Lakewood, NJ Home Business: Customer Traffic Restrictions (2026)

UDO § 18-902B3e2, part of the home occupation standard repeated across Lakewood's residential Design Regulations, requires that a home occupation primarily be conducted in a manner that does not bring more than one client at a time to the premises. The limit targets the customer traffic a home business generates in a residential neighborhood, not the business's total client base over a day or week, so an operation that sees several customers by appointment, spaced one at a time, can stay within the standard where one that draws a waiting room of visitors cannot.

The one-client rule works alongside the same subsection's other traffic-related limits: outdoor storage or display of goods is barred outright, and if the business employs someone who does not live in the home, the property must add one off-street parking space beyond what the dwelling itself requires, which keeps business-generated parking off the street. Because Lakewood writes this standard into the Design Regulations of every residential district under § 18-902, from the Agricultural (A-1) zone through the smaller residential zones, the one-client limit applies the same way no matter where in the Township the home occupation operates.

The Township's Zoning Officer typically responds to this kind of limit on a complaint basis, checking observed traffic and parking against the standard when a neighbor raises a concern about a home business.