Floyd County, GA Home Business: Home Daycare (2026)
Key Facts
- Permitted by right (6 or fewer children)
- A-R, S-R, HT-R, LT-R, M-R
- Not a listed accessory use
- D-R Duplex Residential district
- Larger group home (7-18)
- needs special use permit in A-R/S-R/HT-R only
- Separate siting standard
- none required for the family-home version
- Maximum penalty
- $1,000 fine or 6 months jail (§ 7.6.2)
Summary
A family home day care serving six or fewer children is an accessory use permitted by right, with no special use permit, in nearly every residential zoning district in unincorporated Floyd County. The Unified Land Development Code's accessory-use table allows it in A-R, S-R, HT-R, LT-R, and M-R; D-R Duplex Residential is the one exception.
• = Use is permitted by right º = Use may be permitted as a Special Use ... ACCESSORY USES A-R S-R HT-R LT-R D-R M-R See Also Parking ... Day Care, Family Home (6 or less persons) • • • • •
Full Breakdown
The Unified Land Development Code's Table 3-1 accessory-use list includes "Day Care, Family Home (6 or less persons)" and marks it with a bullet, meaning permitted by right, in the A-R Agricultural Residential, S-R Suburban Residential, HT-R High Density Traditional Residential, LT-R Low Density Traditional Residential, and M-R Multi-Family Residential districts. The entry is blank for the D-R Duplex Residential district, so a home day care of six children or fewer is not a listed accessory use there. The table carries no "See Also" cross-reference for this entry, meaning the code does not attach a separate siting, fencing, or play-area standard to the family home version, unlike the larger commercial "Day Care and Kindergartens" use governed by Section 4.1.9, which applies to centers rather than in-home care and requires arterial lot access, a circular loading drive, a play-area fence at least 4 feet high, and set square-footage-per-child minimums.
A larger in-home operation, the table's separate "Day Care, Group Home (7-18 persons)" entry, is not permitted by right; it needs a special use permit in the A-R, S-R, and HT-R districts and is not listed at all in LT-R, D-R, or M-R. Because a small family home day care is an accessory use rather than a principal one, it has to remain secondary to the residential use of the dwelling, consistent with the ULDC's general accessory-use limits in Section 4.2.3.
Violations & Fines
Operating a family home day care in the D-R Duplex Residential district, where the accessory use table does not list it, or running a 7-plus-child group home without the required special use permit, is a Development Code violation. Section 7.6.2 makes it a misdemeanor punishable by up to $1,000, up to six months in jail, or both, with each day of continued operation a separate offense.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need a special permit to run a home day care in Floyd County?
Can I run a small home day care if my lot is zoned D-R?
What if I want to care for more than six children at home?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Floyd County
Compare Floyd County to another location·View the Georgia home business overview
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