Child Care Zoning Categories — Raising Readers Nashville

Understanding Child Care Zoning Categories

There are currently three zoning options for child care centers in Davidson County: Commercial Daycare, Group Home, and In Home.

SECTION FIVE

Commercial Daycare: more than 12 children and adults

Class One Daycare	13-25 individuals	Requires a lot size of at least .5 acre.
Class Two Daycare	26-50 individuals	Requires a lot size of at least 1 acre.
Class Three Daycare	51-74 individuals	Requires a lot size of at least 1.5 acres. Must be located in an “arterial area.”
Class Four Daycare	anything over 75 individuals	Must be located in an “arterial area.” For this classification, there must be specific approval through the board of zoning. To be approved, these centers usually need to be associated with a religious affiliation, school, or apartment complex

Commercial centers cannot be opened by an individual, by regulation of the Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA)

For all commercial centers, you must submit stamped plans through a licensed architect, and be inspected by a land surveyor (for both new and existing areas). The plans will be assessed to ensure adequate parking, fenced in play areas, direct access from the building, and other requirements. If they meet the conditions of the codes for their zoning, they don’t have to go through the Board of Zoning Appeals.

New buildings will have more regulations, including specific setbacks, heights, and sidewalks. The BZA is only involved if it is a new build or if there is some kind of parking.

For existing commercial centers, codes officials need to know what they’re approved for currently and what they are expanding to in order to understand if they are changing classes (for example, if they are increasing from 20 to 30 served). Changing classes requires the center to go before the BZA.

Group Home: 8 - 12 children and adults

These centers are typically located in residential neighborhoods and therefore require additional steps and must comply with residential zoning requirements, such as no business signs outside of the location. There is an approval process through the codes office as usual.

Additionally, there must be a special acceptance process including a neighborhood meeting with their Metro Nashville council person. Group home child care centers are only permitted to operate between 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday.

In Home: 1 to 7 children and adults

In Home centers are “permitted with conditions” and don't have to go through a special acceptance process. The owner of an In Home must also reside at the location, and are required to submit a site plan and a floor plan of the building. In Home child care centers are only permitted to operate between 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday.

All Centers

Swimming pools and dogs are not permitted
There can only be one per block

Municipalities with Zoning

All approvals in Davidson County go through the Zoning Examiner (as of July 2023, this person is Walter Morgan). The listed six cities have other municipalities for zoning:

Goodlettsville
Berry Hill
Forest Hills
Oak Hill
Belle Meade
Ridgetop

Pro Tip: Staying Up to Date

Ensure you are clear early in the process about the most up-to-date teacher to student ratio and square footage requirements from TDHS. You will need to be clear about how many students you will be serving by age group as an input to the next steps with Metro Nashville regulatory officials.