Lynchburg, VA Building Safety: Childcare Center Rules (2026)

Care centers for children or adults located in residential zoning districts answer to the site standards in Sec. 8, on top of whatever state health department licensing already applies. The outdoor recreation area is sized by age: enrollees over 18 need at least 30 square feet of enclosed outside recreation area per person, while enrollees 18 or younger need at least 75 square feet per person using the recreation area at any one time, a standard aimed at giving young children more room to move safely.

Subsection (c) requires that traffic on the street serving the facility be capable of being controlled enough to allow small children to enter and exit safely, addressing the drop-off and pickup periods when a center's curb activity peaks. Larger centers face lot and frontage minimums set out in Exhibit VII-2: a center enrolling 13 to 20 persons needs at least 10,000 square feet of lot area and 100 feet of street frontage, and a center enrolling more than 20 needs 500 square feet of lot area per person and 200 feet of frontage.

9 is required around the parking area and the recreation area's perimeter, and off-site recreation areas are allowed only if pedestrians have safe access to them. Parking is fixed at a minimum of two spaces per center, plus two additional spaces for every 30 persons enrolled, and the Zoning Administrator can impose further conditions through the conditional use permit process. The current text was adopted by Ord. No. O-23-038, § 1, on May 9, 2023.