La Mesa, CA Home Business: Home Daycare (2026)

Municipal Code Section 24.01.100 defines a family day care home as a home that regularly provides care, protection and supervision of twelve or fewer children in the provider's own home for less than twenty-four hours a day while the parents or guardians are away, splitting the category into a large family day care home, seven to twelve children, and a small family day care home, six or fewer children, both counting children who live at the home. Section 24.05.020(D)(13) lists small family day care homes located in a single-family residence as a permitted accessory use in La Mesa's residential zones, with no additional conditions beyond the business license itself.

Large family day care homes are permitted under Section 24.05.020(D)(14) only when four conditions are met: at least one off-street parking stall for loading and unloading children; all outdoor play areas enclosed by a fence at least four feet high; a plot plan filed with the planning department alongside the business license application, showing how the parking and fencing conditions are met; and a fire department inspection of the property completed before the business license is issued. Because these standards sit in the permitted-accessory-use list rather than the conditional-use-permit list, a large family day care home that satisfies all four conditions does not need a discretionary hearing before the planning commission, only the business license process the conditions are tied to.