Columbia County, GA Home Business: Home Daycare (2026)

Section 90-142(f) lists the occupations the county pre-approves as home occupations, and item (4) covers 'teaching, instruction and a day care, limited to six pupils each, at a given time.' That six-pupil cap applies at any single moment, so a provider can't stack multiple simultaneous sessions to exceed it even if attendance rotates through the day. A home daycare still has to meet the baseline home occupation rules in subsection (b): the operator must reside at the address, the use can't produce more than 12 additional vehicle trips to the residence per day (covering parent drop-off and pick-up traffic), and it can't create noise, dust, odor, light, or other impacts that unreasonably affect neighboring properties.

Where a home daycare gets special treatment is floor area. Subsection (c)(3) requires most home occupations to operate within 20 percent of the principal dwelling's floor area and out of sight of neighbors, but it carves out an express exception: where personal care or daycare is provided, the business may occupy more than 20 percent of the dwelling. The daycare still can't change the residence's exterior character, still can't require employees to travel to the site beyond household family members, still caps commercial vehicles on site at one, and still can't require outdoor or accessory-structure storage. A daycare wanting to operate out of a detached structure, such as a converted garage or accessory building, needs provisional approval from the planning commission instead, available only on lots of two acres or larger.