Bothell, WA Home Business: Customer Traffic Restrictions (2026)

Client visits to a home business in the City of Bothell are allowed, but condition 8(d) of BMC 12.06.140 caps them. The condition opens by stating that home occupations may have on-site client contact subject to three limitations.

First, all the activities of the home occupation shall take place inside the primary residential structure or accessory building. Second, the home occupation shall generate no more than two vehicle trips per hour to the licensed residence, except that for one continuous three-hour period per month, the home occupation may generate up to 10 vehicle trips. That monthly window works as the code's allowance for an open house, a class or a similar event; the code itself does not name those uses, so the cap is the number printed. Third, the home occupation shall not create a public nuisance as defined and regulated in Chapter 8.24 BMC.

The traffic cap sits next to other conditions in the same subsection. Condition 8(c) limits staffing to a resident of the dwelling unit plus no more than one additional person not residing in the dwelling unit, which also limits employee trips. Condition 8(e)(7) prohibits vehicles larger than 10,000 pounds gross weight operated out of the premises or parked on the property or on adjacent streets, and 8(e)(8) bars taxicab, van shuttle, limousine or other transportation services except for office activities. Home occupations are permitted only in the residential columns of the use table, not in OP, NB, CB, GC or LI.