Noblesville, IN Home Business: Home Daycare (2026)

Section 159.122 makes home occupations a permitted use in residential zoning districts, but every operator needs a Home Occupation Permit from the Director of Planning and Development, filed on the Director's form along with the fee set in Appendix A. The Director must decide within fifteen calendar days. Most home occupations are capped at six hundred square feet or twenty-five percent of the dwelling's floor area, whichever is less, and must stay entirely inside the principal building; Child Care Homes are expressly excepted from both limits and may add an outdoor play area, something no other home-based business is allowed.

Because child care is state-licensed, division (D)(1) requires the applicant to provide a copy of the state license to operate a child care home to the Department upon receipt, on top of complying with all other city ordinances and federal and state childcare statutes. Permits run one year and may be renewed annually if there has been no violation, with renewal requests due one month before expiration and the fee paid before the permit lapses. The Director may void a permit at any time for noncompliance with the section's criteria, and once voided or unrenewed the use must stop.

A denial, revocation, or approval decision is final unless the applicant or a neighbor within six hundred sixty feet appeals to the Board of Zoning Appeals within ten calendar days. New permit applicants (not renewals) must also send certified-mail notice to property owners within 660 feet, or the two adjacent properties if fewer, before the permit issues.