Aliso Viejo, CA Home Business: Home Daycare (2026)

AVMC 15.14.160 governs child day care homes, also called family day care homes, in the residential districts of the City of Aliso Viejo, Orange County, California. Its purpose clause ties the rules to California Health and Safety Code Division 2, Chapters 3.4 and 3.6, and subsection (B) requires that all state and other required licenses be maintained in good standing and that every home comply with applicable state and local health and safety regulations.

Small homes come first. Subsection (C) permits them in the RL and RM districts without approval of a discretionary permit and allows care for six or fewer children. The city also repeats the state allowance of up to eight children without an additional adult attendant when four conditions are met: one child is enrolled in and attending kindergarten or elementary school and a second is at least six years of age, no more than two infants are cared for when more than six children are present, the licensee notifies each parent, and the licensee holds written owner consent if the property is leased or rented.

Large homes face a real permit step. Under subsection (D), an administrative use permit is approved by the planning director, who must approve it if the section's requirements are met. Care for seven to 12 children is allowed, rising to 14 under the same style of conditions. No large home is approved on a parcel within 1,500 feet of another parcel with an existing or permitted large home, unless the applicant shows the director a need for a particular service not provided by that nearby home. Required features include one off-street parking space for each nonresident employee, a drop-off and pick-up area, a fire extinguisher and smoke detector, a fully enclosed outdoor play area with a fence of minimum five feet, outdoor activity between 7:30 a.m. and 7:00 p.m., noise within the single-family standard of AVMC 15.46.010, and no signs on or off the site.