AIKEN --- For years, there was a grocery store on New Bridge Road.

The small stand sold produce, bread and milk out of what looks like a storage shed. For years, Northside Grocery & Produce went on with business as usual.

Trouble is, it wasn't supposed to be there. And it's not alone.

There could be dozens or hundreds of businesses operating in places they're not supposed to and without county permission, but county officials don't know because most of them stay quiet and out of sight.

When the county does find out, it's often a fight to shut them down.

Authorities say they're violating county law, but supporters say some zoning restrictions go too far.

It could end up with the county revamping zoning laws to fit the nature of part of at least one councilman's district -- the one that includes the New Bridge Road area.

Efforts to obtain comment from the owners of Northside Grocery were unsuccessful. The store is shuttered now.

Phil England, the county's planning director, said the county finds a handful of businesses operating illegally every year, nearly all through complaints from residents. That was the case with Northside Grocery.

Which laws are being broken depends on where the businesses are -- and what business they're running.

Northside Grocery was shut down for not having the proper building permits -- not for violating the zoning, which is now in flux.

Home-based businesses in other parts of the county have also run afoul of Aiken's laws on land use.

The scofflaws range from residents operating auto repair shops out of their homes to landscapers in the wrong places.

In the past couple of years, Mr. England said, a resident was caught running an aluminum siding business out of his backyard -- which was in a residential conservation district, the strictest zoning in the county.

Every morning, Mr. England said, the owner's employees would drive up to his home at the end of the cul-de-sac and get their marching orders for the day.

"That was just blatant," he said.

That business was shut down, but the owner put up a fight, Mr. England explained.

Others are more compliant when they're cited.

What's not allowed isn't too hard to determine. If a resident wants to open a home-based business, Mr. England said, there are simple rules about not operating in detached buildings and maximum amount of square footage.

Some business owners violate the law because they don't find out what's allowed, Mr. England said.

"It's not uncommon for people to start repairing cars in their detached garage or in their attached garage with the door up," Mr. England said.

That usually ends up running afoul of other county laws when cars start being parked haphazardly across the yard.

Anyone wishing to open a home-based business can make sure they're following the law by getting a development permit that says they're in compliance with both the land use and development standards.

It could be easier for those living off Wire Road and in the vicinity of New Bridge Road.

At a town hall meeting earlier this year, residents and business owners in the New Bridge Road area complained that the zoning restrictions were too strict for their area, a rural area northeast of Aiken. Not only does the zoning ban Northside Grocery, but it also doesn't allow new farming, a concern for people who want to add agriculture to their land.

Some easing of those restrictions might be on the horizon.

County Councilman Charles Barton is planning to pitch a new zoning for that area -- a hybrid of land uses custom-fit for just that part of the county that would scale back the land-use prohibitions.

That new zoning could be months away, depending on how it goes over with other council members and when Mr. Barton formally proposes it. Another town hall meeting has been set for Monday to go over the proposal with residents.

Mr. Barton said it's necessary because the current zoning would ban a farmer from putting cows back on his property if he ever took them off.

Reach Sandi Martin at (803) 648-1395, ext. 111, or sandi.martin@augustachronicle.com.