Meriden, CT Home Business: Zoning & Home Occupation Permits (2026)

Under § 213-18B(2), home occupations are not a by-right use in the R-1 Single-Family Residential District; they sit on the list of 'uses permitted subject to issuance of a special exception permit by the Zoning Board of Appeals in accordance with the requirements of § 213-73,' the same discretionary approval track used for places of worship and riding academies in the same district. Subsection (e) then attaches operating conditions. First, the business must be run by members of the family who own and reside on the property, with no more than two nonresident employees.

Second, the occupation cannot occupy more than 25% of the principal building's total floor area, and it may never be relocated into an accessory building such as a detached garage or shed. Third, the business cannot alter the building's residential appearance through colors, materials, construction or lighting. Fourth, it cannot generate noise, dust, vibration, odor, smoke, electrical interference, fire hazard or any other nuisance perceptible beyond the lot lines, the same nuisance standard the code applies to industrial performance standards elsewhere in Chapter 213. The identical condition structure is cross-referenced rather than repeated for the R-2 and other residential districts (for example § 213-19B(2)(f) for R-2), so an applicant in any of those districts must satisfy the same § 213-18B(2)(e) conditions when applying to the ZBA. A Class III child-care facility that predates the current rule is instead grandfathered under § 213-19B(2)(j).