Johnson County, IA Home Business: Customer Traffic Restrictions (2026)

24(S)(2) sets binding intensity criteria for every tier of home-based work except no-impact home-based businesses, which are exempt from the table because they allow no customer or public visits at all. A home occupation, the lightest tier, may host no more than 2 customers on site at any one time and 30 per month, employ zero nonresident staff, allow zero employees working at one time (only the resident operator works on site), and take no more than 4 non-standard deliveries a month. A home business, requiring a Board of Adjustment conditional use permit, may host up to 10 customers at a time and 150 per month, employ up to 2 nonresident full-time-equivalent staff and 4 employees working at once, and take up to 4 non-standard deliveries monthly.

A home industry, the most intensive conditionally permitted tier, tops out at 50 customers at a time, 500 per month, 5 nonresident FTE staff, 10 employees working at once, and 8 non-standard deliveries a month. The Board of Adjustment can tighten any of these numbers case by case to protect neighboring health, safety, and welfare, and can raise the nonresident-employee cap up to double where the business's primary activity happens off-premises and no customers visit at all. The Zoning Administrator can demand operational records, including staffing and customer counts, to confirm a permit holder is staying under its tier's numbers.