Black Hawk County, IA Home Business: Home Daycare (2026)

010 defines "day nursery," "nursery school," or "day care (public)" as any agency, institution, establishment or place providing supplemental parental care or educational work, other than overnight lodging, for six or more preschool-age children for compensation. 010(A)(6). That means a licensed day care serving six or more children needs to sit in a district where the use is listed; it is not a by-right use everywhere in the unincorporated county. 190, which require the activity to be clearly incidental to residential use, conducted entirely within the existing dwelling, run by resident family members plus at most two nonresident employees, and produce no exterior evidence, such as outside storage, signage beyond one permitted sign, noise, odors or excessive traffic, perceivable from the lot line.

Water, sewer and waste disposal for either use remain subject to County Health Department approval. This zoning framework governs unincorporated land only; a home daycare inside Waterloo, Cedar Falls, Evansdale, Hudson, La Porte City, Dunkerton, Gilbertville, Elk Run Heights or Raymond is regulated under that city's own code, not BHCC Title 18.