Kent County, DE Home Business: Customer Traffic Restrictions (2026)

§ 205-55 defines HOME OCCUPATIONS as an accessory use that must be clearly incidental to the dwelling, and lists 'generates traffic, parking, sewerage or water use in excess of what is normal in the residential neighborhood' as a disqualifying effect right alongside changing the outside appearance of the home or creating objectionable noise. § 205-68E turns that general bar into hard numbers for retail-type home occupations: subsection (12)(e) limits customer visits to the hours of 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., and (12)(f) caps the count at no more than six customers or clients visiting the site on any single day.

The same subsection restricts deliveries and pickups to 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. and requires two off-street parking spaces for the home occupation on top of what the dwelling itself needs. Kent County also offers a stricter, customer-free alternative: § 205-68F's HOME OFFICE classification, for online or paperwork-based businesses, states the office 'shall have no employees, and no customers or clients can visit the subject site' and allows no signage at all. An operator who wants regular walk-in traffic beyond six visits a day, or outside the 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. window, must instead seek approval as a 'professional office' under § 205-68G, which allows employees and customers but caps the office at 45% of the dwelling's floor area.