Davidson County, NC Home Business: Home Daycare (2026)

Davidson County's Zoning Ordinance defines two tiers of in-home care in Article IX. A Day Care Home is any non-family arrangement providing care at least once a week for more than four hours to more than two and fewer than six children under 13; that tier appears in the county's Table of Permitted Uses as an outright permitted use across the county's residential and mixed-residential zoning districts, no Board hearing required. Day Care Home, Large is defined as five or more children under 13, or up to 15 school-age children, cared for on the same regular basis, and the Table of Permitted Uses marks it as a special use requiring Board of Adjustment approval.

Article V(I), last amended December 1, 1997, lists the districts where a large home daycare can be approved: RS, RA-1, RA-2, RA-3, RM-1, RM-2, Office/Institutional, MX-R and MX-C. Approval carries four standards. The operation must be owned and operated by the landowner, who must live in the home; no more than three staff members are allowed; the play area must be fenced; and the operator must meet a staff-to-child ratio table running from five infants under 12 months per one staff member down to fifteen school-age children per one staff member.

Applicants must also submit a site plan showing parking, the play area and the driveway entrance, plus certification that all North Carolina licensing requirements for the facility can be met before the Board of Adjustment will act.