Millcreek, PA Home Business: Home Daycare (2026)

Chapter 145 of the Millcreek Township Code defines two home-based child care uses in § 145-11. A FAMILY CHILD CARE HOME is a home other than the child's own home, operated for profit or not-for-profit and licensed by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, in which child care is provided at any one time to four, five, or six children unrelated to the operator. The use is considered an accessory use in a residence and must comply with all applicable regulations of the underlying zoning district.

A GROUP CHILD CARE HOME is a larger operation: a premises licensed by the Commonwealth in which care is provided at one time for more than six but fewer than 16 older school-aged level children, or more than six but fewer than 13 children of another age level, who are unrelated to the operator. It can be in a residence or other premises. When it is in a residence, the use is considered an accessory use to the residence and must also comply with the underlying district's regulations.

The district chapters then list both uses. In § 145-15, the R1 Single-Family Residential District, the list of accessory uses permitted by right includes beekeeping, family child care home and group child care home, along with private garages, no-impact home-based businesses, small wireless facilities and private solar systems. The same two child care uses appear in the accessory-by-right lists for the CR Conservation Residential District (§ 145-14) and the R2 Low-Density Residential District (§ 145-16). Accessory by right means no special exception or conditional use hearing is built into the listing.

The Zoning Officer administers Chapter 145 under § 145-105. A violation draws an Enforcement Notice under § 145-114 with a right to appeal to the Zoning Hearing Board, and a civil judgment of $500 per violation if the matter reaches the Magisterial District Judge.