How it happened
The council unanimously passed Ordinance No. 25-988, which amended four sections of city code pertaining to development and commercial businesses in residential neighborhoods, according to meeting documents.
Humble uses “the 75% rule,” which means businesses cannot open at a block face with 75% or more single-family residences, City Manager Jason Stuebe said Feb. 27.
“We've gone through several iterations on how to accomplish [the 75% rule], and every time we do it ... there's a new loophole that gets found, and so we've decided to go back to the drawing board,” Stuebe said.
Sorting out details
According to Feb. 27 meeting documents, the new residential neighborhood standards include:
- Added definitions for commercial properties, which includes for-profit or nonprofit companies using a home primarily for business, versus home occupations, which are businesses operated out of a home but are secondary to the property being used as a private residence
- Provisions that home occupations cannot generate more vehicular traffic than an average residence would; cannot add signs advertising the business to the property; and cannot sell goods directly from the home, but can take orders from the property
- Bans for home-operated businesses focusing on auto repair and sales, and homeschools for people outside of the home occupant’s family
- An added maximum daily fine of $500 for people in violation of the new ordinances
