Tonawanda, NY Business Licensing & Operations: Auto Repair on Residential Property (2026)

Section 215-24.13.C draws the line between the professional and administrative work the Town of Tonawanda allows inside a residence and the commercial uses it does not. Vehicle sales, service or repair sits on the prohibited list alongside retail stores, medical or emergency services, animal-care services, group dance or instrument instruction, tearooms, convalescent homes and mortuary establishments, because the Town Board treats these uses as generating traffic, noise, outdoor storage or commercial-scale activity incompatible with a residential block regardless of how the business is run. The prohibition is categorical: unlike the permitted occupations in Subsection B, there is no site-plan or Zoning Board of Appeals pathway to approve at-home auto repair as a home occupation.

The only place the Zoning Law allows minor vehicle repair or service is at a fueling station under § 215-24.12.B(3), and even there it must be conducted entirely within a completely enclosed building as part of a properly zoned fueling or charging station use, not a residential home occupation. A resident who wants to operate a repair business must instead locate it in a district that permits automotive service as a principal or accessory use and obtain the applicable site plan and building permits from the Code Enforcement Officer.