Eden Prairie is revising terms to work at home

Internet sales are in but some work trucks could be out under a new work-at-home law in Eden Prairie.

The city says it welcomes home-based businesses and estimates it has more than 700 operating in its residential areas. But to make it clear what can and can't be done in a home, the city is updating its home occupation ordinance.

While city officials say the poor economy might be prompting more people to return home to work, that was not the driving force behind the changes. The update is designed to achieve goals in the city's new comprehensive plan: to reduce energy consumed by residents on work trips, and to reduce the number of cars being driven on city streets, said City Planner Mike Franzen.

City Council Member Kathy Nelson said 25 percent of Eden Prairie's businesses are based in homes. She knows of accountants and consultants who work at home, of music teachers and Tupperware dealers, and "I know of some people who work for corporations in other parts of the country, and they run their region in a home office."

The revised ordinance, which will take effect in about 40 days, is intended to make residential zoning restrictions crystal clear before people turn the basement or study into an office.

Unlike some cities that specifically list occupations that are permitted or prohibited, Eden Prairie plans to continue a mostly hands-off approach unless neighbors complain.

The new law says no more than 25 percent of a home may be devoted to a business, and it prohibits retail sales out of a garage, though it does allow home-based entrepreneurs to sell products by phone, mail or the Internet.

Customer visits to a home-based entrepreneur may occur only between the hours of 7 a.m. and 7 p.m., and traffic to and from a home-based business must be limited to 10 trips a day.

The new law also provides more specific rules on parking. Home-business vehicles, for example, may not be parked on the street for more than four hours a day, and home businesses will be allowed no more than one work truck of 3/4-ton capacity or greater and no trailers parked on the premises. Home-business trucks with snow plows or buckets, or with pipes, ladders or other tools on the back, must be parked in a garage.

Council members agreed Tuesday that the ordinance strikes the correct balance and gave it approval on first reading -- with a reminder to city staff that they should be reasonable with enforcement.

The ordinance will be enforced by the city police department when it receives complaints. Violations will be treated as misdemeanors.

"A lot of our corporate users in town started their businesses out of their homes 10 or 15 years ago," Franzen said, "and we want to keep that incubator activity going in the city."

But "it is equally important to remember that the primary purpose for residential zoning is to enhance the residential quality of life and preserve it as a comfortable place for people who live there," Franzen said in a report to the City Council.

The ordinance says home businesses should have no adverse effect on the look, traffic, noise and odor in a neighborhood. And it rules out any "activity that adversely affects the health, safety, and general welfare or is detrimental to the residential nature of the surrounding community."

Eden Prairie has had a home business ordinance for decades. It was first adopted in 1969 and later amended in 1982. But it lacked many of specifics, such as the limitation on the amount of space in a home that could be devoted to a home-based enterprise.

The ordinance prompted no public comment during two hearings conducted so far.

Last year, the city receive only six complaints about home businesses. In the past 10 years, the most common complaints have involved parking, traffic, outdoor storage and retail sales or other operations out of home garages.

Laurie Blake • 612-673-1711