Wicomico County, MD Home Business: Home Daycare (2026)

Wicomico County's Zoning Code treats commercial day-care centers and home-based family day care differently. Under § 225-82, family day care operating out of a home is a permitted use, not a special exception, on any lot in the R-30 Residential District as long as the lot is at least one acre. No additional Board of Appeals approval, buffer or acreage beyond the one-acre minimum is required for that home-based use. A day-care center, meaning a larger facility rather than an in-home operation, is treated as a special exception use limited to the R-20 Residential District.

To win that special exception from the Board of Appeals, an applicant needs a lot of at least five acres, must set back every building and play area at least 50 feet from all property lines, and must install landscaping, fencing or another buffer around the play area to shield neighboring properties from noise, activity and visual impact. The Board weighs those standards case by case at a public hearing before granting or denying the exception, and it can attach further conditions to the approval.

Operators still need any state-level child-care licensing required separately from local zoning, but the county's zoning question turns entirely on which residential district the property sits in and whether the operation is a home-based family day care or a stand-alone center. A property owner planning either use in unincorporated Wicomico County should confirm the parcel's zoning district and lot size with the Department of Planning, Zoning and Community Development before signing a lease or converting space, since a facility in the wrong district faces removal as a zoning violation regardless of any state childcare license held.