Fort Collins, CO Building Safety: Childcare Center Rules (2026)
Key Facts
- Play area (15 or fewer)
- 1,200 square feet minimum
- Play area (over 15)
- 75 sq ft/child for 33% of capacity
- Enclosure height
- Minimum six feet near residential districts
- Capacity formula
- 40 sq ft indoor space per child
- Governing section
- Transitional Land Use Code § 3.8.4(A)
- Drop-in centers
- Exempt from outdoor play area rule
Summary
Fort Collins requires outdoor play area at any child care center that has one: 1,200 square feet for centers with 15 or fewer children, or 75 square feet per child covering a third of larger centers' capacity, per Section 3.8.4(A) of the Transitional Land Use Code. Play areas next to residential districts need a six-foot fence, wall, or screened chain link enclosure.
Minimum Outdoor Play Area for a Child Care Center: 15 children or less, 1,200 square feet; more than 15 children, 75 square feet per child for 33% of the child capacity of the center. The outdoor play area shall not be required for drop-in child care centers. ... Any such play area on the site of the child care center within or abutting any residential district shall be enclosed by a decorative solid wood fence, masonry wall or chain link fence with vegetation screening, densely planted. The height of such fence shall be a minimum of six (6) feet and shall comply with Section 3.8.11.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Municipal Code: Supplement 155 | Transitional Land Use Code (for project before May 17, 2024): Supplement 61 | Traffic Code: Supplement 27).
Full Breakdown
4(A) of the Transitional Land Use Code sets the outdoor play area a Fort Collins child care center must provide. Centers serving 15 children or fewer need 1,200 square feet of outdoor play space; larger centers need 75 square feet per child, sized to cover 33 percent of the center's licensed capacity. Drop-in child care centers are exempt from the outdoor play area requirement entirely. Capacity itself is calculated using 40 square feet of indoor floor space per child reserved for school purposes, so a center's indoor floor plan sets the outdoor area math.
11, including its setback and visual-clearance-triangle rules. Where the center is not accessed from a local street, the Code also requires an off-street vehicular bay or driveway for loading and unloading children, keeping drop-off traffic out of the travel lane. 4(B), applied to development applications reviewed under the Transitional Land Use Code, the version Fort Collins used before its current Land Use Code, adopted by Ordinance No. 055, 2024, took effect May 17, 2024.
Violations & Fines
A child care center built or expanded without meeting the Section 3.8.4(A) play area size, capacity calculation, or six-foot enclosure standard is out of compliance with its approved development plan and can be held up at final inspection or cited for a zoning violation after occupancy. Centers that skip the required off-street loading bay where the site lacks local-street access face the same development-plan compliance exposure, since the standard is a condition of the original site approval, not an optional guideline.
Frequently Asked Questions
How big must a Fort Collins child care center's play area be?
What kind of fence does a child care play area need?
Does a child care center need a special driveway?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Fort Collins
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Childcare Center Rules in Nearby Cities
How other cities in Larimer County handle childcare center rules.