Weld County, CO Home Business: Home Daycare (2026)
Key Facts
- Child care center in A zone
- Special Review Permit required (Sec. 23-3-40(F))
- Center threshold
- Five or more unrelated children
- Family child care home
- Care in a residence, under 24 hours, children under 18
- Home business cap
- 10 people on site in A and E zones, 5 in R zones
- Public access hours
- 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
- Criminal penalty
- Up to $100 fine or 10 days jail, per day
- Civil penalty
- $25 to $1,000, plus up to $100 per continuing day
Summary
Weld County Code defines a FAMILY CHILD CARE HOME as child care in a place of residence and separately defines a CHILD CARE CENTER as a facility caring for five or more unrelated children. Centers need a Special Review Permit in the Agricultural zone outside subdivisions and historic townsites. No permitted, permit or special review use list names the home form, so the home business limits are the closest written standards.
CHILD CARE CENTER: A facility, by whatever name known, which is maintained for the whole or part of a day for the care of five (5) or more children who are eighteen (18) years of age or younger and not related to the owner, operator or manager thereof, whether such facility is operated with or without compensation for such care and with or without stated educational purposes, as further defined in C.R.S. Section 26-6-102(5). ... FAMILY CHILD CARE HOME: A facility for child care in a place of residence of a family or person for the purpose of providing less than twenty-four-hour care for children under the age of eighteen (18) years who are not related to the head of such home, as further defined in C.R.S. Section 26-6-102(13). ... The following BUILDINGS, STRUCTURES and USES may be constructed, occupied, operated and maintained on LOTS outside of SUBDIVISIONS and HISTORIC TOWNSITES in the A (Agricultural) Zone District upon approval of a Special Review Permit in accordance with the requirements and procedures set forth in Article II, Division 4 of this Chapter. ... CHILD CARE CENTERS.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Charter and County Code: Supplement 95).
Full Breakdown
Weld County sorts child care into two boxes in Sec. 23-1-90. A FAMILY CHILD CARE HOME is a facility in a place of residence providing less than twenty-four-hour care for children under eighteen who are not related to the head of the home. A CHILD CARE CENTER is a facility maintained for the whole or part of a day for five or more children aged eighteen or younger who are not related to the owner, operator or manager, with or without pay. Both definitions point to C.R.S. Section 26-6-102 for their full meaning.
The land use consequence sits in Sec. 23-3-40(F). In the A (Agricultural) Zone District, on lots outside subdivisions and historic townsites, CHILD CARE CENTERS can be built, occupied and operated only after approval of a Special Review Permit under Article II, Division 4. Sec. 23-3-60 and Sec. 23-3-65 repeat that listing for lots inside subdivisions and inside historic townsites. Sec. 23-2-440 gives the reason: uses by special review are uses found to be more intense, or to have a potentially greater impact, than uses allowed by right.
A home provider starts from a different place. Sec. 23-3-20(J) allows one single-family dwelling or group home per legal lot by right, and no use list in Chapter 23 names a family child care home as its own permitted, permit or special review use. Home businesses in the A zone need a land use permit under Sec. 23-3-35(K), and the 23 uses barred from home businesses in Sec. 23-4-990(I) do not include child care. If the operation runs as a home business, Division 13 of Article IV sets the limits: ten customers, clients, students or nonresident employees on site at once in A and E zones, five in R zones, public access only from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., and off-street parking with no business vehicles on the street.
Sec. 23-4-1400(B) also keeps natural medicine licensed premises at least 1,000 feet from a state-licensed family child care home, measured from the nearest property line of the child care land to the nearest portion of the building, along a route of direct pedestrian access.
Violations & Fines
Running a child care center in the Agricultural zone without the Special Review Permit is a use in violation of Chapter 23. Sec. 23-10-20 makes it a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $100, up to 10 days in county jail, or both, and each day is a separate offense. Planning Services first gives written notice with 30 days to correct. Sec. 23-10-40 adds a civil penalty of $25 to $1,000 from the County Court, then up to $100 per continuing day, which becomes a lien on the property.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between a family child care home and a child care center in Weld County?
Does a child care center need a permit in unincorporated Weld County?
Can I run a home daycare under Weld County's home business rules?
What limits apply to a home business in Weld County?
Can a Weld County home business permit be transferred or revoked?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Weld County
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