Tyrone Township officials have amended and simplified their ordinance for residents wishing to run a job out of their home.

The Tyrone Township Board of Trustees approved an amendment to their Home Occupations ordinance during Tuesday night’s regular meeting. Supervisor Mike Cunningham said this will in most cases allow the homeowner operating a small job to avoid a trip before the Planning Commission. He used a resident who makes and ships hats out of her house without causing a nuisance to neighbors as an example of the old rules being a bit too much.

The new ordinance also updates the list of acceptable home applications adding, among other things, music or fitness lessons with no more than 4 students, road side stands, and personal services like hair dressing or tax preparation. It also allows for attached and detached garages and accessory building to be used for business storage. This will help as the ordinance still states that a home occupation shall not occupy more than 10% of the useable floor space of the dwelling. The Board of Trustees recognized the difficulty with enforcing this. Cunningham said the hope, however, is that they have simplified things to the point where people will just come to the township and inform them that they are conducting a business.

The Home Occupation ordinance was 1 of 5 possible amendments on their agenda Tuesday, but was only 1 of 2 that saw a successful resolution. They also approved amendments to their noise ordinance, bringing it into consistency with Public Acts 634 and 635 of 2018, which carries state recommended dates for the setting off of fireworks. (MK)