Wayne, NJ Home Business: Zoning & Home Occupation Permits (2026)

Wayne Township Code § 134-32.1 D, amended by Ord. No. 48-2012, lists the home occupations allowed in the R-45 very low density residential district. Paragraph (1) covers the office of an accountant, architect, dentist, engineer, insurance broker, lawyer, physician, planner, real estate agent, computer professional, marketing agent, public relations professional, literary agent or author. Paragraph (2) covers artist's studios and craft-person, tailor, seamstress, dressmaker and baker shops where the products are made on premises. Paragraph (3) adds musical instrument and voice instructors, paragraph (4) the administrative office of a tradesman whose field of activity is entirely away from the dwelling unit, and paragraph (5) the marketing and sales of home good products, provided retail sales is not open to the general public.

Paragraph (6) sets the space test. The office or studio must be in the basement or on the first or street level floor of the dwelling, and its area is limited to not more than 50% of the first floor area. Storage of related materials or products for sale counts inside that same 50% limit. Paragraph (7) requires the occupation to be carried on wholly within the principal dwelling unit. Paragraph (8) caps the staff at three persons.

Paragraph (11) lists what is prohibited. Subparagraph (c) bars visible variation from the residential character of the principal building, and subparagraph (d) bars offensive noise, vibration, smoke, dust, odors, heat or glare. Subparagraph (e) excludes tearooms, tourist lodges, boarding or lodging houses, beauty parlors, barbershops, nail salons, restaurants, commercial stables and kennels, veterinarian offices, stores, trades or hobby shops, and any business not named. A physician's home office cannot include a biological or other medical testing laboratory.

The Zoning Officer, a member of the Planning Department, enforces the chapter. Under § 134-26.3 B(1)(b), no person shall commence a use nor change an existing use of property without first obtaining a zoning permit. The R-30 district repeats the same list at § 134-33.1 D. The definition in § 134-2.2 describes a home occupation as one that is incidental and secondary to the residential purpose of the dwelling unit.