Kanawha County has not adopted countywide zoning, so no county home-occupation permit exists for unincorporated areas. In Charleston, St. Albans, South Charleston, Dunbar, and Nitro, each city's zoning ordinance decides whether you may run a business from home.
Kanawha County Planning and Development administers subdivision, floodplain, salvage-yard, mobile-home-park, and adult-use ordinances, but the county has never adopted comprehensive zoning districts, so no county home-occupation permit applies in unincorporated areas. W. Va. Code §8A-7-2 lets a zoning authority regulate the use of land, and the real home-business rules sit with each municipality. Charleston, a state Municipal Home Rule city, runs its own zoning ordinance; a typical home occupation must stay clearly incidental to the residence, use no outside employees, occupy a limited share of the dwelling, and show no outward evidence of commerce. A use exceeding those limits needs a variance from the city board of zoning appeals.
A home occupation that breaks a city zoning ordinance draws a notice of violation from the municipal zoning officer, daily fines in municipal court, and an order to stop the use until it complies or obtains a variance.
Other ordinances people look up for this city. Green dot = verified primary-source excerpt.
Kanawha County, WV
Kanawha County does not regulate holiday lights, inflatables, or yard displays on private property, and West Virginia has no state holiday-display law. No co...
Kanawha County, WV
Temporary garage-sale signs are generally fine on your own property. Unincorporated Kanawha County barely regulates them; cities apply their zoning sign code...
Kanawha County, WV
Political signs are allowed on private property across Kanawha County. Unincorporated areas have little sign regulation; Charleston's zoning code governs sig...
Kanawha County, WV
West Virginia has no statewide rental license, and unincorporated Kanawha County runs no rental registry. Programs are municipal: West Virginia Code §8-12-16...
Kanawha County, WV
West Virginia has no just-cause eviction law, and Kanawha County cannot add one. A landlord ends a month-to-month tenancy with a full period's notice under §...
Kanawha County, WV
Neither Kanawha County nor Charleston can impose rent control. West Virginia is a Dillon's Rule state, and the Legislature has never granted local government...
See how Kanawha County's zoning restrictions rules stack up against other locations.
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