Davis, CA Business Licensing & Operations: Auto Repair on Residential Property (2026)

150, which is meant to let residents run a business from a dwelling only if the use never changes how the residence looks or functions in its neighborhood. Subsection (b) lists uses the city treats as incompatible with that goal regardless of any mitigation an applicant might propose, and item (11) names 'Auto or motorcycle, boat or trailer, similar type repair shops' as one of them. Because this is an express exclusion rather than a discretionary standard, the Community Development and Sustainability Department has no authority to approve a home occupation permit for a vehicle repair operation inside city limits, however small the operation or however quiet the equipment.

The same exclusion list reaches other uses that generate outside traffic, noise, or commercial-scale equipment: boarding or lodging houses, antique shops, gift shops, restaurants, kennels, and medical or dental clinics requiring special equipment are all barred on the same footing. ' That personal-repair allowance does not create any opening for a commercial repair shop; the (b)(11) exclusion applies whether or not the operator charges customers from a home base.