Portsmouth, VA Home Business: Home Daycare (2026)

Portsmouth's zoning ordinance defines a Family Day Home in Sec. 40.2-212 as a licensed child day program offered in the residence of the provider or the home of any of the children in care, serving five through 12 children under the age of 13. The provider's own children and any children who live in the home are not counted toward that range, and at least one child must receive care for compensation. A smaller operation sits on the other side of the line: Sec. 40.2-215 defines Child Sitting as no more than four children under 13 received in a home for part of a 24-hour day, with relatives excluded from the count, and the ordinance treats that care as a Home Occupation.

The definition also caps infants. A family day home cannot care for more than four children under the age of two, counting the provider's own children and any children who live in the home, unless the home is licensed or voluntarily registered or every child in care is related to the provider by blood or marriage.

Where it is allowed. In Table 40.2-216 the Family Day Home row shows a P, permitted by right, in the first five district columns: NR, GR, UR, UR-M and NMU. The Additional Requirements column sends the reader to Sec. 40.2-217(E)(1)(b). A separate row, Family Day Home (Administratively Denied), shows a U in those same five columns, meaning a Use Permit is required once the by-right route has been refused.

The standards. Sec. 40.2-217(E)(1)(b)(i) requires the home to be licensed and to comply with all state regulations for family day homes. Under (ii), once the Zoning Administrator finds the request complies with the ordinance, the office sends a registered or certified letter to the adjoining property owners at their last known address, citing Code of Virginia Sec. 15.2-2292. If no written objection arrives within thirty days of mailing, the Zoning Permit can issue. If any notified neighbor objects in writing inside that thirty-day window, the Zoning Permit must be denied. The applicant can then file a Use Permit application under Sec. 40.2-533.

The Use Permit route. The Planning Commission holds a public hearing and recommends approval or denial, then City Council holds its own public hearing and can approve, approve with conditions, or deny. An approved Use Permit runs with the land, and it expires two years after approval if the use is inactive or changed to a different use, unless a building permit is obtained and work started or a Certificate of Occupancy is obtained and the approved use begins. The definition itself blocks the City from imposing restrictions on a family day home that are more restrictive than those imposed on residences occupied by persons related by blood, marriage, or adoption.