Battle Creek, MI Building Safety: Childcare Center Rules (2026)

The Battle Creek Zoning Code sorts child care into three facility types in Section 1230.06. A State Licensed Child Care Family Home is a private home that receives one but fewer than eight minor children for care and supervision for compensation, and a State Licensed Child Care Group Home is a private home that receives more than seven but not more than fourteen minor children. A Child Care Center is a facility, other than a private residence, receiving one or more children under thirteen years of age for care for periods of less than twenty-four hours a day, where the parents or guardians are not immediately available to the child. It also includes a facility that provides care for not less than two consecutive weeks, regardless of the number of hours of care per day.

Every category answers to the state. All child care centers, family homes and group homes must be registered with or licensed by the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs or successor agency. A child care family home does not include an individual providing babysitting services for another individual.

For homes, Sections 1251.45 and 1251.46 add use standards. The licensee must permanently reside as a member of the household. The limit on the number of children, one to seven for a family home and eight to fourteen for a group home, does not include children related to an adult member of the family by blood, marriage or adoption, but it does include care to an unrelated minor child for more than four weeks in a calendar year.

Child Care Centers appear as a listed use in the district use tables of the Zoning Code, so a center follows the district rules for where it can locate, while the home categories carry the resident-licensee requirement. The provisions quoted here set no building or fire construction specifications; those come from the building and fire codes adopted in Parts Fourteen and Sixteen of the Codified Ordinances.