Orangeburg County, SC Building Safety: Childcare Center Rules (2026)

Unlike pawn shops or tattoo parlors, day care centers face few zoning location limits in unincorporated Orangeburg County. Section 2.3, Table 1 marks Child/Adult Day Care Services (NAICS 6244) "P," permitted by right, in the RG, RO, CN, CG, BI, FA and RC districts, requiring one parking space per 600 square feet of gross floor area; the only district where the use is barred ("N") is RS, the single-family residential district, which reserves that zone for houses and directly supporting uses.

The Zoning Ordinance's definitions article backs that broad permission with a functional definition rather than a licensing standard: Section 10.1 defines "Day Care Services" to "mean and include any home, center, agency, or place, however styled, where children, elderly, and other persons not related to the operator are received for custodial care, apart from their parents, whether for compensation, reward, or otherwise during part or all of the day or any number of successive days." A separate, narrower category, the "Family Day Care Home," is treated as a residential accessory use permitted in every district except BI, covering a home caregiver who cares for up to six unrelated children in addition to their own.

A day care operator still needs the same permitting steps as any other commercial use: a Certificate of Zoning Compliance from the Zoning Administrator under Section 9.10 before a building permit or certificate of occupancy issues, and compliance with all other applicable development standards, including Table 1's parking ratio.