Lower Merion, PA Home Business: Customer Traffic Restrictions (2026)

Section 155-10.1.A(1) of the Zoning Code splits home occupations into two traffic tiers and regulates client visits differently for each. For a nontraffic home occupation, the rule is absolute: no commercial traffic visits shall be permitted at all, meaning the business cannot receive clients, customers or deliveries tied to the business at the home. For a minor home occupation, which by definition does generate some visitor traffic, § 155-10.1.A(1)(b) allows no more than one commercial traffic visit per hour and a maximum of four commercial visits per day, and every visit must fall between 9:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m., closing off early morning and late night client traffic entirely.

The same subsection layers on a spacing rule: in all LDR and MDR zoning districts, a minor home occupation must maintain a 500-foot separation from any other home occupation (nontraffic uses are exempted from counting against this separation), though the Board can modify that separation by special exception if the applicant shows the neighborhood is not primarily residential in character or that the use will not tend to commercialize it. A minor home occupation must also provide one off-street parking space beyond what the dwelling itself requires, though in the MDR-1 District, on-street or public parking within 500 feet of the property can count toward that requirement.