Weld County, CO Building Safety: Childcare Center Rules (2026)
Key Facts
- Minimum setback
- 500 feet from Child Care Center boundary
- Governing program
- 1041 WOGLA, required since Aug. 5, 2019
- Waiver requirement
- Written consent + infeasibility finding
- Enforcing body
- Oil and Gas Energy Department / Hearing Officer
- Notice zone
- 2,000 feet around proposed location
- Play area buffer
- Fenced/barrier at least 4 feet high
- Measurement point
- Nearest property line of the center
Summary
Weld County requires any new oil and gas well, facility or location to sit at least 500 feet from the boundary of a Child Care Center under its 1041 WOGLA siting rules, Weld County Code § 21-5-438(E). The Oil and Gas Energy Department and a 1041 WOGLA Hearing Officer enforce the buffer, which can be waived only with the center's written consent and a finding that no feasible alternate site exists.
E. School Facility and Child Care Center. Location shall be located a minimum of five hundred (500) feet from the boundary of a School Facility or Child Care Center, unless the relevant School Governing Body agrees in writing to the location of the proposed Location and the 1041 WOGLA Hearing Officer determines that potential locations outside the applicable setback are technically infeasible or economically impracticable and sufficient mitigation measures are in place to protect public health, safety, and welfare. Such mitigation measures shall be a Condition of Approval of the 1041 WOGLA Permit. See requirements of Section 21-5-440, below.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Charter and County Code: Supplement 95).
Full Breakdown
Weld County runs its own local siting permit for oil and gas development, the 1041 Weld Oil and Gas Location Assessment (WOGLA), required for any new well site, facility or location since August 5, 2019 (§ 21-5-30(B)). § 26-6-102(5), and extends the protected boundary to any outdoor play area 'adjacent to or directly accessible from the center' that is fenced or bounded by natural barriers at least four feet high (§ 21-5-20). The operative distance rule, § 21-5-438(E), sets the location back a minimum of 500 feet from a Child Care Center's boundary, and § 21-5-438(G) measures that distance as the shortest line between the disturbed drilling area and the center's nearest property line.
Before any hearing on a 1041 WOGLA Permit application, OGED must mail notice to the principal, senior administrator or School Governing Body of any Child Care Center within 2,000 feet of the proposed location (§ 21-5-317(A)(7), § 21-5-340). A center that predates a well built closer than 500 feet away is protected going forward: under § 21-5-438(F), a later well or production facility added to that existing location must still meet the applicable setback from the center.
Violations & Fines
The Hearing Officer cannot approve a location inside the 500-foot Child Care Center setback unless the center's School Governing Body agrees in writing and the Hearing Officer separately finds that siting outside the buffer is technically infeasible or economically impracticable; any such exception must carry mitigation measures under § 21-5-440 written into the permit as a formal Condition of Approval (§ 21-5-438(E)). Weld County Code § 21-5-300 bars any oil and gas exploration or production in the unincorporated county without an approved 1041 WOGLA Permit in the first place, and § 21-5-370 sets the formal violation procedure OGED follows for a breach of a Permit or its Conditions of Approval.
Frequently Asked Questions
How close can a new oil or gas well be to a Weld County child care center?
Can the county ever approve a well closer than 500 feet to a child care center?
What counts as a protected Child Care Center under this rule?
Does the setback apply if a child care center opens near an existing well?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Weld County
Compare Weld County to another location·View the Colorado building safety overview
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