Whittier, CA Home Business: Zoning & Home Occupation Permits (2026)

020(C) of the Whittier Municipal Code makes home-based businesses, other than cottage food operations governed separately by subsection (L), "permitted" as an accessory residential use, meaning a homeowner does not apply for a discretionary permit the way an accessory dwelling unit or a garage-sale variance would require; the business is legal automatically as long as it satisfies all eight listed conditions. Condition one bars storing home-occupation goods, materials or products in a garage or carport except in cabinets or shelving that do not block required parking, and separately restricts any trailer used for the business to no more than twelve feet long and six feet tall, parked outside the front or side yard and screened by a six-foot fence.

Condition two limits staffing to people who live on the lot. Condition three forbids equipment that emits dust, fumes, noise or odor affecting neighbors. Condition four caps the business space at one room, twenty-five percent of the dwelling's floor area, or two hundred square feet, whichever is smallest, and bars using required parking for the business. Conditions five through eight add the no-appreciable-traffic rule, a ban on structural alteration, a ban on signs not otherwise allowed in the zone, and a rule that gardening-business green waste cannot be stored at the residence. Any home business that fails one of these eight conditions forfeits its accessory-use status under this section.