Janesville, WI Home Business: Zoning & Home Occupation Permits (2026)

Sec. 42-275 of the zoning chapter is Janesville's core home-based-business ordinance, and it treats the home occupation as a use that must stay clearly secondary to the residence itself. Subsection (a)(1) requires that the use be incidental to the principal residential use, caps the space devoted to it at 25 percent of the gross floor area of the residence, and confines it to the principal building, with gross floor area defined to include the basement and any attached garage. Subsection (a)(2) requires all business inventory and equipment to stay inside that same principal building rather than spilling into a yard or accessory shed.

The ordinance then splits uses into two lists: subsection (a)(7) names permitted examples such as artists, authors, tutors, dressmaking and telephone-based sales work, while subsection (a)(8) prohibits categories including beauty salons, medical or dental offices, retail sales and vehicle repair. Anything not on either list goes to the Planning Director for a written interpretation under subsection (b), appealable to the Zoning Board of Appeals. No home occupation, listed or not, may begin without first obtaining a home occupation permit from the Building Division under subsection (c), and that permit application is where the City checks the floor-area limit, the equipment-storage rule and the other operating conditions before the business opens.