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

Section 215-24.13 is the Town of Tonawanda's umbrella zoning standard for any business run out of a home. Subsection A states its purpose: letting residents conduct professional office or administrative work at home without undermining the residential character of the neighborhood. Subsection B lists the occupations the Zoning Board of Appeals treats as automatically permitted, lawyers, accountants, engineers, architects, consultants, real estate and insurance agents, artists, photographers, tailors, repairpersons, beauticians, barbers, counselors and tutors among them, plus any similar vocation the Board approves. Subsection C excludes uses incompatible with a residential block, including retail stores, medical or emergency services, animal-care services, vehicle sales or repair, group instruction, tearooms, convalescent homes and mortuaries.

Subsection D then layers nine general regulations onto every permitted home occupation: the use must be clearly incidental and secondary to the residence and meet the NYS Uniform Building and Fire Prevention Code (D(1)); the residential character and exterior of the structure must be preserved, barring nonresidential alterations (D(2)); the operator must be a full-time resident who owns and runs the business (D(3)); all activity must occur wholly inside an enclosed structure (D(4)); only one nonresident employee is allowed (D(5)); hours run 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.

(D(7)); no exterior storage or display of materials is permitted (D(8)); the use cannot generate odors, noise, dust, vibration or glare beyond what a residential neighborhood typically experiences (D(9)); and on-site retail is barred except for goods clearly incidental to the occupation (D(10)).