Ramapo, NY Home Business: Zoning & Home Occupation Permits (2026)

Ramapo defines 'home occupation' entirely inside its zoning definitions at § 376-5, and the definition itself functions as the operating standard: the use must be a personal service character carried on entirely inside the residence by the people who live there, incidental and secondary to the home's residential use, and it cannot change the residential character of the property. It can show no exterior evidence beyond a permitted announcement sign, and it cannot involve parking, storing or standing commercial vehicles or construction equipment outdoors, or storing materials outside, except where a residence district specifically allows it. It also cannot involve keeping stock-in-trade, selling goods, or using chemical, mechanical or electrical equipment beyond an ordinary household appliance or light office equipment.

Two more numeric caps apply directly: the home occupation cannot occupy more than half the ground floor area of the residence, or its equivalent elsewhere in the house, and only the residents themselves may work in it, no outside employees. The definition also lists uses the Town will never treat as a home occupation no matter how small: a clinic, hospital, barbershop, beauty parlor, photographer's salon, tearoom, tourist home, animal hospital, boarding or breeding kennel, convalescent home, funeral home, or any store. A related but separate category, 'Home Professional Office' in the same section, covers licensed professionals such as lawyers, physicians, dentists, architects, engineers and accountants, permits up to two employees including family members, and is likewise capped at half the ground floor area with only an announcement sign as exterior evidence.