in here,” Beverly said. “My only fear is if I would have more than three people coming in at a time.”
There are just over 100 home businesses now, including bakeries, massage services and landscaping companies. All preexisting businesses are grandfathered in, according to Tom Roberts, the director of community development. The updated regulations will only impact the daily operations of existing businesses if they look to expand.
“Existing businesses can continue their operations as they are now, but if there was an existing business that meaningfully and measurably expanded their business, that expansion would need to comply with the new regulations,” Roberts said.
Home businesses can apply for special exceptions. Roberts said the board of zoning appeals would meet within 30 days to review the application.
Updating the ordinance
Roberts drafted the updates to the ordinance. He said the language in the city code was outdated and lacked specificity.
“They were pretty brief and they were kind of vague in some important ways,” Roberts said. “The big goal in revising them was to have clear expectations of the business owner, as well as clear expectations for the city, so that everybody knew what was allowed and what wasn’t.”
In the summer of 2024, the city heard several complaints about a resale home business in the Racy Acres neighborhood that had 18-wheelers delivering goods to the owner’s front door. The owner bought items that people returned to Amazon to resell them. Interim city manager Wayne Handley said the concerns pushed city officials to look closely at the existing ordinance.
“The only reason we were able to really have these conversations was because of the intervention and the involvement of people that lived in the community,” Handley said.
Why the change
At a city council meeting in February, Johnna Gittemeier, a resident in Racy Acres, said the home business created traffic and safety concerns in her neighborhood. She added that she does not believe the Amazon resale business meets the definition of a home business.
“More and more residents in the immediate neighborhood became very concerned.” Gittemeier said at the meeting. “It’s only right that we follow the definition of what a home occupancy business is. It’s a retail business. It was a retail business before it moved into my neighborhood, and it still is.”
Roberts said the old text set limitations using the term “excessive,” which was difficult to quantify or enforce.
“How do you determine what’s excessive?” he said. “That was entirely a judgment call about what constituted too much and we really needed to pin that down to something specific.”
Handley said home businesses must find a balance between running a successful business and respecting neighbors. The ordinance defines “home occupations” as “a business, profession, trade, activity, or use of a residential property that is accessory and subordinate” and “is typically conducted for generating income.”
“The business owner must take into account the surrounding community and the surrounding neighborhoods because these are primarily homes,” Handley said. “These are where people live.”
Jen Carpenter, the executive director of Main Street Buena Vista, said a balance is needed.
“Anything that helps facilitate entrepreneurism in the healthy, correct avenues, I am just so excited about,” Carpenter said. “There is a balance and I think the city is on top of it now with looking at this ordinance and updating it.”
Concerns with enforcements
Frank Huffman III owns Huffman Auctions. He said he auctions everything from small items to real estate. He said his business is called a home business because he is required by the Virginia Auctioneers Board to list an address, but that he does not run his business out of his home.
Huffman said his problem with the amended regulations is that no one will enforce them.
“Don’t change something if you ain’t got somebody to watch over and enforce it,” Huffman said. “The problem is Buena Vista has gotten away from enforcing all the ordinances.”
Enforcement of the rules will be complaint driven, Roberts said, and the city has received few complaints.
“Aside from one issue a couple of years ago, we’ve really received no complaints about home occupations,” Roberts said. “It has not been an issue, but we wanted to get the regulations right to avoid issues in the future and any potential concerns, frictions or misunderstandings.”
Huffman said he also disagrees with how the city classifies home businesses.
“A home business is things that are made in a home, made by family members only and are sold out of the home,” Huffman said. “When you bring somebody outside to come in to help you manufacture something in the house, that’s not a home business.”
He raised concerns about the zoning of home businesses, saying the city has moved away from the distinct separation of residences and businesses.
“The city is laid out as a residential area, as a business area and as an industrial area,” Huffman said. “Our ancestors laid this map for our city and right now, we are slowly getting away from it.”
Chris and Marie Shiraki own the White Tree Inn, an Airbnb boarding house. Marie Shiraki said the inn has different freedoms from other home businesses because their home is zoned as a business property.
But she said they owned a home landscaping business in the past and were happy with the communication from the city about regulations.
“The city has been very supportive and helpful, advocating for business but also advocating for what is best for all residents of the city,” Shiraki said.
Beverly said she thinks home businesses play an important role in Buena Vista. She said she hopes home businesses can continue to thrive while being mindful of neighbors and respectful of the community.
“I understand that things can get out of hand. But I think all of us should just do our part to keep things on an even keel,” Beverly said. “I think it would be a shame to see home businesses fade away.”