photo by: Journal-World

The west side of the Douglas County Courthouse, 1100 Massachusetts St.

Certain kinds of rural, home-based small businesses wouldn’t have to register or pay a fee to Douglas County under a proposed code change that county leaders will be voting on this week.

At its meeting Wednesday, the County Commission will consider changing the registration process for small-scale businesses run out of people’s homes in the county’s unincorporated areas. If the proposed change is approved, some smaller businesses that don’t have an outsized impact on their neighbors could operate without needing to register with the county or pay an annual fee. However, larger and more impactful businesses would still need to register.

A memo to the commission said that there were currently 115 registered home occupations of various types and sizes in the unincorporated area of the county. Most of these businesses were in the fields of construction, home repair, landscaping and arts. Additionally, county staff was aware of at least 57 home occupations in the county that were either unregistered or unpermitted.

The proposed changes would eliminate the registration and annual fee requirement for businesses that meet several conditions, mostly having to do with the visibility of the business and its impact on neighbors. For these businesses, the proposed change reads, “There shall be no visible evidence of the conduct of a Home Occupation, other than a permitted sign.”

Some of the rules have to do with the space the business occupies, including being entirely contained within a home or “accessory structure” and taking up no more than 25% of the habitable space in the home or 400 square feet of the accessory structure. Businesses would also be limited to having just one on-site employee other than the people who live in the home, and would only be able to offer services on the property by appointment.

County staff says these rules would make it easier to start and operate a variety of “low-impact” businesses, such as art studios, tutoring services, catering services and even hairdressing or therapy practices.

Larger-scale home occupations – including things like agricultural equipment repair or material storage for contractors – would still have to register with the county. But unlike the current regulations, they would no longer have to meet a minimum acreage requirement, they would no longer have limits on how much of an accessory building they could use, and their registration period would be every two years instead of annually.

The memo notes that certain types of uses would not count as home occupations, including funeral homes, restaurants, vacation rentals, welding and machine shops. A county spokesperson told the Journal-World that these are largely consistent with the current regulations, with some adjustments intended to clarify that certain uses cannot conform to zoning codes as home occupations. These businesses are not outright prohibited in the unincorporated areas, but they wouldn’t be able to qualify for the home-based business rules, and their owners would need to go through a different kind of application process.

The memo said that the changes are intended to accommodate the growth of internet-based businesses and an increase in the number of people who are able to work from home. It noted that it’s become more common for people to run professional offices, personal care services and craft businesses out of their homes, including using platforms like Etsy.

The proposed changes have been on the commission’s radar for a while. As the Journal-World reported, July 2024 was when the commission first voted to initiate the amendment to the code.

In other business, county commissioners will:

• Hold an election for chair and vice-chair positions for the Douglas County Commission. Last year, the vice chair became the new chair, meaning 3rd District Commissioner Karen Willey replaced former Commission Chair Patrick Kelly as chair. The commission chair is generally given authority to preside over meetings.

• Consider authorizing the county administrator to bind insurance coverage with Travelers for general property and liability insurance coverage in an amount not to exceed $937,229. Douglas County’s insurance coverage, which includes things like property, liability, crime and cyber insurance, will expire on Feb. 1, 2025.

Lockton, the county’s insurance broker, regularly compares insurance options to find the best deal. For nearly 30 years, Travelers has been the county’s insurer. Lockton informed the county that while insurance rates for public entities have been rising, the rate of increase is slowing down. Travelers has proposed a 24% increase for the county’s overall insurance, which is in line with what other public entities are seeing, according to a memo in the agenda.

• Consider allowing the Public Works department to solicit bids for herbicides, supply of rock aggregates and hot asphalt mix and dust control chemicals for roads, and to continue the dust control program for 2025.

• Hold a work session with the emergency communications center and emergency management. This presentation is for informational purposes only.

The County Commission’s work session will begin at 4 p.m. Wednesday in the Douglas County Commission meeting room at 1100 Massachusetts St. The business meeting will follow at 5:30 p.m. The meeting will also be available via Zoom.