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

Section 94-9.1.7 of the Medford Revised Ordinances lists additional use requirements that apply on top of the general Table of Uses in § 94-3.2 for any land in the Mixed Use Zoning (MUZ) District. Subsection 5 addresses child care specifically: Use Item B.5, covering child care as either a principal or accessory use, is permitted in a MUZ District only if an outdoor play area is provided that conforms to the size requirements under 102 CMR 7.00, the Commonwealth's standards for licensure or approval of group day care centers.

The city allows that outdoor play area to sit on the same lot as the child care use, on another lot within the same MUZ District, or on a lot in a Residential Open Space (ROS) District instead, and it specifically overrides the general Table of Uses to permit an outdoor play area in a ROS District when it services a day care use located in the MUZ District. Because this use restriction sits inside § 94-9.1, the MUZ District special provisions, it governs the Medford Square-area mixed-use development pattern rather than every zoning district citywide; child care center siting elsewhere in the city runs instead through the ordinary Table of Uses in § 94-3.2.

A project without a conforming outdoor play area cannot obtain site plan approval for a child care use under this section, since site plan review under § 94-9.1.10 requires conformity with the chapter's use provisions before a building permit issues.