Lancaster County, NE Home Business: Home Daycare (2026)

005(j), "Early childhood care facilities" are a conditional use in the county's AG Agricultural District, subject to three conditions written directly into the section: no more than fifteen children may be present in the facility at any time; the facility must be used as the licensed provider's permanent residence, not a rented or separately staffed building; and if the home is a mobile home, the operator must have a severe weather emergency action plan approved by the Health Department. 004, so a small home-based daycare gets the same treatment whether the property sits on farm ground or a platted residential lot.

A note attached to both sections spells out what happens outside those bounds: a facility caring for sixteen or more children, or a facility of fifteen or fewer that does not meet all three listed conditions, "may be allowed upon approval of a special permit" rather than automatically qualifying as a conditional use. That routes larger or non-conforming home daycares to a discretionary special-permit hearing before the Lancaster County Planning Commission instead of the administrative conditional-use process. The resolution does not set separate parking, signage or hours-of-operation standards for a daycare home beyond the district's general requirements, so a compliant operator otherwise follows the same building and site rules as any other single-family use in the district.