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

Haverhill folds its childcare fire-safety charge into Chapter 128, Charges and Fees, Miscellaneous, Article II, Fire Department Fees, which the City Council adopted September 16, 2003 and has amended repeatedly since. Section 128-8.4, added October 5, 2004 by Doc. 133, sets the charge simply: day-care/education facility, $100 annually. The section sits directly after § 128-8.3 (health care facility, also $100 annually) and § 128-8.2 (group homes, $100 annually), and just before the sprinkler-system fee schedule in § 128-9, placing it squarely among the Fire Department's recurring life-safety inspection fees for group-occupancy buildings rather than among one-time construction permits.

The same article separately prices smoke detector inspections under § 128-7, ranging from $50 for a single-family dwelling to $500 for a building with more than six units, and smoke detector reinspections under § 128-8, so a day-care operator installing or repairing detectors pays those charges in addition to the flat $100 annual facility fee. Because Massachusetts licenses child-care programs at the state level through the Department of Early Education and Care, Haverhill's ordinance does not duplicate state licensing standards; instead it layers a local fire-code cost-recovery fee on top of whatever life-safety inspection the Fire Department performs at the premises each year.

The zoning definitions in Chapter 255, § 11.0 separately define CHILD CARE CENTER by cross-reference to MGL c. 15D, § 1A, confirming that any day-care center or school-age child-care program operating in Haverhill falls under both the zoning definition and this annual fire fee.