Grand Forks, ND Home Business: Signage Rules (2026)

Grand Forks City Code section 18-0204 defines a home occupation as an occupation conducted on residential premises, and it caps signage tightly: the home business may not change the outside appearance of the building or premises, or offer any other visible evidence of the occupation, other than one home occupation sign as defined within. The companion definition, Sign, home occupation, limits that sign to an unlighted face with a surface area not to exceed two square feet. Beyond signage, the same section restricts a qualifying home occupation to no more than thirty percent of the dwelling's floor area, bars retail sales on site, and forbids noise, vibration, glare, fumes, odors or electrical interference detectable off the lot.

Automotive repair and commercial kennels are excluded from the accessory-building allowance the rest of the section grants other home occupations. Planning and Community Development administers the Land Development Code, City Code Chapter XVIII, that contains this definition, and the zoning administrator reviews sign permits under section 18-0301. A resident who wants a second sign, an illuminated sign, or a sign larger than two square feet needs a variance from the Board of Zoning Adjustment; the plain code text does not allow it as a matter of right.

Because the sign cap sits inside the use definition itself rather than in a stand-alone sign article provision, an oversized or lighted home business sign puts the underlying home occupation approval at risk, not just the sign.