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

The City of Mosinee's zoning code, in Section 42-39, defines and regulates home occupations in one dense provision that doubles as the operative standard. A home occupation must be carried on only by a member of the immediate family living on the premises, wholly inside the principal building or an accessory building, with no signs beyond what the article otherwise permits and no exterior display, storage or other visual indication that the building serves anything but residential use. The use must stay clearly incidental to the dwelling's residential purpose.

The code bars selling anything on the premises except goods actually produced there by the occupation, and bars any mechanical or electrical equipment beyond what is customarily incidental to ordinary domestic use. An operator may employ no more than one nonresident employee, and no shop or store of any kind may be run from the premises. Equipment or materials cannot be stored outside the home. Equipment that creates noise, dust, odor or electrical disturbance is prohibited outright, and the code specifically forbids altering the home's appearance to attract business.

Motors used for a home occupation cannot exceed one horsepower individually or five horsepower combined; exceeding that threshold is itself declared a public nuisance under the ordinance. Repairing motor bicycles, motorcycles or motor-driven cycles for anyone other than the resident occupants is strictly prohibited and separately deemed a nuisance, regardless of whether the work is paid. Zoning-wise, home occupations are listed as a permitted accessory use in the R-1 single-family district (Section 42-166(7)(h)), the R-4 general residence district (Section 42-241(9)(g)) and the R-5 agricultural and estate district (Section 42-267(5)(h)), so the use travels with the residential zoning classification rather than requiring a separate conditional-use hearing in those districts.