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

Everett, Middlesex County, Massachusetts handles child care facilities in the Lower Broadway Economic Development District (LBEDD) under Section 30 of its Zoning Ordinance, subsection J.3.c. This page covers the City of Everett in Massachusetts, not Everett, Washington. The subsection applies a modified Site Plan Review to religious and educational uses, Day Care Centers, and school age child care programs, which G.L. c. 40A, §3 partially excepts from local zoning regulation. To qualify for the modified standards, an applicant must satisfy the Building Commissioner that the use is exempt under G.L. c. 40A, §3. The Approving Authority then reviews the plan against the specific criteria printed for these uses.

Those criteria are safety-driven. The Approving Authority can impose reasonable conditions, at the expense of the Applicant, and it considers the relationship of the bulk and height of structures and the adequacy of open spaces to the natural landscape, existing buildings and other community assets, including building coverage requirements, yard sizes, lot areas and setbacks. It also considers the physical layout of the plan as it relates to convenience and safety of vehicular and pedestrian movement within the site, the location of driveway openings in relation to traffic or adjacent streets and, when necessary, compliance with other regulations for the handicapped, minors and the elderly. Finally it weighs the arrangement of parking and loading spaces and the safety of proposed access and egress.

Section 30.J.3 prints the general Site Plan Review procedure around those standards. The application is filed with the City Clerk, who certifies the filing date on a copy sent to the Approving Authority. Other city departments receive the application and must report within sixty (60) days of filing. Within thirty (30) days of filing the Approving Authority or its designee evaluates completeness. A public hearing follows with notice to abutters within three hundred (300) feet of the project locus. The Approving Authority approves, approves with conditions, or denies by majority vote and files its decision with the City Clerk within 120 days of receipt of the application. Conditions can include an operations and maintenance plan for traveled ways, drainage facilities, adjacent sidewalks and common open space.

Child care also drives siting elsewhere in the Zoning Ordinance: Section 31 bars a registered medical marijuana dispensary within 1,000 feet of any licensed child care facility.