A Palmerton woman wants to modify her current home occupation and conduct an assisted living facility business as a home occupation in Lower Towamensing Township.

Donna Smith will appear before the township's zoning hearing board at 7 p.m. today in search of a variance/special exception to conduct the business as a home occupation in a Rural Conservation Zoning District, at 112 Northcreek Road, Palmerton.Variances are requested for sections of the zoning ordinance related to type and size of a home occupation, as well as off-street parking. A special exception is requested to conduct parts of a home occupation outside of a dwelling unit.Zoning officer Duane Dellecker said in his rejection letter that the home occupation, issued April 19, 2013, was to allow a maximum of five unrelated people (including the operator) as residents "living together as a single housekeeping unit and using cooking facilities and certain rooms in common" as a family is defined in Section 201 of the township's zoning ordinance.Smith has proposed to modify her current home occupation and conduct an assisted living facility business with up to eight clients as a home occupation.However, the ordinance defines a family as "Not more than five unrelated persons living together as a single housekeeping unit and using cooking facilities and certain rooms in common."Dellecker said the zoning ordinance requires a home occupation to be incidental or secondary to the use of the property as a residence, and is limited to those occupations customarily conducted within a dwelling unit."By increasing the number of unrelated persons, therefore exceeding the definition of a family, the home occupation is no longer incidental to the use of the property as a residence, and is not of a type customarily conducted within a dwelling unit," Dellecker said.Also, Dellecker said a home occupation is limited to not more than the equivalent of 35 percent of the area of the first floor of the principal building for an occupation carried out within a dwelling unit.Off-street parking for the home occupation needs to be specified at the time of the zoning hearing.Two off-street parking spaces are required for a residential dwelling unit, and, one space per employee of the largest shift, plus one space for each four beds at a convalescent home (which is the most similar use).Dellecker said the ordinance requires a home occupation to be conducted within a dwelling unit."It is the opinion of this official that there may very well be outdoor areas, or a courtyard, dedicated to this type of home occupation," he said.