Bloomington, IN Home Business: Home Daycare (2026)
Key Facts
- Governing section
- UDO § 20.03.030(g)(6)(A)(i)
- Exempt use #1
- Childcare home (operator's primary residence)
- Exempt use #2
- Adult day care home
- Exempt use #3
- Group care home, FHAA small/large
- Effect of exemption
- No certificate of zoning compliance needed
Summary
The City of Bloomington's Unified Development Ordinance carves home-based childcare out of its home occupation rules entirely. Section 20.03.030(g)(6)(A)(i) lists a childcare home that is also the operator's primary residence, an adult day care home, and a small or large FHAA group care home as uses that are permitted and shall not be regulated as home occupations, skipping the certificate of zoning compliance and Conditional Use process that applies to other home businesses.
(A)Exempted Uses.i.The following uses are permitted and shall not be regulated as home occupations:1.Childcare home, provided that the childcare home is also the primary residence of the operator.2.Adult day care home.3.Group care home, FHAA (small or large).
Full Breakdown
030(g)(6)(B)-(C). A childcare home is different. 07 (Definitions). customer-visit window in subsection (M) that governs ordinary home businesses; those limits apply only to a Home Occupation as defined by this section, and the exemption in (A)i removes childcare and adult day care homes from that category by name. The exemption does not erase every other layer of law: a childcare home operator still has to meet state licensing requirements administered outside the UDO, and the group care home exemption is conditioned on meeting the FHAA small or large facility definitions and being sited in a zoning district where Table 03-1 allows a facility of that size. 030(b)(10): none may sit within three hundred feet of another group care home.
Violations & Fines
Because a qualifying childcare home is exempted from the home occupation section entirely, there is no certificate of zoning compliance to violate under Section 20.03.030(g)(6). If a childcare operation does not meet the exemption's own terms, such as the operator no longer living at the property, it falls back into the ordinary Home Occupation rules and needs the certificate of zoning compliance and, in Residential districts, Conditional Use approval that subsection (A)i otherwise waives.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need a zoning permit to run a home daycare in Bloomington?
Are there separate rules for adult day care in a Bloomington home?
Does the home-daycare exemption cover group care homes too?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Bloomington
Compare Bloomington to another location·View the Indiana home business overview
See something wrong?
Help us keep this page accurate. If you notice an error or outdated information, let us know.