The Troup County Board of Commissioners heard two requests for home occupation businesses on Tuesday.

The commission’s regular meeting agenda was unusually light for its Thanksgiving week meeting, but it did consider requests from two small business owners, who asked to run a portion of their businesses out of their homes. Both small business owners said during the public hearing that they did not plan to have any additional people or work-related equipment at their homes if the home occupation permits are granted.

“All I want to do is move the office. There is no storage, no equipment,” said Michael Seth Lindsey, the applicant for a home occupation permit for an electrical business on Glass Bridge Road. “It is cheaper to rent equipment than it is to own it. There is no storage or anything like that. When I do business now, I pick up drawings once a week at LaGrange Blueprint. Everything is done by email. Employees drive their trucks home in the evenings and to the job in the mornings. I take checks to the job sites. Literally nothing is going to change from exactly what is going on right now.”

Lindsey said that he has been renting office space at another location, but he said rent for the space did not make financial sense when it is only being used as an office. He also shared with the board of commissioners a sheet displaying signatures of neighbors affirming that they are fine with him using space inside his house for a home office.

The other applicant shared similar concerns to Lindsey.

“My husband has been doing this for 32 years,” said Sandra Houze, the applicant for a home occupation business permit for a plumbing company on Waterwood Bend. “We have always lived in a subdivision. We do not have any traffic going through whatsoever or any sign of it being a business. It is only a home office. There is no telephone. I do not answer any phone calls. All I do is handle some paper work, some email invoicing and write checks for one employee. So, if you are concerned about the visual aspect of my business, there is none.”

Houze said that she and her husband moved to Troup County to retire, and they do not plan to expand the business. She also said that he meets people for work at other locations.

The board of commissioners had the option to approve the permits immediately, but it voted to hold a second reading on the requests in order to give the commissioners time to speak to neighbors about the requests. The Troup County Board of Commissioners plans to hold vote on both home occupation businesses on Dec. 4 at 9 a.m.

at 100 Ridley Ave.