Small and large family daycare homes are a residential use by right in unincorporated Alpine County. Under California Health & Safety Code Section 1597.45 (SB 234), the County cannot require a use permit or impose a business license or fee, and the Alpine County zoning code defines a community care facility serving six or fewer as a 'family' (ACC 18.08.320).
Family daycare in California is controlled by state law that preempts local zoning. Health & Safety Code Section 1597.45, as amended by SB 234 (2019, effective 2020), provides that the use of a home as a small OR large family daycare home is a residential use of property and a use by right for purposes of all local ordinances, including zoning ordinances, and bars a local jurisdiction from imposing a business license, fee, or tax for operating one. As a result, Alpine County cannot require a conditional use permit, special zoning permit, or business license for a state-licensed family daycare home; the operator instead obtains a family child care home license from the California Department of Social Services, Community Care Licensing Division. Small family daycare homes serve up to 8 children and large family daycare homes up to 14, depending on the license. Alpine County's zoning code reflects this state framework: ACC 18.08.320 defines 'family' to include persons living together in a licensed 'community care facility' as defined in Health & Safety Code Section 1502 that serves six or fewer persons, and the County's definitions list 'daycare facilities' and 'foster homes' among quasi-public uses (ACC 18.08). Because the entire county is unincorporated, this by-right treatment applies countywide, including in Markleeville and Bear Valley. Fire and life-safety building standards for large family daycare homes are still set by state law under Health & Safety Code Section 1597.46.
Operating a daycare without the required state family child care home license from the California Department of Social Services is the primary enforcement issue, handled by the state, not the County. Because Section 1597.45 makes the use residential by right, the County cannot cite a licensed family daycare home for lacking a use permit or business license; ordinary residential nuisance and building-safety rules still apply.
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