OTHELLO — Home-based businesses will be required to obtain a license under the provisions of a revised ordinance considered Monday by the Othello City Council. 

City officials have been working on revisions throughout 2024. Othello Community Development director Anne Henning said home-based businesses have changed since the ordinance was last updated in 1995. 

“We’re working on hitting the balance between letting people operate a business but without upsetting the neighbors,” Henning said. 

Under the revised ordinance, home-based businesses will be subject to conditions and can be inspected by the city’s code enforcement department. Code enforcement officers will be required to give 48 hours' notice of an inspection. But Henning said city staff doesn’t anticipate needing to inspect most businesses.  

Business owners who are not in compliance can have the permit revoked.  

A home-based business will be restricted to one customer at a time and cannot have outside employees. A business cannot generate more traffic than would be normally expected in a residential neighborhood. The city’s original ordinance set size limitations on home businesses, but Henning said in previous interviews that city officials thought that would be hard to enforce and removed it.  

Some of the changes, Henning said, were added at the suggestion of the city attorney after the initial public hearing on the ordinance in August. 

Some possible provisions were discussed but rejected by the Othello Planning Commission because of the difficulty of enforcement, Henning said. She cited deliveries as an example since home deliveries are common now and it would be difficult to enforce restrictions. 

The revised ordinance doesn’t list allowable businesses. Henning said in an earlier interview that Othello officials reviewed similar ordinances from a lot of cities, and most don’t have a list. A list of what isn’t allowed remains in the new ordinance.  

Prohibited uses include retail sales, vehicle repair and paint shops, cabinet shops, restaurants, animal hospitals, kennels, restaurants and real estate offices, among others.  Henning said in an earlier discussion that day care facilities are regulated under different rules. Regulations for people who cook at home for sale offsite are regulated by the Adams County Health Department.  

Residents will be allowed to set up a business in an auxiliary structure on the property, but outdoor storage of equipment or materials connected with a home business will be prohibited. So will parking construction equipment at a residence.