Brockton, MA Building Safety: Childcare Center Rules (2026)

Section 27-17(5) carves child care facilities out of the normal Table 1, 2 and 3 yard schedule that governs every other residential, commercial and industrial use. c. c. 28A, § 9, serving more than ten children. Once a facility crosses that ten-child threshold, Brockton requires a 50-foot front yard, a 50-foot side yard and a 100-foot rear yard, no matter how small those setbacks would otherwise be in the underlying zone; in R-2 or R-3, for example, where an ordinary house needs only a 20-foot front yard and a 10-foot side yard, a larger child care center needs two and a half to five times that buffer.

The rule applies on top of, not instead of, the chapter's other zoning controls: the facility still has to fit the district's use, lot coverage and parking standards, and any change in a building's use to a covered child care facility is subject to the certificate-of-occupancy review in § 27-52, which the inspector of buildings will not issue unless the enlarged yards described above are actually provided on site.