Gaston County, NC Home Business: Home Daycare (2026)

Under Unified Development Ordinance Sec. 3, a Class A day care center must be staffed by at least one person who actually resides in the dwelling where the center operates. The county caps this use at a small in-home scale: the UDO's use-and-definitions table (Ch. 2) defines a Class A center as care for no more than six pre-school children, handicapped persons or senior citizens, plus no more than three unrelated school-age children, within an occupied residence. Outdoor play areas are restricted to the rear or side yard only and must be surrounded by a fence or wall at least four feet high; driveways, parking areas and other land unsuitable for play cannot count as play area.

The center must occupy a structure that was originally built as a single-family dwelling and remain the principal structure on the lot, and the exterior cannot be altered in a way that removes its single-family appearance, aside from allowed daycare signage. 1-2(F)(1) apply the same rear-yard setback and 45-foot maximum height standards to Class A day care centers as to single-family dwellings in the R-1 through RMF districts, since the use table (Sec. 1) lists Class A day care as a by-right use in those zones subject to Sec.

3's conditions. This scheme applies only in Gaston County's unincorporated area; the incorporated towns of Gastonia, Belmont, Mount Holly, Cherryville, Dallas, Stanley and Bessemer City license and zone home daycares under their own separate codes.