§ 47-18.8. Child day care facilities.

A.

It is intended that this section provide standards for the protection of the health, safety, and welfare of the citizens of the city as it relates to the location and operation of child day care facilities. The specific use of a child day care facility is to provide less than twenty-four (24) hours custodial care to minor children away from the child's permanent residence.

B.

Applicability. The provisions of this section shall apply to all child day care facilities. A child day care facility is a structure wherein child day care is provided for a child or children unrelated by blood, marriage or adoption to the owner or operator of the facility which receives payment, fee or grant to compensate for any children receiving care, whenever operated, and whether or not operated for profit. A child day care facility shall include child care facilities and family day care homes as such terms are defined in F.S. § 402.302.

C.

Child day care facilities shall not include the following:

1.

Public schools and nonpublic schools and their integral programs including any educational facility, whether private or public, which operates solely for educational purposes;

2.

Facilities operated in connection with a retail or service establishment, including on-premises drop-in babysitting services where children are not cared for on a regular basis, and are not children of employees of the retail establishment, and where the parents or custodians of the children are present on the retail or service establishment's premises or are in the immediate vicinity and immediately available;

3.

Summer camps having children in full-time residence;

4.

Programs offered by recreational centers, senior citizen centers and like facilities whose primary purposes are recreation, social interaction or medical rather than custodial care; and

5.

Bible schools normally conducted during vacation periods.

D.

Definitions. The following words, when used in this section shall, for the purposes of this section, have the following meanings:

1.

Child. A person less than eighteen (18) years of age.

2.

Child care. The care, protection and supervision of a child for less than twenty-four (24) hours a day on a regular basis and for which a payment, fee or grant is made for such child care.

3.

Child care facility. Any structure wherein child care is provided for more than five (5) children unrelated by blood, marriage or adoption to the operator, and which receives a fee, payment or grant to compensate for any of the children receiving care, wherever operated, and whether or not operated for profit.

4.

Family day care home. An occupied residence in which child care is regularly provided for no more than five (5) preschool children from more than one (1) unrelated family and which receives a fee, payment, or grant to compensate for any children receiving care, whether or not operated for profit. The maximum number of five (5) preschool children includes preschool children living in the home and preschool children received for child care who are not related to the resident care giver. Elementary school siblings of the preschool children received for child care may also be cared for outside of school hours provided the total number of children, including the caregiver's own and those related to the caregiver, does not exceed ten (10).

5.

Licensed capacity. The number of children for which a facility has been licensed by the State of Florida or such agency which the state has designated as the authority to issue such licenses to provide child care.

6.

Operator. Any person ultimately responsible for the overall operation and administration of a child day care facility, whether or not the person is the owner.

7.

Owner. The person or persons who have legal ownership of the facility.

8.

State. The State of Florida Health and Rehabilitative Services Department or such other agency authorized to regulate the provision of child care.

E.

Category of uses. For the purpose of this section, child day care facilities shall be limited to only one (1) of the following five (5) categories provided as follows based on the licensed capacity and location of the facility.

1.

Family day care home as defined herein.

2.

Small child care facility. A child care facility in a structure that has licensed capacity of six (6) through a maximum of twenty-five (25) children.

3.

Intermediate child care facility. A child care facility in a structure that has a maximum licensed capacity of fifty (50) children.

4.

Large child care facility. A child care facility in a structure that has a licensed capacity of fifty-one (51) or more children.

5.

On-site corporate/employer sponsored child day care facility. A child day care facility that is an accessory use to a proposed or existing retail, office or other commercial or industrial use that provides child care serving primarily the children of the employees, officers or agents of the corporate or employer sponsor or the children of those occupying the specific use.

6.

A child care facility that does not belong to one (1) of the five (5) categories provided in this section shall not be a permitted or conditional use.

F.

Permitted and conditional uses.

1.

