Haverhill, MA Business Licensing & Operations: Auto Repair on Residential Property (2026)

Section 3.2.3 lists accessory uses that are prohibited outright in every residential district, and Subsection 2(d) names 'commercial auto repair or service' alongside kennels, contractor's yards, and outdoor storage of commercial landscaping equipment. That means a homeowner cannot operate a car repair business as an accessory use to a residential property anywhere in Haverhill's residential zones, regardless of lot size or district. The zoning code reinforces the ban through the separate home occupation rules: § 3.3.1(4) requires that any as-of-right home occupation avoid all exterior storage of material or equipment, expressly including the parking of commercial vehicles, which forecloses the vehicle staging, hoists, and outdoor tool storage a repair operation needs.

Even the Board of Appeals' special permit path in § 3.3.2 does not override § 3.2.3's residential accessory-use prohibition, since a special permit only modifies the home occupation standards, not the separate list of uses barred outright in residential districts. Commercial auto repair and service instead appears as its own listed use in the citywide Table of Use and Parking Regulations referenced at § 3.1.3, which controls where such repair shops may legally locate; that use table is published as a separate attachment to the chapter rather than as in-line text.