Wyandotte County, KS Building Safety: Childcare Center Rules (2026)
Key Facts
- Inspecting agency
- Unified government health department
- When inspected
- During licensing inspections
- Remediation standard
- EPA lead standards
- Underlying penalty
- Up to $500 fine, 6 months jail
- Governing section
- Code § 17-35(c)
Summary
Wyandotte County folds lead-paint safety directly into day care and child care center licensing. Section 17-35(c) requires the unified government health department to check for lead-bearing substances during every licensing inspection and forces any center with a dangerous exposure risk to remediate it to EPA standards before continuing to operate.
Day care and child care centers. Inspection for potential dangers from lead-bearing substances shall be made by the unified government health department in the course of daycare and child care center licensing inspections. The unified government health department shall require childcare facilities with potentially dangerous lead exposure to children to remediate any open or exposed surface containing any lead-bearing substance consistent with Environmental Protection Agency standards for remediation.
Full Breakdown
Under Section 17-35(c), the health department does not treat lead hazard screening as a separate, optional program for childcare providers: it is built into the same inspection cycle the department already runs to license day care and child care centers under the county's broader lead-bearing substance ordinance. If that inspection turns up a childcare facility with 'potentially dangerous lead exposure to children,' the ordinance does not leave remediation to the operator's discretion. The health department 'shall require' the facility to fix the problem, targeting any 'open or exposed surface' containing a lead-bearing substance, and the fix must meet Environmental Protection Agency remediation standards, the same benchmark the county uses to judge residential rental housing under the rest of Section 17-35.
' That drafting choice means a licensed child care center cannot argue it falls outside the lead ordinance because it is a commercial or institutional space rather than a private residence.
Violations & Fines
Section 17-35(c) itself is a licensing-inspection duty rather than a standalone criminal offense, but a childcare operator who fails to remediate a flagged lead hazard falls back into the general prohibitions of Section 17-35(e), including knowingly maintaining a lead poison hazard on premises reachable by children, and becomes subject to that section's unclassified misdemeanor penalty of up to six months in jail, a fine of up to $500.00, or both.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Wyandotte County check day care centers for lead paint?
What happens if a licensed child care center has lead paint hazards?
Are home-based and center-based day cares both covered by this rule?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Wyandotte County
Compare Wyandotte County to another location·View the Kansas building safety overview
See something wrong?
Help us keep this page accurate. If you notice an error or outdated information, let us know.