East Brunswick, NJ Home Business: Zoning & Home Occupation Permits (2026)

East Brunswick Township Code § 228-3 defines HOME OCCUPATION as any lawful use customarily conducted for profit entirely within a dwelling and carried on solely by the inhabitants thereof, which use is clearly incidental and secondary to the use of the dwelling for dwelling purposes and does not change the character thereof. Twelve numbered conditions follow. Several of them shape the zoning question directly. Not more than one person who is not a resident in the dwelling can be employed. There is no outside storage of any kind related to the home occupation. No such use can require external alterations to the dwelling other than those necessary to provide barrier-free access. Not more than one home occupation can be conducted on an individual lot. Articles sold must be produced by members of the immediate family residing in the dwelling, and no machinery or equipment can cause electrical or other interference with radio and television reception in adjacent residences or cause offensive noise, odor, vibration, heat or glare. No firearms can be used in any form in the business, including repair of non-functioning parts.

Home occupations are a permitted accessory use in the Township's residential districts. In the RP Single-Family Rural Preservation District, § 228-6.5A lists "Home occupations as defined in § 228-3A of this chapter" among permitted accessory uses, and other district articles repeat the same cross-reference.

Subsection C of the definition gives examples of what qualifies: a studio of instruction for art, music, dance, ceramics, sculpture or any academic subject with not more than four non-residents present at any one time, a nursery school or baby-sitting service permitted as a home occupation under state law, sewing or clothing alteration, and offices of an accountant, bookkeeper, lawyer, architect, engineer or planner. Subsection B lists prohibited examples such as clinics, medical offices, dental offices, barbershops and beauty parlors. The text read prints conditions, not an application form or fee, so a resident in East Brunswick Township should confirm any questions with the Zoning Officer before opening.