Pontiac, MI Home Business: Customer Traffic Restrictions (2026)

Pontiac's Zoning Ordinance treats a home occupation as accessory to a residential dwelling, and Section 2.536 lists the conditions that keep it that way. Subsection E, Traffic and Deliveries, caps the added vehicular traffic and parking a home business may generate at one additional vehicle at a time, a threshold aimed at keeping client and customer visits from turning a residential street into a commercial lot. The same subsection limits truck deliveries: a home occupation may not draw truck traffic beyond an average of one delivery per week.

These traffic limits work alongside the other Section 2.536 conditions, including the two-employee cap in subsection B and the restriction that the business use no more than the basement, garage, or half of one floor of the home in subsection C. If a home business exceeds the traffic or any other limitation, subsection I makes clear it is no longer a lawful home occupation: the activity may be prosecuted in district court or enjoined in Oakland County Circuit Court. A resident who wants relief from the vehicle limit, or who is accused of exceeding it, can bring the question to the Zoning Board of Appeals, which must hold a public hearing under Article 6, Chapter 9 and decide whether a genuine home occupation exists and whether the traffic limit has been violated.

The ZBA may deny further action or issue a renewable annual permit allowing the use to continue, with or without added restrictions on client visits or delivery schedules. Once the ZBA rules on a complaint, a neighbor cannot force a second review of the same traffic issue unless circumstances at the property have actually changed.