Taunton, MA Home Business: Signage Rules (2026)

Taunton regulates home-business signage in two places that don't quite line up. Under § 440-502(B)(1), the Table of Use Regulations' accessory-business-use pathway, the one that covers a professional office or storage of materials for another business run out of a residential structure, bans signage outright: no signs are erected or displayed at the location at any time. That prohibition applies for as long as the accessory business use operates, alongside its bans on advertising with the property's street address and inviting customers to visit. Separately, § 440-706, Taunton's dedicated sign ordinance, lists exempt sign categories that need no permit or Building Department registration in § 440-706(C)(1), and one of them is home occupations: one accessory sign per premises, capped at two square feet, advertising a permitted home occupation.

Because Taunton's code never formally defines 'home occupation' as distinct from 'accessory business use in a residential structure,' the two provisions appear to describe overlapping activity with contradictory sign rules, one an absolute ban, the other a two-square-foot allowance. A resident planning any sign for home-based work should confirm with the City Planner's office, which administers Chapter 440, which track their specific activity falls under before installing anything, since the accessory-business-use registration carries a stricter no-sign condition than the general sign code's home-occupation exemption.