Lyndeborough: Board eases at-home business restrictions

Proposed amendments to the zoning ordinance would eliminate the need for home businesses to appear before the Planning Board for a site plan review.

There are several amendments set to be on the ballot in March this year, but ultimately, they each do the same thing – eliminate a step for starting a home businesses. Although the plan is to eventually re-write the home business ordinance, for the coming year, the Planning Board has taken the step to make the process simpler.

Home businesses are currently allowed in four districts – the Village district and Rural Lands I, II and III.

The first four amendments proposed to the zoning ordinance this year remove the requirement that home businesses are subject to site plan review and approval by the Planning Board. Instead, home businesses now must adhere to the restrictions already laid out in the home business section of the ordinance. The fifth proposed amendment eliminates the site plan approval process from that section as well.

The remaining proposed amendment eliminates additional requirements for home businesses in all three of the Rural Lands districts, which extended extra protections for the surrounding neighborhood. It abolishes requirements such as the business not being evident from the roadway, that materials or equipment stored outside and ancillary structures be screened from adjacent roads and properties, and that retail sales be limited to those incidental to the business.

However, the main portion of the home business ordinance remains intact, which includes protections that apply to all the districts where home business is allowed. These protections limit the area of the business to a third of the floor area of the home, allow only two non-resident employees and bar businesses that create obnoxious environments through “noise, vibration, dust, smoke, electrical disturbances, odors, heat, glare, [or] visual disharmony.”

Lyndeborough will hold a public hearing on the proposed amendments on Jan. 23 at Citizens Hall at 7:30 p.m.