Paramount, CA Building Safety: Childcare Center Rules (2026)

Section 5.04.010 sits in the Business Licenses Regulations title of the Paramount Municipal Code. It covers any private institution, day nursery, boardinghouse, home or other place that receives or cares for one or more children in the City of Paramount, California. The operator needs a permit from the City Council before opening, and the permit has to be kept in a conspicuous place in the home or institution.

Each permit states the name and residence of the person providing the care, the place where the children are kept, and the number of children allowed to be received, boarded or kept there. The Council issues a permit only when it appears that the place conforms in arrangements, sanitation and equipment to the provisions the Council has imposed and to the Council's rules. The Council can revoke the permit when those provisions or rules are violated, or when in the Council's opinion the place is managed without regard for the health, comfort or morality of the people in care or without due regard to proper sanitation or hygiene. Once a permit is revoked, it is unlawful to keep operating until a new permit is obtained. The section does not apply to the care or keeping of children who are relatives, apprentices or wards of the person caring for them.

The permit sits on top of the zoning rules. In the O-P zone, section 17.80.030 lists day care centers among the uses that need a conditional use permit, obtained and continued in full force and effect under Section 17.48.020. Section 17.04.010 defines a child day care facility as a facility providing nonmedical care to children under 18 years of age on less than a 24-hour basis, and says the term includes child day care centers and family daycare homes. Section 17.44.460 sets the site requirement for nursery and daycare facilities: three spaces minimum including one space per every two employees working on the largest shift, plus an off-street area for loading and unloading children, laid out so vehicles move forward on entry and exit.