Home business owners in Helena will have a restriction on the number of business-related vehicles and trailers allowed at their homes after the Helena City Council amended the city’s zoning ordinance.

The council unanimously approved the amendment during a brief March 8 City Council meeting.

The amended zoning ordinance will allow home business owners, particularly home-based landscaping business owners, to keep only two work vehicles at their residences. The ordinance defines a vehicle as a trailer or a motor-driven automobile or piece of machinery.

Although the zoning ordinance amendment originally allowed only one work-related vehicle to be parked at the residence, the council agreed to increase the allowance to two vehicles.

“A lot of the home business owners may have a problem with this,” said Place 3 Councilwoman Cris Nelson. “If you only allow one vehicle, we will have several businesses that are non-compliant.

“I just know there are several businesses that have a truck or a van and a trailer that are not an eyesore, but would not be compliant,” Nelson added. “What we discourage is a truck with a trailer with a backhoe on it. That is what we want to prevent.”

In other business, the council approved a home occupation license for Wendy Allen.

Allen said she plans to begin running the Tree of Life Coaching Center out of her home on Old Cahaba Drive.

Through the business, Allen will travel to clients’ homes and provide help with resume writing, fitness and other “life skills,” she said.