Bayonne, NJ Home Business: Home Daycare (2026)

Bayonne treats licensed home based child care as a family day care home under Bayonne City Code § 33-2.2, and that definition expressly carries over into Chapter 35, Zoning Regulations, under the chapter's own cross-reference clause. A family day care home is any private residence approved by the Division of Youth and Family Services, or by an organization the division contracts with, that regularly cares for no less than three and no more than five children for no less than 15 hours per week. The definition excludes two situations from that headcount: a child who is legally related to the provider, and a child cared for under a cooperative arrangement among parents where no one is paid.

Because the Zoning Regulations import this definition, § 35-5.2 lists family day care homes as a permitted use, by right, in the R-1 Single Family Residential District alongside detached single-family dwellings, home occupations and essential services; no conditional use approval, site plan review, or variance from the Zoning Board of Adjustment is required to open one. The same permitted-use listing carries through the R-2 Detached/Attached Residential District, the R-3 Medium Density Residential District and the R-M High Density Residential District, so a qualifying home day care is allowed by right in every residential zone in the City of Bayonne, not just single-family blocks.

The Zoning Officer, who administers and enforces Chapter 35 under § 33-3.1, reviews a zoning permit application before the Building Department issues a construction or use permit, confirming the home meets the five-child, 15-hour threshold that separates a family day care home from an unlicensed in-home business.