San Clemente, CA Home Business: Home Daycare (2026)

100 opens by stating two purposes side by side: keeping child day care centers from harming the residential neighborhoods around them, and making sure family day care homes remain available in residential surroundings so children get a home environment conducive to healthy and safe development. 46, the state provision that treats a small family day care home as a residential use of property for zoning purposes. The minimum standards in Subsection C then apply to every day care use in every zone. Lighting must be stationary, directed away from adjacent properties and public rights-of-way, and kept at an intensity that fits a residential neighborhood, other than at passenger loading areas.

On noise, the decision-making body that issues the permit can require added abatement, such as a six-foot solid fence or wall along the side or rear property lines, or a front-yard fence or wall matching the neighborhood's materials, textures, colors, and design, with controlled points of entry for safety. Outdoor play areas fall back on the state's own rules: the provisions of the California Health and Safety Code governing child day care facilities supply the basic requirements for an outdoor play area, and stationary play equipment cannot sit inside a required setback. A passenger loading plan needs approval from the same decision-making body that issues the permit. 48.