Cathedral City, CA Home Business: Zoning & Home Occupation Permits (2026)

Chapter 9.70 of the Cathedral City Municipal Code allows home enterprises in residential zones that are incidental to and compatible with surrounding residential uses. Section 9.70.020 limits them to office-oriented uses with limited storage: the in-home office of a contractor, consultant or bookkeeper, secondary business offices, e-commerce and online sales conducted by telephone, internet or correspondence with no commodities or displays on the premises, drafting and crafts using normal equipment, home child care as permitted by the zone, and music instruction for no more than one student at a time.

Two approvals are required. Section 9.70.040 makes it unlawful to carry on any home occupation in the city without first procuring a business license. Section 9.70.050 requires an application for a home occupation permit to the city planner, who can issue it on finding the proposed use meets every requirement of the chapter. The permit fee is whatever the City Council has set by resolution. A permit continues until abandoned or revoked, and it is considered abandoned if the business license is not renewed.

The operating standards in § 9.70.070 are strict. No one other than the resident of the dwelling can be employed on the premises. The work happens entirely within the enclosed area of the main building, and an attached garage can be used only when it does not interfere with the off-street parking required by the zoning ordinance. The home occupation cannot occupy more than 25 percent of the total area of the entire structure. It cannot run inside an accessory structure, although supplies can be stored there. Vehicles are limited to one with a manufacturer's gross vehicle weight rating of less than 10,000 pounds, and no more than a one-day supply of hazardous materials can be stored on site. The city planner can add reasonable special conditions to the permit, and can consider more than one home occupation if the later ones are e-commerce or online businesses.

Home occupations that became nonconforming when the chapter was adopted on March 2, 1988 continue unless the city planner sends a written request by certified mail, after which the use must cease within 6 months.