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

Minnetonka does not allow auto repair as a residential business. Subdivision 14 of § 300.15 lets residents run home occupations in residential districts, but paragraph (d)(12) lists the uses that tend to grow in size or intensity beyond home occupation conditions and are therefore prohibited. Item (e) names repair, service, and painting of motor vehicles, appliances, and small engines. Item (b) bars automobile or equipment sales, and item (f) reaches other uses similar to those prohibited, as reasonably determined by the city. A paid brake job in the driveway, a paint booth in the garage and a small engine repair bench are all outside what a home occupation can be.

The same subdivision also controls vehicles that belong to a permitted home business. A vehicle with exterior ladders, pipes, tools, buckets, tanks, a snow plow, vehicle towing equipment, trailers or any other attachment, and any vehicle licensed as a cab or limousine, must be parked in a garage when at the site, and attachments must be stored in an accessory building or screened from public view. No vehicle used in connection with a home occupation can be parked on a public or private street.

Section 845.025 covers car projects that are not businesses. An abandoned vehicle includes a motor vehicle that has remained in an inoperable condition for more than 48 hours on private property, unless it is kept in an enclosed garage or storage building. Inoperable condition includes a missing or defective part necessary for normal operation, storage on blocks, jacks or other supports, or no current vehicle license for at least six months. A junk vehicle is one that is partially dismantled, used as a source of repair or replacement parts for other vehicles, or kept for scrapping, dismantling or salvage, again unless kept in an enclosed garage or storage building. Abandoned and junk vehicles are declared a public nuisance, and a police officer or other authorized person can order one removed and impounded.

Businesses with service bays belong in commercial zoning. In the B-2 limited business district, service stations and other automobile related uses having service bays, except auto body repair and painting, require a conditional use permit under § 300.18, subd. 4.