Clayton County, GA Home Business: Customer Traffic Restrictions (2026)

Section 6.10 of Appendix A, the Clayton County Zoning Ordinance, sets the Home Occupation Standards (HO) and applies to all districts. Under HO-02, a home occupation is a permitted use only while it stays clearly incidental and subordinate to the residence and uses no more than twenty-five (25) percent of the total floor area of the primary structure. Item 16 controls customer traffic directly: the business cannot provide parking for customers or visits that requires the addition of any off-street parking spaces, and customer parking is limited to only one patron at a time. The same one-at-a-time logic runs through the permitted list. Item 20(e) allows teaching, such as tutoring or performing arts, limited to one (1) student at any given time, and item 20(j) allows a barbershop or beauty parlor only with one operator and station on an appointment-only basis. Item 21(d) bars a license for group assembly or instruction involving more than four (4) persons, and item 21(e) bars group dancing or band instrument instruction.

Vehicle traffic is capped as well. Item 17 rules out commercial vehicles for pickup and deliveries other than from the U.S. Postal Service or other express couriers. Item 18 allows no more than one (1) vehicle associated with the home occupation at the site, limited to 1 ½-ton carrying capacity and used exclusively by the resident. Item 6 bars warehousing, item 7 bars sales out of the house of goods produced as part of the home occupation, and item 19 confines retail sales to goods entirely accessory to permitted services. Item 13 allows one sign attached to the primary structure, not exceeding 2 square feet, with no yard signs or off-site signs.

Heavier traffic needs a conditional use permit under HO-03. A home occupation that meets every HO-02 provision except items 22 through 26 can be approved with one non-resident employee, up to forty (40) percent of the floor area of any level, one additional entrance, up to two (2) added parking spaces on the lot, and up to two (2) vehicles. The permit comes from the Board of Zoning Advisors and the Board of Commissioners after a public hearing. They weigh the needs of the immediate neighborhood, the nature of the proposed business, the availability of parking and traffic generation, and the hearing follows the procedures and fees in Article 10 of the Zoning Ordinance.