San Bernardino, CA Home Business: Customer Traffic Restrictions (2026)

Preservation of residential character is the central standard for home occupation approval in San Bernardino, and customer or client traffic is one of the most carefully regulated performance standards. The Development Code typically limits on-site customer visits to a small number per day, often no more than a few clients, by appointment only, spaced to avoid simultaneous arrivals, and only during limited hours roughly matching normal business hours and not early morning or late evening. Prohibited uses generally include any retail sales or walk-in customer service operated from the home, restaurants or on-site food service beyond cottage food pickup, drop-in medical or mental health services, music or dance schools with group classes, and assembly uses. Delivery vehicles are limited to typical package delivery associated with residential mail order; multiple daily commercial deliveries by large trucks exceed the home occupation standard. On-street parking demand generated by the business cannot exceed what the household normally uses, and clients must use on-site driveway parking or nearby legal public spaces. Complaints from neighbors about traffic, noise, or parking associated with a home business are investigated by Code Enforcement and can lead to revocation of the home occupation permit plus administrative fines. California state licensing (for daycares, for example) may preempt some local traffic restrictions, as with the Child Day Care Facilities Act, which treats small family daycare as a residential use.