Buncombe County, NC Home Business: Home Daycare (2026)

Sec. 78-678(a)(2) lets a day nursery or private kindergarten serving up to eight children operate as a "use by right, subject to special requirements" in every zoning district in the county, including R-LD, R-1, R-2 and R-3 residential, per Table 1 of Sec. 78-641; once enrollment passes eight, the same table reclassifies the use as a special use requiring a permit from the board of adjustment in the residential districts, though it remains permitted by right in the nonresidential districts. To qualify without a special-use permit, the operator must limit signage to a single non-lighted sign no larger than eight square feet and no taller than four feet, cap enrollment at eight children, and route drop-off and pick-up traffic so it does not obstruct the flow of adjacent streets.

Parking for staff and parents must sit in the side or rear yard only, sized to the off-street parking table at Table 3 of Sec. 78-658, and any parking area or outdoor play area has to be screened from neighboring properties with vegetation or a solid fence, meeting the buffering standard of Sec. 78-667. Because the day nursery use is defined and permitted separately from the county's home occupation standards at Sec. 78-581 and Sec. 78-665, a family childcare business does not need to also satisfy the home occupation rules; it is governed entirely by the Sec. 78-678(a)(2) standards once it exceeds simple babysitting.