Dothan, AL Home Business: Customer Traffic Restrictions (2026)

Dothan City Code § 114-101 splits home-based businesses into qualifying home occupations, which have no outward sign of business activity, and non-qualifying home occupations, which do (examples given include lawn care and contracting businesses). Both tracks bar on-site customers outright. Under § 114-101(a)(7), a qualifying home occupation's affidavit of compliance, signed before the administrative official, must attest "there are no customers at the home." Under § 114-101(b)(8), the parallel condition for a non-qualifying home occupation states "there shall be no customers at the home." Both categories also cap business use at 25 percent of the home, limit deliveries to two per week on a vehicle with no more than a single axle and six wheels, restrict business activity to residents of the home, and bar employees or their vehicles from the property.

A qualifying application is approved administratively once the affidavit is signed and a privilege license is obtained within 90 days; a non-qualifying application triggers written notice to adjacent property owners, and if anyone objects within five days, it becomes a special exception decided by the Board of Zoning Adjustment.