Mason County, WA Building Safety: Childcare Center Rules (2026)

Mason County Code Section 17.04.212(c) classifies "commercial day care center" as a Special Permit Required Use in the Rural Residential 2.5 district, alongside cemeteries, essential public facilities, schools and recreation centers; the identical listing repeats at Section 17.04.222(c) for RR 5 and Section 17.04.232(c) for RR 10, so the special use permit requirement follows the property no matter which rural residential zone it sits in. Section 17.04.217(c) sets what an applicant for a commercial day care center must submit to Mason County Community Development: the location and size of the lot, a site plan showing the proposed use, access to state and county roads, the impact on adjacent land uses, parking and stormwater facilities, hours of operation, and anticipated noise, glare or odor sources.

That same section lets government-operated day care centers and other listed uses exceed three thousand square feet only with an approved special use permit. Section 17.04.217(d) grandfathers commercial day care centers that were already operating before June 17, 1996 without a prior special use permit: those can expand up to fifteen percent cumulatively from their pre-1996 size with no new permit, but any expansion beyond fifteen percent requires one. Front, side and rear yard setbacks in Section 17.04.213 and the 35-foot height cap in Section 17.04.214 apply to any structure built to house the center.

Because Title 17 zoning provisions are enforced under Mason County Code Chapter 15.13, operating a commercial day care center without the required special use permit exposes the property owner to the county's civil and criminal enforcement track.