Council weighs allowing single‑chair salons and similar small home occupations

Planning staff said a recent request asked the city to permit salons as a home-occupation and proposed limiting the scope to a single-chair salon to allow people to start small businesses from home.

Charles Bloom said staff would limit the draft to a single-chair salon initially but asked the council for input on whether to expand the definition to include other personal services. Dr. Aldridge and other council members suggested that nail technicians, aestheticians, massage therapists and similar service providers could reasonably be treated the same for a single-chair or small home-occupation allowance.

Council members raised parking as a primary concern. Council Member Seagrave noted small salons often operate during evening or weekend hours and said additional customer vehicles could affect on-street parking in neighborhoods. Staff said they would consider parking impacts and whether the activity should be a home occupation, a conditional use, or handled by another permitting mechanism.

Bloom added staff would coordinate with applicable state licensing boards and City-County health or environmental health groups where required. The council did not adopt code language at the meeting but asked staff to pursue a draft with public outreach and to consider scope, parking limits and licensing requirements.