York County, VA Home Business: Customer Traffic Restrictions (2026)

Section 24.1-282(a) lists the home occupations permitted as a matter of right in every residential district, such as artists, authors, dressmakers, resident accountants, architects, photographers, consultants and tutors, and ties that by-right status to strict client-contact limits: one customer or client contact per appointment, once per hour, capped at five customers or clients per day, and only between 8:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m., Monday through Saturday, with no customer or client contact permitted on Sunday. Occupations that do not require customer contact may instead have up to two non-resident employees present at any time.

Once a home business needs more contact than that, whether more frequent appointments, more than five visits a day, or on-premises retail sales, it moves out of the by-right category and into § 24.1-283, which requires a Special Use Permit from the Board of Supervisors. Under § 24.1-283(b), the Board can authorize expanded hours or contact levels but still limits public contact to 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., Monday through Saturday, unless the Board specifies otherwise, and can require off-street parking calculated under Article VI's commercial standards. All of it remains subject to the general home-occupation standards of § 24.1-281, including the residency and floor-area caps.