De Pere, WI Home Business: Home Daycare (2026)

The zoning ordinance's Day Care use category, defined in Section 14-73(5), covers any care use licensed by the state for people away from their primary residence for more than four hours and less than 24 hours a day. Within that category, a Family Day Care Home is capped at 8 or fewer individuals under age 7 (Section 14-73(5)(b)). Once a home cares for 9 or more children under 7, the ordinance reclassifies the operation entirely as a Day Care Center, Group under Section 14-73(5)(c), a separate use category with its own district and review requirements.

Section 14-78(8)(c)2 pulls family day care homes out of the home occupation article altogether: they are not regulated as home occupations and are not subject to that section's Type A/Type B classification, size caps or conditional-use process. Instead, a family day care home is allowed only in the zoning districts where Table 7-1 permits the Day Care use category, and the operator must still hold the required state child care license. That combination lets a small in-home provider skip the Plan Commission review a Type B home business needs, while a larger group day care faces the fuller Day Care Center review path. The development services director interprets and enforces this classification citywide under Section 14-150.