St. Petersburg, FL Home Business: Customer Traffic Restrictions (2026)

180 defines a home occupation as a business that is an accessory use to a single- or multifamily dwelling, secondary to the property's residential use, that has obtained a City business tax receipt. 4, a home-based business must look, from the street, consistent with the surrounding residential neighborhood, and any exterior modifications made to accommodate it must match the residential character and architecture of the area, retail transactions can't happen anywhere but the residential dwelling itself, though incidental business activity is allowed on the property.

Subsection D is the specific client-visit rule: customers or clients may come to the property only by appointment, unless the operator has an approved parking plan on file with POD demonstrating the business complies with the Chapter's minimum parking requirements. That link to parking is deliberate, subsection C requires that parking generated by the business be no greater in volume than what a similar residence without a business would normally need, and that any vehicles or trailers used for the business be parked in legal spaces, not in the right-of-way, over a sidewalk, or on unimproved ground.

Two employees who don't live in the dwelling are allowed on-site (subsection F), and any merchandise display visible from the street is banned outright (subsection E). A 2025 amendment (Ord. No. 1 defining when a business counts as home-based in the first place, including limits on non-resident employees and a state-law ceiling on how strict local noise, storage, and signage rules can be relative to an ordinary residence.