Casa Grande, AZ Building Safety: Childcare Center Rules (2026)

Casa Grande does not allow a day care center by right; it is one of the specific uses listed in § 17.68.120(D) for which the Planning Commission must attach mandatory conditions when it grants a conditional use permit. For centers caring for minor children, § 17.68.120(D)(5) requires at least fifty square feet of fenced-in outdoor play space for every child enrolled, and that fenced play area cannot include driveways, parking areas, or any land unsuited by usage or natural features for children's play. The Commission must also ensure the site provides at least two hundred fifty square feet of total lot area per child, a broader density limit meant to keep the center from overcrowding its lot regardless of building footprint.

These conditions attach on top of the general conditional-use process in Article II of Chapter 17.68: an application goes to the Commission, which can approve, deny, or table it for up to 70 days, and the Commission must approve by an affirmative vote of a majority of its full membership or the application is deemed denied. A denied application cannot be resubmitted for six months absent new evidence. Anyone aggrieved by the Commission's decision, including a neighboring property owner within 300 feet of the site, can file a written appeal with the Director within ten days, and the city council decides the appeal after its own hearing.

Because Chapter 17.68 sits within Title 17 of the zoning code, a day care center that opens without a conditional use permit, or that later violates its fenced-play-space or lot-area conditions, is enforced the same way as any other zoning violation.