West Valley City, UT Home Business: Zoning & Home Occupation Permits (2026)

Section 7-7-115(6) sets the outer boundary on what can operate as a Home Occupation anywhere in West Valley City: only uses that are allowed in the RB (Restricted Business) zone, minus Financial Institutions and Veterinary Hospitals, plus two named categories, Artist Studios and Neighborhood Service Establishments, are permitted. A use that wouldn't be allowed in the RB zone at all can't be run from a residence regardless of scale or customer traffic. That zoning-list test sits on top of the exterior-appearance rule in § 7-7-115(1)(a), which bars modifying the outside appearance or architecture of the home to accommodate the business, and the residential-character rule in § 7-7-115(1)(e), which bars any Home Occupation that disturbs the residential character of the neighborhood.

Together they mean a lawful West Valley City home business has to both appear on the RB-zone use list (with the two named exceptions) and stay invisible from the street. A separate path exists for occupations run out of a detached accessory building rather than the home itself: § 7-7-115(7) requires those to be approved as a Conditional Use and limits them to instructional businesses, such as musical or artistic instruction, in a craft, skill, or practice that is itself a permitted use in the underlying zone, capped at six students per session and three sessions per day, in a building that already existed before the application and wasn't built to house the occupation.