VILLA PARK : City May Toughen Home Workplace Rules

Your home can be your castle, but there may be stricter controls if you work for a living in that castle.

That is the message from the City Council, which announced that it will hold a public hearing Dec. 20 on increasing city controls over home occupations.

The proposed changes to an existing city ordinance would, if approved, do the following:

* Limit home occupation activities to not more than 400 square feet of a person’s dwelling.

* Forbid “any light, noise, odor, dust, vibration, fumes or smoke that is readily discernible at the lot boundaries.”

* Outlaw “dispatching of persons, vehicles or equipment from the premises pursuant to the conduct of a home occupation.”

* Place a limit on how much daily vehicle and pedestrian traffic will be allowed in and out of a home workplace.

City Manager Fred Maley told the council that city staff had researched the existing Villa Park ordinance on home occupations and recommended the tougher additions.

Councilman Barry Denes said that unrestricted use of homes as workplaces could “adversely affect” property values for the entire city.

Denes added, “I think we’re moving in the right direction.”

City residents will be able to comment on the proposed changes at the Dec. 20 meeting, which will be held at 7:30 p.m. in City Hall, 17855 Santiago Blvd.

The meeting also will be a regular council session, moved up a week from its previous schedule because of the Christmas holiday.