Mount Prospect, IL Home Business: Signage Rules (2026)

Section 14.307 A of the Village Code opens the list of standards for home occupations in the Village of Mount Prospect with a flat prohibition: there shall be no sign displayed in conjunction with a home occupation. The code does not carve out a size allowance, a small nameplate or a window placard. The stated purpose is to assure that no commercial signs are displayed in residential areas.

The sign ban works together with the next standard. Under section 14.307 B, a home occupation cannot have a separate entrance and cannot involve any exterior alteration to the dwelling unit that would indicate from the exterior that any part of the residence is used for a purpose other than a dwelling. The entrance to any space devoted to the business has to be from within the dwelling. Section 14.307 H adds that no outside storage of any kind related to a home occupation is permitted, so products and materials cannot stand outside as a form of advertising either.

The standards apply to every home occupation as defined in section 14.2401. That definition covers a for profit home business and also a home office for a resident who works for another employer or contracts or consults with another company or individual, so a consultant working from a spare bedroom is under the same no-sign standard as a retail seller. The definition also says any home occupation or home business is subject to the appropriate standards of the zoning chapter.

Elsewhere in the accessory uses section, subsection 14.306 D5 states that signs are subject to the requirements of chapter 7 of the Village Code rather than to the accessory structure restrictions. For a home occupation, however, section 14.307 A is the operative rule: the sign ban applies regardless of what the general sign chapter would allow on other properties.