Springfield, OR Building Safety: Childcare Center Rules (2026)

Springfield Development Code section 4.7.340, adopted by Ordinance No. 6465 on November 20, 2023, sets the site-design standard a Child Care Center must meet before Development and Public Works will approve it. The center must provide precautions against vehicular traffic by locating its drop-off and pick-up spot at either (A) an off-street location on the site, or (B) an on-street location the City Traffic Engineer specifically approves; an approved on-street spot cannot impede a vehicle or bicycle travel lane and cannot sit inside a vision clearance area, the sightline triangle the code protects at intersections and driveways.

Subsection (C) then requires an ADA-compliant pedestrian path running from that drop-off location to the building's main entrance, so a parent or guardian never has to cross a travel lane on foot without a protected walkway. The rule sits inside Article 4.7.300, Standards and Regulations for Certain Residential Uses and Certain Uses in Residential Districts, and applies wherever Table 3.2.320 lists a Child Care Center as a permitted use subject to code standards in the NC, CC, MRC and GO commercial districts, and equally where a center locates in a residential district.

Because compliance is a Site Plan Review or Minimum Development Standards submittal item, an applicant that cannot show a compliant drop-off design and ADA path on its plans will not receive approval to operate, regardless of the underlying zoning district.