Zoning Provisions for Child Day Care Facilities

Contents

• Introduction
• City and County Ordinance Provisions
• Other Related Documents

Introduction

A city or county's zoning authority over child day-care facilities was substantially limited by 1994 legislation that is now codified in RCW 35.63.185 for cities other than code cities and for towns,  in RCW 35A.63.215 for code cities, and in RCW 36.70.757 for counties. State statutes preempt the authority to regulate certain family day-care providers (child care providers) located in home facilities in residential and commercial zoned areas. A city or county may impose zoning conditions on the establishment and maintenance of a family day-care provider's home in an area zoned for residential or commercial use, so long as such conditions are no more restrictive than conditions imposed on other residential dwellings in the same zone and the establishment of such facilities is not precluded (See RCW 36.70A.450). "Family day-care provider" is defined in RCW 43.215.010(1)(c) to mean "a child day care provider who regularly provides child day care for not more than twelve children in the provider's home in the family living quarters." As a result of this legislation, city and county ordinances adopted to comply with it are basically uniform in their provisions concerning "family day-care" facilities.

Since local regulation of other day-care facilities is not preempted by this legislation, cities and counties may tailor their zoning regulations of those facilities according to local needs. The ordinances below address both family day-care providers and other types of day care facilities. Although the "Model Ordinance for Child Day Care Facilities" by the State Department of Community, Trade, and Economic Development (CTED, now the Washington State Department of Commerce) was prepared in 1990, before the 1994 preemptive legislation, these provisions comply with this legislation.

City and County Ordinance Provisions

• "Model Ordinance for Child Day Care Facilities" by CTED (Dept. of Commerce)
• Bainbridge Island Municipal Code, Title 18.93 - Day Care Facilities
• Lacey Municipal Code, Ch. 16.65 - Day Care Facilities
• Olympia Unified Development Code, Section 18.02.180 and 18.04.060
• Port Townsend Ordinance No. 2977, 2008  
• SeaTac Municipal Code, Section 15.10.166  and 15.12.040 
• Yakima Family Child Day Care, Yakima Municipal Code, Section 310.9.16 – 310.13   

Other Related Documents

• Child Care for Communities, The Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2001 
• Federal Way In Home Child Care Application 
• King County Daycare Establishments, DDES Customer Information Bulletin No. 14 
• Richland, Child Day Care Facilities Including Day Care in Your Home
• Seattle, Regulations Concerning Child Care Centers, Client Assistance Memo No. 108, updated 2007.