Novato, CA Home Business: Zoning & Home Occupation Permits (2026)

Section 19.34.080 of the Novato Municipal Code sets the location and operational standards for home businesses in the City of Novato, Marin County, California. The Director is authorized to approve a home occupation in conjunction with a City Business License, so the zoning approval and the license travel together. The code lists examples that qualify: art and craft work such as ceramics, painting, photography and sculpture; tailors and sewing; and office-only uses for an architect, attorney, consultant, counselor, insurance agent, tutor or writer, including electronic commerce. Other uses the Director determines to be similar can also be approved.

The prohibited list is long. It names adult entertainment, animal hospitals and grooming, automotive and other vehicle repair, commercial cabinet or furniture making, contractor's storage yards, dismantling, junk or scrap yards, exercise studios (one-on-one personal trainers excepted), medical clinics and doctor's offices, on-site sales, uses requiring explosives or highly combustible or toxic materials, and welding and machine shops.

The operating standards are strict on space and impact. The business must be clearly secondary to the full-time residential use. All activity occurs inside the main dwelling, capped at 25 percent of the gross floor area or one room, whichever is greater, or inside the garage or another approved accessory structure, and a garage use cannot interfere with keeping the required number of off-street parking spaces there. The activity cannot be visible from the adjoining public right-of-way or from neighboring residential properties. No dust, electrical interference, fumes, gas, glare, light, noise, odor, smoke, vibration or other nuisance is allowed, as determined by the Director. Storage of flammable, explosive or hazardous materials needs specific approval from the Novato Fire Protection District. Vehicles on the premises are limited to residents' passenger vehicles or a pickup truck not exceeding one-ton carrying capacity. Articles stored for distribution or sale at off-premise locations are limited to those produced on the premise.