Franklin County, KY Home Business: Home Daycare (2026)

Franklin County's zoning definitions in § 155.010 do not set aside a separate family child care home category in the provisions read here. Instead, DAY CARE CENTERS covers any facility, including a home or dwelling unit, which regularly provides care for four or more children away from the child's own home. The operator's own children are included in the total number of children permitted, so a parent caring for two neighbor children and two of their own has reached the four-child line.

Section 155.110(A)(1) then sets the residential limits. In the RR, RA, RB, RC, RS and RD Zone Districts a day care center, nursery or kindergarten may be granted a conditional use and must contain no more than six children. In the RL and RH districts the cap is 12 children. A program inside a church in any residential district can seek a conditional use for more than six or 12 children if every requirement of the section is met. Signs shall not be permitted to advertise the business.

The Board of Zoning Adjustments decides the conditional use under § 155.105, which requires adequate street capacity, available public facilities, no adverse effect on adjacent property and appropriate screening or buffering. The remaining requirements of § 155.110 also apply to a home program: a site plan showing ingress, egress, parking, structure site and playing area, a lot of not less than 5,000 square feet, a fenced play area of 1,500 square feet for the first ten children plus 100 square feet for each additional child, and at least 35 square feet of usable interior space per child, not counting kitchen, bath or passageway space. The use table note for day care centers sends applicants to § 155.110 as well.