Auburn, AL Building Safety: Childcare Center Rules (2026)

Section 12-18(d) of the Code of Ordinances defines a day care center as any person or persons providing compensated care to more than six children for part or all of a day, but less than 24 hours, apart from their parents or guardians. Before the Finance Department can issue a business license to a center, the operator must present proof of the state license Alabama requires to operate the facility, and the premises must be shown to meet the city's fire, safety, and health standards along with its zoning requirements.

Final issuance also requires the city manager's approval, a step not imposed on the smaller day care home category defined immediately after it in Section 12-18(e), which covers homes caring for three to five children in the provider's own residence. That distinction matters for building safety: a center serving more than six children is treated as a commercial-scale operation subject to the full fire and life-safety review before it can open its doors, not just the state's licensing checklist. The building safety review sits alongside, not instead of, the zoning compliance a center's building already has to meet for its district, so an operator has to clear both the licensing office and the Planning Department before the business license is finalized.