Council Backs Plan to Legalize Home Businesses

After a lengthy debate, the Los Angeles City Council formally endorsed a measure Wednesday to legalize and regulate home businesses.

The ordinance, which is supported by Mayor Richard Riordan, will bring Los Angeles in line with 77 other cities in the county that have already legalized home business.

The vote culminates more than a decade of debate in Los Angeles, dating back to 1986, when the late Councilman Howard Finn first proposed a home business law.

But even after years of review, lobbying and debate, several council members still expressed reservations Tuesday about taking a final vote on the measure.

Councilman Hal Bernson, who described himself as a “reluctant supporter,” said he worried that the city won’t be able to do away with home businesses if the council changes its mind about the program in the future.

Assistant City Atty. Gwen Poindexter confirmed Bernson’s fears, saying that once the city approves a license for a home business, the city can only close it down if it creates a nuisance in the neighborhood.

“These are significant property rights and you can’t eliminate them just like that,” she said.

After a long debate, culminated by a resolute speech from Councilwoman Laura Chick, who spearheaded the measure, the council voted 12 to 1 to endorse the measure.

“If we don’t feel comfortable with this now, we will never feel comfortable with it,” Chick said. “Now, we are caught up with what if we change our minds.”

Because the measure was not endorsed unanimously, city bylaws require that it return to the council for a second vote next week. Once Riordan signs the bill, as expected, it will take effect two weeks later.

Under the measure, the city will impose 21 performance standards, prohibiting excessive noise, traffic, signs and other changes that would ruin the character of single-family neighborhoods.

It also prohibits more than 20 specific businesses that the council feels would be too troublesome, such as auto repair shops, massage parlors, body piercing shops and gun stores.

The law is expected to promote businesses that use computers, telephones and fax machines. Typical home businesses include those of writers, lawyers, bookkeepers, accountants and consultants.

In addition to a business license, home business operators will have to pay a $25 fee to pay for a team of city inspectors to regulate the home businesses.

The sole opponent, Councilman Nate Holden, argued that the measure would turn single-family neighborhoods into commercial strips.

“You are creating more problems than you have,” he said. “There is no way you can police this.”

On Tuesday, several homeowner groups also spoke out against the measure, saying it would create a commercial nightmare in residential areas.

“You have created a document that is so loosely written that you will have people in residential districts having to go to court to have this interpreted,” said Gordon Murley, chairman of the Federation of Hillside and Canyon Assns.

But Chick and other supporters argued that thousands of such businesses already operate in the city without the law. The measure, they say, will at least allow the city to collect up to $5 million annually in business licenses.

In addition, the city will be able to issue fines of up to $500 for home businesses that violate the performance standards on noise and traffic.