Apple Valley, MN Business Licensing & Operations: Auto Repair on Residential Property (2026)

Section 155.053(I) of the Apple Valley Code of Ordinances lists "Repair and maintenance of motor vehicles owned by the occupant" among the permitted accessory uses in the R-1, R-2 and R-3 districts, and points to the screening requirements in § 155.348. The permission covers the occupant's own vehicles. It is not a license to repair vehicles for other people as a business.

Section 155.348(A)(2) sets the working rules for residential lots. All materials and equipment have to be stored within a building or fully screened, so as to not be visible, from adjoining properties. The exceptions are laundry drying and recreational equipment, construction and landscaping materials and equipment currently being used on the premises, agricultural equipment and materials used or intended for use on the premises, and off-street parking of passenger automobiles and pickup trucks. The section then prohibits using a residential lot for the storage, keeping or abandonment of junk or scrap materials, and for the dismantling, demolition or abandonment of automobiles or other vehicles, unless otherwise permitted by Chapter 155. Its last sentence is the line most residents need: minor automobile repair may occur out of doors, while major automobile repair must occur within a garage.

The definition of junk vehicle in § 155.003 shows where a project car can cross the line. A junk vehicle is three years or older, extensively damaged, apparently inoperable, without a valid current registration, and worth only about the value of the scrap in it.

Repair as a paid home business is a different question. Section 155.003 lists minor repair services as a home occupation, but the same definition bars any use of accessory buildings or an attached garage and requires the work to be conducted within the principal structure. Commercial repair belongs in business districts: § 155.126(L) lists "Motor vehicle repair and auto body shop, outdoor storage subject to conditional use" as a permitted use in the GB district.