On Thursday, Sept. 17, the Royal Palm Beach Village Council clarified the regulations that the village can impose on home-based businesses after a local swim instructor questioned whether the rules would prevent her from operating a business from her home.
The item was placed on the council’s agenda at the request of Councilman Richard Valuntas. During the council’s previous meeting on Aug. 20, he mentioned a discussion he had with resident Sharon Powers over concerns that ordinances do not allow her to run a business from her home.
Powers owns a swim instruction business, where she teaches children how to swim. Valuntas was interested in amending the village’s code to permit swim instruction businesses to operate from homes.
According to the Village Attorney Mitty Barnard, state lawmakers several years ago passed a law that prevents local governments from imposing more restrictive regulations for home-based businesses compared to other ones. In 2022, the village amended its code to comply with the change.
However, home-based businesses must still meet certain state and local requirements relating to noise, traffic and other impacts on the surrounding area. The state law requires that any commercial activity to remain secondary to the property’s use as a residence.
“We, the village, cannot say you cannot do this,” Barnard said. “We cannot enforce regulations that are against a home-based business that are more stringent than other businesses that are being regulated.”
The law also allows an affected home-based business owner to challenge local government action that violates the statute. The prevailing party in a challenge may recover reasonable attorney fees and costs. As such, the council could not amend its codes to specifically allow swim instruction businesses to operate at homes.
While there are some limitations, applicants can demonstrate that their business complies with statutory requirements and local regulations. Village officials directed Powers to apply for a Business Tax Receipt with additional information on how the business will operate to determine whether it complies with the code.
In other business:
- The council unanimously voted to approve a final property tax rate of 1.92 mills and a total budget of $47.8 million for the upcoming fiscal year. It was the council’s second and final vote on the matter after revising the rate from a proposed 2.15 mills in August.
- The council approved a revised schedule of fees and charges for various services provided by Royal Palm Beach.
Most of the changes increase fees for building permits, planning and zoning services, temporary permits and facility rentals. Hmara reminded residents that many of these fees have not been changed in years.
“What we’re doing with the fees there is raising them to a point that we think is fair and reasonable and tolerable,” Village Manager Ray Liggins said. “We don’t think we’re going to lose many customers doing it.”
