Puyallup, WA Building Safety: Childcare Center Rules (2026)

Puyallup treats stand-alone day care centers as a conditionally permitted use, not a use permitted by right, in every residential zone. 80 PMC before a day care center can operate, and imposes four site conditions: the lot must front a collector or arterial street, the net lot area must be at least 10,000 square feet, fencing must run along all rear and interior side yard lines, and a 15-foot landscape buffer (or, in lieu of that buffer, landscaping covering 25 percent of the net lot area under a plan the hearing examiner approves) must separate the center from adjoining RS- or RM-zoned property.

015(5) sets a higher 15,000-square-foot minimum lot area, still requires collector or arterial frontage, and calls for a 10-foot buffer plus the same rear and interior-side fencing, with an alternative 20 percent landscaping option in lieu of the buffer. 016, a day care center that exists only to serve the children of employees of the site's principal business is permitted by right, without a CUP, provided it stays on that employer's site, keeps a 10-foot landscape buffer against any abutting RS- or RM-zoned property, and meets all state and local licensing requirements; the on-site allowance ends if the employer vacates the site unless the day care secures its own permits.