Eden Prairie, MN Business Licensing & Operations: Auto Repair on Residential Property (2026)

Eden Prairie's Community Development Department administers home occupation standards under City Code Section 11.65, and a home-based auto repair or similar trade business faces some of the code's tightest limits. Subdivision 2.A confines the business to inside the dwelling itself: no more than twenty-five percent of the home's floor area may be devoted to it, and the work cannot happen in a detached accessory building or garage. Subdivision 2.G bars any smoke, odor, liquid or solid waste from being emitted, which forecloses most engine work, painting or fluid changes on site.

Subdivision 2.H is the vehicle-specific rule: only one vehicle of no more than three-quarter ton capacity, and no trailers, may be kept at the property in connection with the business. Any vehicle carrying ladders, pipes, glass, tools, buckets, tanks, a snowplow or a winch, or any vehicle licensed as a cab or limousine, must be parked inside an attached garage whenever it is at the site, and no work vehicle may sit on a public or private street for more than four hours in a 24-hour period.

Subdivision 2.E adds that no non-vehicular motor over one horsepower may be operated or tested on the premises, ruling out compressors or lifts running outdoors. Traffic is capped at ten trips per dwelling per day under Subdivision 2.I, and parking for employees, visitors and customers is limited to four spaces under Subdivision 2.K, with no employee or customer vehicle allowed on the street. Customer hours run 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. under Subdivision 2.M. A violation of Chapter 11 is a misdemeanor under Section 11.99, and the City can withdraw the home occupation's zoning compliance for noncompliance.