Valleywide : Ruling Delayed on Home-Business Law

The approval of a draft ordinance that would legalize home-based occupations has been delayed so that the city can put some teeth into how it would be enforced.

The Planning and Land Use Management Committee of the Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday directed a city building official to come up with a list of penalties that could be imposed on people who break the law.

“We need to have something that makes people obey these citations you’re going to give,” said Councilman Hal Bernson, who heads the committee.

Most home-based businesses are currently outlawed under city law. The proposed ordinance would legalize more than two dozen home-based occupations, including accountants, attorneys, engineers and composers.

Opponents say home businesses could bring increased traffic and noise to residential neighborhoods, while supporters say the businesses provide a livelihood for thousands of Angelenos.

Bernson said his main concern with the draft ordinance is fear that the people who post signs, hire workers or break the law in other ways would not be prosecuted. For example, he said, the city attorney’s office usually assigns a low priority to illegal home businesses.

But Councilwoman Laura Chick, a strong supporter of legalization, said there are many city laws that go unenforced and that legalizing home-based businesses would not create additional neighborhood disruption.

Problematic businesses already exist, she said, and establishing regulations would cut down on people turning in their neighbors because of personal grudges, making it easier for the city to prosecute the most egregious violators.

Several operators of home-based businesses spoke in support of the ordinance, while a number of homeowner activists testified against it.