Springfield, IL Home Business: Home Daycare (2026)

Chapter 155 treats licensed family day-care as an accessory residential use subject to its own operating standards in Sec. 1 rather than a home occupation under Sec. 045. The caregiver at any family day-care home, type 1 or type 2, must keep a daily record of the dates, times, and names and ages of every child in care, along with the name and hours of any assistant, and make that record available to the zoning administrator's office for inspection. The caregiver must also file, and keep current, proof of licensing, certification, or other approval from the state agency that regulates family day-care with the zoning administrator, and stay in good standing with that agency.

Type 2 homes carry extra caps: an assistant must be present whenever more than eight children are in the home, the total number of children in care during the day cannot exceed 18, and only one assistant is allowed on the premises at a time. To prevent an over-concentration of day-care uses in a residential neighborhood, no family day-care home, type 1 or type 2, can operate in a residence district unless it sits more than 300 feet from the property line of another such facility fronting the same street.

A day-care home that predates these standards keeps its non-conforming status, but the 18-child cap still applies to it, and the operator can seek a conditional permitted use under Article VIII of the chapter to bring the facility into full conformity.