Simi Council Homes In on Residence-Based Business

By KATE FOLMAR

Dec. 6, 1997 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

SIMI VALLEY — Home-based computer consultants, breathe easy. Ditto for you interior designers, brokers, freelance writers, handymen and crafts makers who work where you live.

Furthering its pro-business policies, the city of Simi Valley is poised to loosen regulations on home-based businesses within its borders.

The move comes after a clash between a home-based businesswoman and her neighbor two years ago. The neighbor called the city on Buttons n’ Bows owner Carol Reniger, who stored spools of ribbon and woven baskets from the rafters of her garage, in violation of city law. On her side, Reniger felt the current city rules were stifling residents’ entrepreneurial spirit.

“Simi Valley has always had a pro-big-business attitude, [but] I don’t always see that we have a pro-small-business attitude,” City Councilwoman Sandi Webb, who runs a design business from her home, said Friday. “But most businesses are small businesses. They don’t pay the big taxes that Amgen and Countrywide Insurance do, but they’re the ones who run this country.”

The proposed changes--drafted by a committee of city leaders, residents and business owners--will be the subject of a public hearing Monday night. If the council members have no objection, the changes could be voted on the following week and would take effect a month later.

Currently, Simi Valley laws confine home businesses to one room of a house that accounts for no more than 10% of the house’s floor space. It also outlaws the storage of business-related items in the garage.

“You couldn’t even have a file folder--if it had to do with your business--in your garage,” said Reniger, who has since expanded her gift-basket business to a storefront. “It was crazy, especially considering the fact that we still had enough room to fit our two cars in our garage.”

Under proposed changes, home businesses could occupy twice as much space in as many rooms as the owner sees fit. The changes would also allow people who hold a $25 home occupation permit to store crafts, documents and other business necessities in their garage if enough room is left to park cars.

In 1997, about 1,000 of those permits were sold by the city to a variety of business people, from financial consultants and graphic artists to caterers and wreath-makers. While the city does not track the exact number of permits given in a year, staffers say the number has grown dramatically over recent years as home computers have expanded business opportunities.

A report prepared for council members explains that other Ventura County cities have less-restrictive laws governing home businesses.

“I think part of this is recognizing that more people work at home these days,” said City Councilman Paul Miller, who sat with Reniger on the committee that drafted the proposed changes. “We need to accommodate the new businesses in our city.”

If approved, the changes are expected to most benefit mothers who work at home so they can be accessible for their children, Webb said.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Current Rules Throughout County Simi Valley is considering loosening its regulations to allow more space in homes to be devoted to business uses and to allow some storage in garages, as long as cars can still be parked there.

Rules for home businesses vary among cities in Ventura County. The current regulations on home business storage capacity and allowable size are shown

CITY: Simi Valley

OUTDOOR STORAGE: No

INDOOR STORAGE: 1 room only

SIZE ALLOWED: 1 room, not more than, 10% of floor area in house

CITY: Camarillo

OUTDOOR STORAGE: Some

INDOOR STORAGE: 1 room only

SIZE ALLOWED: 1 room only

CITY: Fillmore

OUTDOOR STORAGE: No

INDOOR STORAGE: 1 room only