Kirkwood, MO Home Business: Zoning & Home Occupation Permits (2026)

Kirkwood does not have a generic home-occupation permit; it regulates home businesses through a no-impact standard in Zoning and Subdivision Code § 25-45(k), and any home business that does not meet every listed criterion is prohibited outright rather than downgraded to a special permit. The intro paragraph frames the test: the business must not change the residential character of the residential building, adversely affect the character of the surrounding neighborhood, or adversely affect public health and safety. The itemized standards that follow require the business to be clearly incidental and secondary to residential use (k)(1), confined inside the dwelling or an accessory structure or the side/rear yard and not visible from the street (k)(4), and free of on-site hazardous-materials storage beyond normal residential amounts (k)(6).

Subsection (k)(8) ties the use to the City's permitting system directly: the dwelling must carry a valid occupancy permit, and the business owner and operator must be listed as occupants on that Occupancy Certificate. 990, RSMo, and (k)(16) lets the City demand a sworn affidavit certifying compliance. Enforcement runs through the Director of Planning and Development Services rather than the courts in the first instance: (k)(17) authorizes the Director to determine a business no longer qualifies as no-impact and to order the operation terminated, with an appeal available under § 25-25.