Sussex County, DE Home Business: Zoning & Home Occupation Permits (2026)

Chapter 115, Section 115-4 defines HOME OCCUPATION as any occupation, profession, enterprise or activity conducted solely by one or more members of a family on the premises, incidental and secondary to the dwelling use, with no commodity stored or sold except what is made on-site, no group instruction, assembly or activity, and no outside storage or display. The section lists qualifying examples: art or craft studios, cosmetology or barbering limited to one chair in AR and GR Districts, dressmaking or custom baking, professional offices for a physician, dentist, lawyer, engineer, architect, accountant or salesman, private instruction limited to one or two pupils at a time, and family day-care homes.

It expressly excludes nursing homes, convalescent homes, rest homes, restaurants, tearooms and tourist homes from the definition. Section 115-21B lists 'home occupations in a main building or accessory building' among the permitted accessory uses available countywide, so no separate conditional-use hearing is required once the Section 115-4 limits are met. Parking is not left unregulated: Section 115-163J puts the Director of Planning and Zoning in charge of setting any parking requirement for a home occupation or home office, subject to review by the Board of Adjustment, and bars using the front yard for that parking while requiring spaces to sit at least five feet from any property line.

Because the definition turns on who works the business and how customers or students interact with it, a home business that adds a nonfamily employee or opens to group activity falls outside Section 115-4 and needs Board of Adjustment relief rather than by-right status.