Muncie, IN Home Business: Home Daycare (2026)

Sec. 150.226(A) defines a nursery/day care center as any residence or institution operated to care for children separated from a parent, guardian, or custodian, then carves out an exception: the section does not apply to an individual providing child care in his residence to five or fewer children at any time, excluding relatives of that individual. That exemption means a small home-based sitter never has to seek special-use approval, sit through a Delaware-Muncie Metropolitan Board of Zoning Appeals hearing, or meet the center-specific parking and signage standards in Sec.

150.226(C). Cross the five-child line, though, and the operation becomes a regulated nursery/day care center: it may only locate in the F Farming Zone or the R-1 through R-4 residence zones as a special use approved under the procedure in Sec. 150.216, it must satisfy all state licensing requirements for the facility, it must provide off-street parking under Sec. 150.211, and any sign referencing the center in a residence zone is capped at a non-illuminated, 12-square-foot ground or wall sign. The administrative zoning officer, appointed by the mayor under Sec.

150.232, enforces these lines: he issues and revokes zoning permits and certificates of occupancy, inspects premises after 48 hours' notice, and can refer unresolved violations for prosecution or seek an injunction in Delaware County Circuit or Superior Court. Because Chapter 150 carries no dedicated day-care penalty, a violation falls under the city's general penalty in Sec. 10.99, fined not more than $2,500.00 for each offense. A separate provision, Sec. 150.222, bars home occupations from including rummage, yard, porch, or garage sales, which keeps that unrelated accessory-use rule from bleeding into the day care exemption.