West Covina, CA Home Business: Customer Traffic Restrictions (2026)

Municipal Code Sec. 26-120 sets the ground rules for running a business out of a West Covina home. Subsection (a)(3) bars in-person contact with the public or in-person sale of products on the premises, except by mail, phone, or internet, so a home business generally can't operate as a walk-in shop. Subsection (a)(4) separately requires that the business not generate pedestrian or vehicular traffic beyond the amount normal to a residential neighborhood, meaning a steady stream of client cars or deliveries can put the home occupation out of compliance even if every other standard is met.

Subsection (b) narrows the permitted business model further: home occupations are limited to sales and service businesses with no on-site contact with the public, plus small-scale production and assembly work, and any contact with clients that does occur is capped at one client on the premises at a time. Family day cares are expressly carved out of that one-client cap because they're regulated separately under state law. Together these standards mean a West Covina home business can take orders and communicate with customers remotely, but cannot run client meetings, in-home consultations with multiple visitors, or retail foot traffic the way a storefront would.

The city enforces the cap through its zoning code compliance process, and a use that draws more visitor or vehicle traffic than these standards allow can lose its home occupation status entirely.