Stafford Township, NJ Home Business: Signage Rules (2026)

The sign rule is condition (g) of the home occupation standards in § 211-35U(1) of the Stafford Township zoning chapter, added 11-1-1994 by Ord. No. 94-96 and amended 6-24-1997 by Ord. No. 97-44. A home occupation does not involve signage other than a single lighted or unlighted identification sign not exceeding two square feet in area. That is one sign, and the code prints the size cap as two square feet in area.

Two neighboring conditions shape how the sign and the site can look. Under condition (e), the home occupation does not alter the residential appearance of a principal residential structure or of the property upon which it is conducted. Under condition (f), it does not involve outdoor storage of equipment or materials. Chapter 130 repeats the same sign limit as item (7) of its definition of HOME OCCUPATION in § 130-2B, so the definition and the supplementary zoning requirement agree.

History explains why the rule now sits in one place. In several zoning districts, editor's notes in Chapter 211 record that former subsection D(1), concerning home occupation announcement signs, was repealed 6-24-1997 by Ord. No. 97-44, the same ordinance that amended § 211-35U. The Neighborhood Commercial Zone sign list in § 211-14D(1) separately prints "One lighted home occupation announcement sign not exceeding two square feet in area." The § 211-35U wording is the home occupation standard for the districts that list the use, and it allows the sign lighted or unlighted.

Every home occupation in Stafford Township, including one in Manahawkin, also needs a zoning permit from the Zoning Officer, valid for one year (twelve months) and renewed annually under § 211-35U(2).