Decatur, AL Home Business: Zoning & Home Occupation Permits (2026)

Article VI of Chapter 25 of the Decatur City Code sets the home occupation rules for every residential zoning district, including PRD, R-1 through R-6 and the historic-designation districts. Section 25-140 states the purpose: keep these businesses compatible with the surrounding area by avoiding added traffic or noise. Section 25-143 makes a home occupation a permitted use, but only after the building department verifies the zoning district, the applicant signs the home occupation questionnaire, and the revenue department issues a city business privilege license. The building department can approve or deny the use based on the criteria in the article.

Section 25-146 sets the permit steps. The applicant submits an application to the building director on the city's forms. The director checks the zoning map against the address, hands over a questionnaire listing every requirement for the applicant to sign, and collects a nonrefundable $50.00 fee. Only then does the revenue department issue the business privilege license. Every home occupation is personal to the applicant and cannot move to another location.

The operating limits sit in § 25-145. The business gets no more than one room of the dwelling and cannot operate in an accessory building. It cannot sell stocks of merchandise, cannot show goods from outside, and cannot store highly explosive or combustible material. No noise, vibration, smoke, dust, odors, heat, or glare may be noticeable at or beyond the property boundaries. Sales parties are capped at one in each three successive months, and supplier deliveries are barred except by commercial common carriers, defined in § 25-142 as delivery services that carry no freight over 150 pounds.

Section 25-144 lists 19 uses that can never be home occupations, among them auto repair, beauty and nail salons, dental and medical offices, dance instruction, catering, gift shops, welding, and massage parlors, plus anything similar. Under § 25-147 the permit is a privilege, carries no property right, and can be revoked.