Lodi, CA Home Business: Home Daycare (2026)

030 splits home-based child care into two tiers with very different approval paths. A small family day care home serving eight or fewer children is allowed outright within a single-family residence in a residential zoning district, no permit beyond state licensing required. A large family day care home serving nine to fourteen children needs a minor use permit, and the city's review turns on a defined set of standards rather than open discretion: the facility must comply with applicable state and fire codes, sit at least three hundred feet from any other large family day care home so the neighborhood is not saturated with them, and be enclosed by a six-foot fence or wall along the property lines or around the outdoor play area, except in the front yard or a traffic visibility area.

Noise from the facility cannot exceed the limits set in the city's general plan, and any exterior lighting must be low-wattage, shielded, and aimed downward for safety only. The section adds an unusual safety rule: no swimming pool or spa may be installed after a large family day care is established, and an existing pool or spa on the site must be removed before the use begins unless the director finds there is already adequate, secure separation between the pool and the areas the children use.

Child day care centers serving fifteen or more children are a separate, larger-scale category requiring full use permit approval, a minimum ten-thousand-square-foot parcel, and a safe on-site pick-up and drop-off zone. All facilities, regardless of size, must also be licensed by the California Department of Social Services.