Minneapolis, MN Home Business: Home Daycare (2026)
Key Facts
- Zoning permit needed
- None: allowed by right
- Play equipment
- Barred from required yards
- Screening
- Required near some residential uses
- Employer-run daycare
- Allowed accessory to nonresidential use
Summary
Minneapolis zoning allows family and group family day care as an accessory use in any residential dwelling, with no separate permit: just limits on where play equipment can sit and screening from certain neighbors.
Family or group family day care shall be allowed accessory to a residential use, provided play equipment shall not be located in required front, side or rear yards and shall be effectively screened from any adjacent residential use located in an urban neighborhood or residential mixed-use district or from a ground floor permitted or conditional residential use, as specified in Chapter 550, Article V, Site Plan Review Standards. Where the license holder is an employer and the purpose of the program is to provide day care to children of the license holder's employees, such program shall be allowed accessory to a use other than a residential use, provided all other requirements of this section are met.
Farmstand. Farmstands shall be allowed accessory to a community garden, market garden or urban farm, subject to the following:
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Code of Ordinances: Supplement 72).
Full Breakdown
Under the zoning code's accessory-use standards, family or group family day care is allowed accessory to a residential use citywide: no conditional use permit or zoning approval is required for the land use itself. The only zoning-specific conditions: play equipment cannot sit in a required front, side, or rear yard, and it must be effectively screened from adjacent residential uses in urban neighborhood or residential mixed-use districts, or from ground-floor residential uses, per the site plan review standards. Employer-run day care serving employees' children can also be sited accessory to a non-residential use under the same section. State DHS child care licensing rules apply separately.
Violations & Fines
Zoning violations under this section are enforced as general Code of Ordinances violations: a misdemeanor punishable by fine or imprisonment as set by Minnesota law, with each day of continuing violation a separate offense under general Code § 1.30.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need a zoning permit to run a home daycare in Minneapolis?
Can I put a play structure in my front yard for daycare kids?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Minneapolis
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