Lodi, CA Home Business: Signage Rules (2026)

060(A) requires a city business license before anyone runs one. The sign restriction sits inside the chapter's list of operating standards at subsection (C): a home occupation may carry no sign of any kind other than a single name plate that does not exceed one square foot, and that plate must be attached flush to a wall of the structure, not freestanding, not in a window and not lit. The code goes further and flatly states there shall be no advertising signs, closing off any argument that a larger placard, a lawn sign, or a banner promoting a sale or service could qualify as an identification sign.

The same subsection pairs the sign cap with a visibility rule: the home occupation activity itself cannot be visible from a public right-of-way or from neighboring residential properties, so a sign is only one piece of a broader effort to keep a home-based business invisible from the street. The city's Community Development Department reviews and can approve home occupations, and the director decides which uses qualify as similar to the examples listed in the chapter, such as tutoring, art and craft work, or office-only work like consulting and writing. 060.