Palm Beach Gardens, FL Home Business: Home Daycare (2026)

Table 21 lists 'Day Care, Family' as a permitted use in the AR, AE, RE, RR10, RR20, RL-1, RL-2, and RL-3 zoning districts, the city's single-family districts, while leaving the RM, RH, and RMH multifamily and mobile home districts blank, meaning family day care is not permitted there. The use carries Note 36, printed at § 78-159(j)(36), which sets four standards. First, the operation must comply with 'all applicable requirements of F.S. Chapter 402,' the state's child care statute. Second, it must meet 'all applicable requirements of the Palm Beach County Health Department,' including the special act chapters the code cites by number, layering county licensing on top of the state statute.

Third, enrollment is capped: the home 'shall not exceed an enrollment of more than five children,' a hard ceiling with no administrative waiver built into the note. Fourth, hours are capped as well: the home 'shall not operate more than 18 hours per day.' These four standards apply specifically to family day care operated from a residential home; the larger-scale 'Day Care, Child and Adult' use, covered separately at Note 35, carries its own, more extensive standards, including an 8,000-square-foot minimum lot, a fenced outdoor play area, and a perimeter fence, because it is licensed and sited more like a standalone commercial center than a home-based service.

A family day care that wants to enroll more than five children or operate more than 18 hours a day would need to qualify instead under the Note 35 standards and secure the additional site improvements those require.