News

PB PLANNING COMMISSION RULES ON HOME BUSINESSES

By Erin France/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF
Wednesday, October 28, 2009 2:07 PM CDT

The Pine Bluff Planning Commission tackled home businesses at its Tuesday night meeting.

Commissioners voted to approve definitions of home businesses, which will be passed on to the Pine Bluff City Council for consideration in the form of an ordinance.

“It covers everything that we could possibly think of,” said Jerre George, director of Southeast Arkansas Regional Planning Commission.

The proposed ordinance divides home businesses into those that are no-impact home occupation businesses such as artists or Avon sellers, minor impact home occupation businesses such as tutoring between two to five students or a sewing business, and major impact businesses which attract the most customers.

Minor impact businesses require a zoning permit, but not a conditional use permit.

Major impact businesses require a conditional use, but several businesses are banned from being permitted as occurring in homes such as: Beautician or barber shops; massage therapy; recording studios; dentists and medical doctor offices; catering/food business; funeral chapels; kennels; and tattoo parlors, to name a few.

Commissioners voted to change the restriction on minor impact home businesses to limit five customers per day to generally averaging less than a dozen.

“The intent is to have a minimal number of customers,” said commissioner Joe Clement. “You wouldn’t want to shut somebody down because they crossed an arbitrary threshold.”

In other business, the commission: