COUNCIL PANEL WILL ADD TO LIST OF ALLOWABLE HOME BUSINESSES.

Byline: Deborah Adamson Daily News Staff Writer

After a heated debate Tuesday, a City Council panel agreed to draft an expanded list of approved and prohibited businesses before sending a proposed home occupations ordinance to the full council next month.

Under current law, it is illegal to operate a home business. But enforcement has been scant, city officials said, unless neighbors complain of nuisance.

``This ordinance will allow us to enforce what we don't now - go after the ones who are radically intruding on their neighbors,'' said Councilwoman Laura Chick, who represents the West Valley.

Chick wants to abolish the list of 26 allowed home businesses now proposed. Instead, businesses would conform to performance standards to ensure they do not become a nuisance to their neighbors.

Proposed occupations include accountants, lawyers, insurance agents, writers, musicians and computer programmers.

Councilman Hal Bernson, who chairs the Planning and Land Use Management Committee, argued that merely having a set of standards could attract unfavorable home businesses, such as auto repair shops, as long as they meet requirements.

These standards include not being a public nuisance, not increasing traffic, having one client visit per hour, having only one employee and no signage.

The ordinance would also levy permit fees on businesses.

Gerald Silver, president of Homeowners of Encino, accepts the inevitability of home-based businesses and backs the creation of a list of prohibited occupations.

``No one wears the badge of NIMBY (not in my back yard) more proudly than I do,'' Silver said. ``Whether we like it or not, these things are taking place.''

Los Angeles is one of a handful of cities in the county without a home occupations ordinance.