Washington County, OR Building Safety: Childcare Center Rules (2026)

Washington County regulates day-care facilities through a special-use standard in its Community Development Code rather than through a separate childcare ordinance. 1 defines the zoning envelope a day-care building must fit inside: a 20-foot minimum front and rear yard, a 10-foot minimum side yard, and a maximum lot coverage of 40%, meaning no more than 40% of the lot may be covered by buildings. Where the facility sits in a residential district or is adjacent to one, the lot itself must be at least 20,000 square feet, roughly four times the minimum lot size the county requires for an ordinary house in the R-5 District.

Signage is limited to 20 square feet, except in the Institutional District, where Section 330-9 controls instead. Beyond the dimensional standards, the facility must hold all state and county licensing required by the Department of Health & Human Services before it can operate, and the Review Authority may require a fenced outdoor play area as a condition of approval. 19, and a day-care located inside a religious institution, school, or public building is allowed through a faster Type II procedure rather than the full development review a freestanding day-care center requires.

This standard governs new day-care development anywhere the county has land-use authority, meaning the unincorporated area; a proposed center inside Hillsboro, Beaverton, or another city in the county is reviewed under that city's own code instead.