An ordinance cleaning up city code in response to House Bill 1662 was recommended for approval by the Green Park Planning and Zoning Commission Sept. 6.

The legislation, passed during the 2022 legislative session, took effect Aug. 28 and is meant to protect home-based businesses. City Attorney Joseph Bond said the bill is “broad” and seems like a “solution seeking a problem.”

“One part of the law would make it seem like we have a lot more regulatory authority, then the other cuts that back away. What Paul (Rost) has tried to do here is take what we have currently and make it so it complies with the law the best it can,” Bond said. 

Bond said it’s unclear if rentals would be protected by the bill, as opposed to the usual crafting and selling from home businessess. He said the new ordinance is attempting to “fill in the gaps” of HB 1662  to keep as much authority with the city as possible.

Bond said he expects the law to be changed down the line since it’s so vague. An especially vague area is a rental property versus a home-based business. The issue is unclear if a rental property can be considered a home-based business since a rental does not have a homeowner staying in the house and the service is just the space provided.

Sunset Hills is dealing with a similar scenario related to HB 1662. The city has recently attempted to ban Airbnbs and short-term rentals outright, but has had to pause its attempts for HB 1662 to take effect. 

Bond said Green Park’s ordinance does require citizens to prove the lawfulness of the business after a certain amount of time, but it’s currently unclear if it can ask for business licenses up front. If the city wanted to stop a home-based business from operating, it would have to prove the business is making a negative impact in court — this could be through traffic, noise or size of the business.

Chairman Gary Neutzling said under current Green Park code medical and dental are prohibited home-based businesses, but the new law requires the city to prove an impact.