Residential districts within the City are established and maintained for the purpose of creating quiet and safe neighborhood environments, which environments exclude all businesses, trades, professions and industries, except that certain home occupations may be permitted if such uses comply with the most restrictive interpretation of conditions and criteria established hereinafter.

A home occupation under this Code shall not include a trade, business service, store, profession, manufacture or fabrication which consists of the following activities:

It is unlawful for a person to conduct a home occupation prohibited under Section 12-17.1 of this Article; and it is unlawful for any person to conduct any nonprohibited home occupation without having first obtained authorization to conduct such activity from the Planning and Building Department Director.

An application for permission to conduct a home occupation shall be made by submitting a completed home occupation questionnaire with the Registration Form for a Business Tax Certificate as referenced in Chapter 8 of this Code. The Planning and Building Department Director shall have the authority to investigate, review, hear and determine all such applications and questionnaires, and shall have the authority to determine if the applicant and the premises upon which the activity is to be conducted fully meet the most restrictive interpretation of the criteria hereinafter established for the conduct of a home occupation:

Within ten working days of the receipt of the home occupation questionnaire and a copy of the business tax certificate registration form from the City Finance Director, the Planning and Building Department Director, or designee, shall determine whether the proposed activity fully complies with the criteria established herein for the conduct of a home occupation. If the determination is that all conditions and criteria cannot be fully met, the applicant and the City Finance Director, or designee, shall be notified of the denial in writing, such notice being mailed or delivered within said ten days. The notice of denial shall cite the reasons for such determination.

If a request for a home occupation is approved, the Planning and Building Department Director may impose additional conditions and limitations upon such approval to ensure that the home occupation shall fully comply with the criteria established for same.

The Planning and Building Department Director may lessen or waive certain home occupation restrictions to permit a handicapped person to conduct an occupation in his or her residence, if the nature of the handicap appreciably hinders or prevents the person from otherwise working in a commercial location.

The applicant may appeal the determination by the Planning and Building Department Director to deny or revoke a home occupation before the Planning Commission. The appeal shall be made by filing a written notice of appeal in letter form to the Director together with an appeal fee as required for a zone adjustment appeal as specified in the Master Fee Schedule. The Planning Commission shall consider the appeal within sixty days of the date that the appeal is filed. The appeal may be considered without a public hearing; however, the Planning and Building Department Director may schedule the appeal consideration as a public hearing and mail notification to neighboring property owners as may be deemed appropriate by the Director based on the nature of the home occupation request. The burden of proof that the proposed activity shall fully comply with all conditions and criteria for a home occupation shall rest upon the appellant. If there exists any doubt by the Planning Commission that any condition or criteria will not be fully complied with, the appeal shall be denied.

No more than forty calendar days following the close of its deliberations on matter, the Planning Commission shall announce its decision. The Commission shall announce its findings and determination by formal resolution and said resolution shall recite among other things the facts and reasons which, in the opinion of the Commission, make the denial of the home occupation necessary to carry out the provisions of this Article and the general purpose of this Chapter; and, if the Commission determines that the home occupation be permitted, the resolution shall recite such conditions and limitations the Commission determines should be imposed to serve the purpose of this Chapter and shall contain findings which specifically recite how the requirements set forth in Section 12-17.4 have been met.

Following the denial or revocation of a home occupation, no new application for a home occupation for the same or substantially the same request on the same or substantially the same site shall be filed within one year from the date of denial or revocation of said home occupation.

The conduct of any activity or the use of any residence in violation of any of the conditions of this Article or of any statute, law, ordinance or other applicable regulation shall be grounds for revocation of any previously authorized home occupation. The person conducting the home occupation shall terminate all activity immediately upon notification of revocation by the Planning and Building Department Director. If an appeal of the revocation is made, the home occupation shall not be conducted until a determination to permit the home occupation is made by the Planning Commission.

A resident may operate a large family child care facility for nine to fourteen children inclusive of resident children when there is not another lot that contains a large family child care facility within a one thousand foot radius of the proposed facility. The child care facility must be the residence of the child care provider and must be incidental and secondary to the residential use of the property.

A large family child care home operator can provide care for more than twelve children up to a maximum of fourteen if at least two of the children are at least six years of age and no more than three infants are cared for during any time when more than twelve children are being cared for. Additionally, the licensee must notify each parent that the facility is caring for two additional school-age children, that there may be up to thirteen or fourteen children in the home at one time and the licensee obtains written consent of the property owner when the family child care home is operated on property that is leased or rented.

The following criteria must be met at the time of issuance of a business tax certificate for a large family child care facility:

Short-term rental and vacation rental use shall be permitted in all residential zones and in mixed-use zones where residential use is permitted, and shall be subject to the provisions of Chapter 8, Article 11 of the Inglewood Municipal Code.