GULF SHORES, Ala. — Gulf Shores residents who run a business from home could soon have more flexibility under proposed changes to Gulf Shores home business rules that went before the Gulf Shores Planning Commission at its regular meeting Tuesday, Sept. 22.
The commission’s agenda paired that ordinance update with a commercial development proposal: a site plan for four buildings, known as the Holt Flex Buildings, on a vacant corner lot at Northshore Street and Landward Drive South.
The meeting was scheduled for 4 p.m. in the Council Chambers at City Hall. Commissioners were set to vote on the site plan and to hold a public hearing on amendments to the home occupation section of the city’s Zoning Ordinance.
Why the City Is Revisiting Home Business Rules
The proposed amendments target Section 11-5 of the Gulf Shores Zoning Ordinance, the part of the code that governs home occupations. City materials describe the update as an effort to bring the rules in line with modern employment trends.
The numbers behind that reasoning are striking. According to U.S. Census Bureau estimates cited in the proposal, the share of Gulf Shores workers who work from home climbed from 3.4% in the 2006-2010 American Community Survey to 19.8% in the most recent five-year estimates. That is nearly a sixfold increase, and it means roughly one in five working residents now does their job from home.
The American Community Survey is an ongoing Census Bureau survey that collects information on how people live and work, including how they commute. Its five-year estimates pool responses over a five-year window, which gives more reliable figures for smaller communities such as Gulf Shores than a single year of data would.
Working from home for an outside employer is different from running a business out of a house, but the trend has pushed many cities to take a fresh look at rules written when home-based businesses were far less common. Freelancers, consultants, online sellers and small service providers increasingly operate from a spare bedroom or home office rather than a storefront.
What Would Change
The proposal makes two main changes to the current rules.
- More than one business per home. Residents would be allowed to operate more than one home business out of a single residential dwelling unit. That could matter for households where two people each run their own venture, or where one person has more than one line of work.
- Simpler paperwork for renters. Applicants who do not own the home they live in would no longer need a notarized letter of permission from the property owner. A standard signed authorization letter from the owner would be accepted instead.
The second change removes a step that can be an obstacle for tenants. Getting a letter notarized requires the property owner to sign in front of a notary, which can be inconvenient when a landlord lives out of town or manages property from a distance, as is common in a coastal community with many second homes and investment properties. Under the proposal, owner consent would still be required; only the notarization requirement would go away.
What Would Stay the Same
The amendments leave in place the core limits designed to keep home businesses from changing the character of residential neighborhoods. Under the proposal, the following restrictions would remain fully in effect:
- The total floor area used for home business activity may not exceed 20% of the main building, with a maximum of 500 square feet.
- Employees of a home business must be family members who live in the dwelling.
- Direct retail sales on the premises remain prohibited.
The retail ban carries two notable exceptions. Sales made remotely, whether by phone, mail or internet, are not covered by the prohibition. Items permitted under the Alabama Cottage Food Law are also excluded.
Those carve-outs reflect the way many small home businesses actually operate today. An online shop that ships products from a home office, for example, is not bringing a stream of customers to a residential street, which is the main concern retail restrictions are meant to address.
The Cottage Food Connection
Alabama’s Cottage Food Law took effect in 2014 and was significantly revised in 2021. It allows individuals to make certain foods at home and sell them without a commercial kitchen. According to the Alabama Cooperative Extension System, allowable products include candies, jams, baked goods that do not require refrigeration, roasted nuts, flavored popcorn and some pickled or fermented items. Meats and baked goods that require refrigeration are among the products that cannot be sold.
The 2021 revisions removed the cap on gross sales and allowed cottage food products to be delivered within Alabama by mail, through an agent or directly to the consumer. Producers must pass a food safety course approved by the Alabama Department of Public Health and label their products with information such as the business name and address, ingredients and allergen warnings.
Because the proposed Gulf Shores rules continue to exempt cottage food items from the on-site retail ban, home bakers and candy makers operating under state law would not be affected by that restriction.
The Holt Flex Buildings Proposal
The other major item on the agenda was a site plan submitted by Virtus Lands LLC through EDG Engineering. The developer proposes four commercial buildings, called the Holt Flex Buildings, on a vacant lot at the corner of Northshore Street and Landward Drive South.
The property is zoned General Business (BG), the city’s classification for general commercial uses. A regional drainage ditch runs through the middle of the site, splitting it into separate sections. To work around that feature, the plans call for two separate entrances, one off Landward Drive South and one off Northshore Street.
The plans include several pedestrian and landscaping features:
- A 6-foot sidewalk along Landward Drive South that would connect to an existing sidewalk.
- A 10-foot multiuse path along Northshore Street.
- Preservation of an existing 60-inch Heritage Live Oak tree within a 22-foot Class C landscape buffer along the western edge of the property.
Live oaks are a signature tree of the Gulf Coast, and a trunk 60 inches across indicates a large, mature tree. Protecting it within the required landscape buffer allows the site to be developed while keeping one of its most visible natural features.
City staff recommended that the commission approve the site plan.
The term “flex building” generally refers to commercial space designed to accommodate a range of tenants, such as light industrial, warehouse, office or service businesses. The agenda materials did not identify specific tenants for the Holt Flex Buildings.
How the Planning Commission Works
The Gulf Shores Planning Commission has nine members: the mayor or the mayor’s designee, an administrative official chosen by the mayor, a member of the City Council, and six citizens appointed by the council. All members must live in the city, and they serve without pay.
The commission meets at 4 p.m. on the fourth Tuesday of each month in the Council Chambers at City Hall on West 1st Street.
Its role differs depending on the type of request. The commission hears and decides applications for site plans and subdivisions, which means its vote on the Holt Flex Buildings is the city’s decision on that plan. On zoning ordinance amendments such as the home occupation changes, the commission holds a public hearing and makes a recommendation to the City Council, which has the final say.
That means the home business changes would still need to go before the City Council before taking effect. Residents who want to weigh in will have another chance when the council takes up the proposal.
Other Business
The agenda also included approval of the minutes from the commission’s Aug. 25, 2026, regular meeting, along with communications and project updates from city planning staff.
What It Means for Residents
For most homeowners, the practical effect of the proposed changes would be modest but real. A household with two home-based ventures would no longer have to choose which one to register, and renters would face one less hurdle when seeking permission to work from home.
At the same time, the rules that neighbors are most likely to notice, such as limits on outside employees, customer traffic and how much of a house can be devoted to business use, would remain unchanged.
Residents with questions about home occupation permits or the status of the proposed amendments can contact city planning staff at Gulf Shores City Hall. Agendas for Planning Commission and City Council meetings are posted on the city’s official website ahead of each meeting.