Old Bridge, NJ Home Business: Home Daycare (2026)

Township Code § 250-6 defines FAMILY DAY-CARE HOME as a private dwelling approved by the New Jersey Division of Youth and Family Services or an organization with which that division contracts, providing daily child care to no less than three and no more than five children for no less than 15 hours per week. The same section's HOME OCCUPATION definition carves out day care specifically: ordinary home occupations may not have residents meet with patrons or clients on the premises, but § 250-6 states that a family day-care home constitutes a home occupation, so a qualifying provider is exempt from that no-visitor rule and parents may come to the dwelling to drop off or pick up children.

A qualifying family day-care home still must meet the general home-occupation conditions in § 250-6: no exterior evidence of the occupation, no employees other than residents, no deliveries of stock or inventory, no audible sounds outside the dwelling, no equipment interference with neighbors' radio or television reception, and no handling or storage of hazardous wastes or substances. Because it is treated as a home occupation rather than a change of principal use, a detached one- or two-family home operating a qualifying family day-care home is exempt from site plan review under § 250-83, though the Zoning Officer's zoning permit under § 250-85 is still required before the use begins. The Department of Community Development's Zoning Officer enforces these standards townshipwide.