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12 Planning May 1999 p p L R A A N C N T We wanted to protect the cOllllllunities' quaint charm while not precluding legitimate businesses. City, where he has served as director of planning, was a 19th century Methodist camp colony and, in some parts of town, houses are only eight feet apart, leaving "little room for tolerance." A second New Jersey bill, introduced by assemblyman Joel Weingarten and now in committee, would allow busi- nesses "of an office nature only" as permitted accessory uses so long as they are operated solely by their occupants, have no customers, use no loud, odor-creating equipment, and attract no more deliveries than neighboring houses. This bill is supported by the New Jersey State League of Municipalities, says senior legislative analyst Christopher Carew. Weingarten's bill, Carew says, would cover some- one working at a home com- puter, fax machine, and tele- phone, but would prohibit all manufacturing, retail, and warehouse operations, no mat- ter how small, without addi- tional zoning scrutiny. The issue has become highly politicized, with supporters and opponents of the Azzolina bill dividing along party lines. If the state senate fails to pass the Azzolina bill during the current legislative session, Hansen says his group will "circulate a statewide petition demanding the right to work at home." Another tack That degree of excitement sur- prises planners in nearby Bucks County, Pennsylvania, where a model home-based business zoning ordinance they created in 1994 at the request of six small communities has been adopted by only three of them. Bucks County is a mostly ru- ral area nestled between Phila- I I N C G E delphia and Allentown, whose 54 communities are too small to employ full-time planners. Instead, the 20 professionals on the staff of the Bucks County Planning Commission, in Doylestown, act as their con- sultants and help them draft comprehensive plans and zon- ing ordinances. The six townships and bor- oughs and one community school district that make up the Quakertown Area Plan- ning Committee had two rea- sons for asking the Bucks County planners to revise their 1975 zoning provisions cover- ing home-based occupations. "We wanted to protect the com- munities' quaint charm while not precluding legitimate busi- nesses that have no negative impact on their neighborhoods," says Maureen Wheatley, a plan-