La Plata County, CO Home Business: Customer Traffic Restrictions (2026)

Section 73-2 of the La Plata County Code ties customer contact and traffic to the permit tier. In the no-permit tier and the administrative land use permit tier, the accessory use shall not include any on-site sales to customers, classes, demonstrations, or any other visits by members of the public. Only the minor land use permit tier allows on-site sales, classes, demonstrations, or other visits by members of the public, and only so long as they do not push the average daily trip count past the limit for that tier.

Traffic is measured against the residential baseline for the lot. Each tier limits how far the accessory use can increase traffic above the levels normally attributable to the use of the lot for residential purposes: four average daily trips with no land use permit, eight with an administrative land use permit, and twenty-four with a minor land use permit.

Those limits sit beside the rest of each tier: 400 square feet, 800 square feet, or less than fifty percent of the dwelling unit's gross floor area; no non-resident workers, one, or two; and no exterior signs identifying the use in the first two tiers. Under paragraph I.E, an accessory use also cannot produce unmitigated adverse impacts detectable at the property line, as set forth in paragraph 70-5.III.B.

A home business that wants clients, students, or buyers on site has to qualify for the minor land use permit tier, and the twenty-four trip limit is the ceiling on the traffic those visits add. Section 73-2 applies in unincorporated La Plata County, Colorado, and was amended by Resolution No. 2022-01, effective January 4, 2022.