# Any home-based screen printers here forced to get zoning variances?



## gearbranders (Oct 16, 2009)

Could any home-based screen printers please describe their experiences of going in front of a zoning board to get a variance for their home-based business? Were you successful? Why do you think you were or weren't? How long was the process? I'm curious to know if any forum members have actually done this.

I've read a lot of the threads about zoning on this forum, and I've heard a lot of differing opinions on whether you should talk to your city hall. Nonetheless, I want to hear from the people who actually have tried to be legit and have dealt with their city hall, both successfully and unsuccessfully. Were screen printing inks, dryers, emulsion, washout booths and chemicals in wastewater issues that hindered your efforts?


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## Uncle John (Mar 11, 2007)

Stephen, as an ex city councilman who served in a city that had a City Manager. They make the decisions. As a council you can only fire or hire them. 
Zoning boards are appointed by the council if you have a tree huger there you could get shot down. If your not printing 500 or 1000 a month I wouldn't worry about the zoning. There is minimal toxic waste if any from a small screen printer. I hope it helps, John


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## gearbranders (Oct 16, 2009)

Thanks John.

I actually did some more public records research tonight and found at least one person in my area who was given a variance for a home screen printing business, so hopefully I won't have any problems.


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## wormil (Jan 7, 2008)

I didn't need to go before a board but a guy from the zoning commission visited my home, he was mostly concerned about noise and traffic.


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## Guest (Mar 5, 2010)

I inquired about obtaining a business license through my city. My business was gonna be strictly online so no traffic would be coming in and out of my home. They said I still needed a business licensed but I had to get signatures from the neighbors in front of me, behind, and on each side of me to say it was ok. It pissed me off that I had to solicite permission from someone that had nothing to do with it because there wasn't gonna be any traffic in and out of my house. I do it now as a hobby and it's not an issue just was gonna try to make a little extra money on the side and do it legit.


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## SystemVoid (Dec 18, 2007)

As far as I'm concerned, if you're a home-based screen printer that has a minimal setup, why even bother with a zoning board in the first place? Sure, it's probably the right thing to do, but if you own your own house and your own garage, and your business is strictly online or though networking (ie. no in-and-out traffic or customers picking up) it would just seem to be inviting problems that aren't necessary. And if they shoot you down, what then?

Get a business license, and tax id/resale number, and go from there. Unless you're shipping out thousands of shirts a day (in which case, your home wouldn't be able to handle all the equipment you need), I wouldn't even worry about it. I'm sure some people would disagree, but you wouldn't be the first person to bypass all that mess.

But, that's just me 

I know a guy that screen prints out of his garage. His neighborhood doesn't allow that kind of thing. So, he just doesn't open up that side of his garage. He delivers everything in his truck, or sends it out UPS.


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## Guest (Mar 5, 2010)

I agree Daniel. I'll sell some shirts here and there and if it happens to take off then I'll worry about all the other.


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## gearbranders (Oct 16, 2009)

Thanks. I hear what you guys are saying. I mainly wanted to hear anyone's experience who actually was forced to go in front of a board because someone turned them in. I wanted to see whether the board was receptive or if they were totally against it. Just wanted to hear some others' experiences to get an idea of how much hot water they were in. 

As I said earlier, since I started this thread I have found public records that show someone in my town has been granted a variance for home based screen printing, so that leads me to believe it's not a big issue here.


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## Louie2010 (Feb 26, 2010)

I just went through this process myself. Although it was for embroidery instead of screen printing. When I first went in to talk with someone at zoning they said it would be a two step process,and he scheduled a meeting for me to meet with him and the manager. He said at that time I could explain officially what I would be doing. If approved past that they would schedule a public hearing where they would first send letters to my neighbors and run an ad in the local paper. That way if anyone had any complaints they could come to the hearing.

Well this past week I had the first meeting and they couldn't have been nicer. They actually approved it without going to step two because it fell into one of their pre approved classifications that does not need to go through the second step. I just had to agree to some condition such as no signage, sales and customers coming to the home, etc. 

One thing they said was in this economic environment they are trying to be very understanding of people trying to add additional incomes from their homes, and didn't want to stand in the way. This goes along with an article I recently read (I think maybe Wall street Journal) about just this topic where many cities were relaxing some of their previous regulations on some home businesses because of the poor economy.

So if anyone is thinking that they might ever need to go through this process, now might be the most "home business" friendly time to do so because of the economy.

Most people I spoke with said not to even bother but I didn't want to invest the money in equipment and then run into a problem later.


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## charles95405 (Feb 1, 2007)

I would tend to get the business lic and variance okay first...because if you wait until someone turns you in, the authorities might not be as receptive....


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## SystemVoid (Dec 18, 2007)

charles95405 said:


> I would tend to get the business lic and variance okay first...because if you wait until someone turns you in, the authorities might not be as receptive....


I think it would really depend on the magnitude of the business you're running out of your home. The line between "legit business" and "hobbyist" is not an easy one to make. If you've got a 4-station setup in your guest bedroom, and a flash unit to cure your prints, and you're selling 20 - 30 shirts a week, messing with the zoning commission seems like a big waste of time.

But like I said, if you're shipping out sixty 80 lb. boxes a day, that's obviously a different story... If you reach the point where you're working 40+ hours a week from your garage, then considering a zoning license would be a good idea, especially if your living room is stocked up with 3,000 t-shirts, and you've got a conveyor dryer that's bigger than your car sitting in your garage 

Of course, in that case, you'll likely be better off renting out some warehouse space.


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## Stitches (Oct 2, 2006)

We called the city and explained what we were going to do (embroidery/screen print) to see if we needed to have a city business license, zoning variance, etc. They told us no. As far as a business license they are only required for a certain types of business that they regulate, pharmacies, strip clubs, gas stations, liquor stores, etc. The laws here are cool.


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## wormil (Jan 7, 2008)

SystemVoid said:


> ...why even bother with a zoning board in the first place?
> ...
> Get a business license, and tax id/resale number, and go from there.


In my city, they go hand in hand. The business license isn't approved until after you go through zoning. So you are left a choice of either violating the law completely or spending 20-30 minutes to be in compliance and never having to worry about it again. For me that was an easy choice.

My neighbor runs an HVAC business out of his home with a separate office, trucks coming in and out all day but he never got permission from the zoning commission (he used another address that was already zoned to get the business license). So when the zoning people came by to inspect my place (with 5 minutes warning) he was absolutely ****ting bricks because the repercussions of getting caught would have been severe. Luckily for him, all his people were out on jobs and there was no one around. 

Could I get around it? Well I'm sure I could but the benefits don't really outweigh the risks.


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## Louie2010 (Feb 26, 2010)

One more reason to do it right. I could see an established competitor possibly might complain to the city if he feels he is competing with somebody that isn't legal. All it might take is for him to lose one long time customer to some "new guy" working out of his house.


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## Louie2010 (Feb 26, 2010)

I am not sure how to post a link, but here is the address to the WSJ article I mentioned earlier about this topic in case anyone would find it interesting.

States Revisit Home-Businesses Rules - WSJ.com

Hopefully it works.


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