Everett, MA Home Business: Customer Traffic Restrictions (2026)

Section 12-11(d) of the Revised Ordinances of the City of Everett, Massachusetts, sets performance standards that decide how many customers a home business in this Middlesex County city can draw. The Everett City Council tied them to its stated goal of protecting neighbors from excessive traffic and noise.

Classes and instruction: no more than two (2) students or pupils can be in the dwelling unit or on the premises at any one (1) time. The Board of Appeals can grant specific conditional approval of a reasonable number of additional students only if it finds they will not generate additional motor vehicle traffic.

Parking: the home occupation cannot require more than one (1) on-street parking space for clients or customers, in addition to the off-street spaces available to the residence. The subsection is captioned Off-Street Parking but the printed limit applies to on-street spaces used by clients and customers.

Hours: a home occupation cannot be open to the public earlier than 8:00 a.m. or later than 8:00 p.m. in any case.

Deliveries: they cannot exceed those normally and reasonably occurring from a residence, cannot average more than one (1) delivery of products or materials per day, and cannot require vehicles other than those customarily used for residential package delivery. Tractor trailers, semi-trucks and heavy equipment such as fuel, logging or construction trucks cannot be used or stored at the premises, and one commercial vehicle not to exceed 7,000 lbs can be parked off-street during non-business hours.

Related limits keep walk-in traffic down: on-premises retail sales are prohibited except for goods produced on site or incidental sales, and the City will not approve a home occupation that is a nuisance or detrimental to neighbors because of excessive traffic. Building trades offices with staff who never report to the premises are exempt from the employee cap.