Chino, CA Home Business: Home Daycare (2026)

Chino Municipal Code § 20.21.090, adopted with the 2010 zoning code rewrite (Ord. 2010-05, § 1(exh. A), 2010) and last amended by Ord. 2023-001, § 6, 2023, governs child day care citywide and draws a firm line between two use types. Subsection B.1 defines a 'residential day care facility' as a use that 'may provide care for up to fourteen children' and 'are required to have an adult assistant on the premises,' distinct from a stand-alone 'child day care center' such as a preschool or after-school facility.

For a home-based operation, Subsection D requires that 'the use shall be clearly incidental and subordinate to the primary' residential use, that 'all required state licenses and permits shall be obtained,' and caps enrollment at 'a maximum of fourteen children.' The state license is a precondition to local compliance, not a substitute for it.

Subsection C's general standards apply to every child day care operation, including home-based ones. Operators must provide 'one off-street parking space...for each employee of the day care provider,' though the driveway may satisfy that requirement. Any pool, pond or similar body of water deeper than eighteen inches must be enclosed by a 'minimum five-foot-high non-climbable fence' with self-closing, self-latching gates whose latches sit 'at least fifty-four inches above adjacent grade.' Outdoor trash receptacles and air-conditioning units next to play areas must be screened, and 'hours of operation shall be less than twelve hours per day.' Noise must comply with the city's Title 9 standards.

Because Chino's zoning use tables list 'Residential Day Care Facilities' as a permitted ('P') use across the RD 1 through RD 8 single-family districts, a home operator does not need a conditional use permit, but must still hold the state license and meet every § 20.21.090 standard before opening.