Albemarle County, VA Home Business: Customer Traffic Restrictions (2026)

Sec. 2A splits rural home businesses into two tiers with very different customer rules. A minor home occupation must be conducted entirely inside the dwelling, and subsection (d)(2) bars any customer, client, or student from visiting the site for a purpose related to the business at all, along with any on-site sale of goods or services. A major home occupation, which can also use accessory structures, may receive customers, clients, and students under subsection (d)(1), but on-site sales are limited to goods hand-crafted on the property and accessory goods directly tied to the occupation, such as pottery tools or artwork frames; general retail sales to walk-in customers are not allowed.

Subsection (e) then caps the traffic itself: a major home occupation cannot generate more than ten vehicle round trips a day or 30 vehicle round trips a week, counting each vehicle that enters and exits the site once as a single round trip. All vehicles belonging to the operator, employees, customers, clients, or students of a major home occupation must park on-site under subsection (f). The Board of Supervisors can waive or modify the traffic cap by special exception, but only after finding the change would not alter the character of the surrounding agricultural area or residential neighborhood, per subsection (m)(2).