Grays Harbor County, WA Home Business: Zoning & Home Occupation Permits (2026)

Section 17.60.050 sets two separate tracks for home occupations depending on the zone. In any residential zone, subsection A permits a home occupation only if it meets five conditions: the occupation stays secondary to the dwelling's residential use; no more than one person who is not a resident of the property may be employed on-site; there is no external display of merchandise; the occupation cannot use any single piece of equipment rated over five horsepower; and the use cannot occupy more than one-fourth of the total square footage of the dwelling.

In any general development or agricultural zone, subsection B relaxes the employee cap: it keeps the secondary-use requirement, the ban on external merchandise display, and the one-fourth floor-area limit, but drops the one-employee restriction that applies in residential zones. Both tracks require the home occupation to leave the building looking like a residence from the outside. The section carries over largely unchanged from the county's 1998 ordinance codification, with Ordinance No. 501 amending the surrounding article in 2025. Because Section 17.60.050 sits inside Chapter 17.60, Special Provisions and Conditions, the standards apply on top of whatever base zoning district regulations already govern the property under Title 17, and a use that needs a conditional use permit for other reasons is reviewed against those standards as well as this section's home-occupation criteria.

The county's planning and building division administers home occupation review as part of ordinary zoning compliance; a use exceeding the one-fourth floor-area cap, employing more than the allowed non-resident staff, or running equipment above the horsepower limit is administered as a zoning violation subject to code enforcement under the general provisions of Title 17.