Child day care facilities may be permitted or conditionally permitted as shown on the matrix below:

	Child Day Care Facilities/Permitted Categories
Zoning District	Family	Small	Intermediate	Large	Corporate/ Employer
RS-4.4	P	N	N	N	N
RS-8	P	N	N	N	N
RD-15	P	N	N	N	N
RC-15	P	N	N	N	N
RM-15	P	N	N	N	N
RML-25	P	C	N	N	N
RMM-25	P	C	C	N	N
RMH-25	P	C	C	N	N
RMH-60	P	P	P	P	C
R-O	P	P	P	C	P
R-O-A	P	P	P	N	P
R-O-C	P	P	P	P	P
CB	C	C	C	C	P
B-1	C	C	C	C	P
B-2	C	C	C	C	P
B-3	N	N	N	C	P
I	N	N	N	C	C
CF	N	C	N	C	C
CF-H	N	C	N	N	N
CF-S	N	C	N	C	N
CF-HS	N	C	N	C	N
P	N	N	N	N	N
T	N	N	N	N	N
U	N	N	N	N	N
PRD	N	N	N	N	N
ABA	N	N	N	N	N
SLA	N	N	N	N	N
IOA	N	N	N	N	N
NBRA	N	N	N	N	N
SBMHA	N	N	N	N	N
RAC-CC	N	P	P	P	P
RAC-AS	N	N	N	N	N
RAC-RPO	P	P	P	C	C
RAC-UV	P	P	P	C	C
RAC-TMU	P	P	P	C	C
G-A-A	N	N	N	N	C
A-I-P	N	N	N	C	C
PEDD	N	N	N	N	C
CR	N	N	N	N	N
CC	N	N	P	P	P
H-1	N	C	N	N	N
X-Use	N	N	N	N	N

 

Legend:

P: Permitted Use.

C: Conditional Use, see Section 47-24.3, Conditional Use Permits.

N: Not Permitted.

G.

Except for family home day care facilities, child day care facilities shall be considered and subject to the limitations applicable to nonresidential uses.

H.

Indoor space requirements.

1.

Except as provided in subsection H.2, there shall be a minimum of twenty-five (25) square feet of usable floor space per child. Total usable floor space for a facility shall be calculated by multiplying the minimum square footage requirement by the licensed capacity of the facility. Indoor space shall include, but not be limited to, the indoor areas available for play, classroom, work and nap space.

2.

The minimum indoor space requirement may be reduced to a minimum of twenty (20) square feet of usable floor space per child for an on-site corporate/employer sponsored child day care facility if a determination is made as part of a site plan level III permit by the planning and zoning board that at the time the facility is proposed, the additional space is not readily available to be used in connection with the provision of child care and the reduction of the minimum requirement will not adversely impact existing uses in the area surrounding the proposed facility.

I.

Outdoor space requirements.

1.

Except as expressly provided in subsections I.2 and 3, there shall be fifty (50) square feet of usable ground level outdoor space per child with a minimum of one thousand five hundred (1,500) square feet of which three hundred (300) square feet shall be landscaping. Usable outdoor space shall not include parking areas and vehicular use or sidewalks, and shall be calculated by multiplying the minimum outdoor square footage requirement by one-half the licensed capacity of the facility.

2.

The minimum outdoor space requirement may be reduced to a minimum of forty-five (45) square feet of outdoor space per child for an on-site corporate/employer sponsored child day care facility if a determination is made as part of a site plan level III by the planning and zoning board that the additional space is not readily available to be used in connection with the provision of child care and reduction of the minimum requirement will not adversely impact existing uses in the area surrounding the proposed facility.

3.

Outdoor space area may be provided on other than the ground level for an on-site corporate/employer sponsored child day care facility if the additional space is not readily available to be used in connection with the provision of child care; the outdoor area to be provided is open to light and air; the outdoor area to be provided has a fence or other barriers adequate to ensure safety in its use for child care and allowing the outdoor space area to be above ground level will not adversely impact existing uses in the area surrounding the proposed facility.

J.

Dispersal requirements.

1.

In residentially zoned districts where child day care facilities are a permitted or conditional use, no child day care facility shall be located nor shall a child day care facility be enlarged, increased in licensed capacity as previously authorized by the state or expanded in any respect, nor converted from one (1) category of use to another, if located within one thousand five hundred (1,500) feet of any other child day care facility or any existing social service residential facility (SSRF), as described in Section 47-18.32, excluding level I SSRF located in a residential district.

2.

The dispersal requirements shall not apply to family day care homes, on-site corporate/employer sponsored child day care facilities or to child day care facilities located in nonresidential districts. However, a child day care facility proposed to be located in a nonresidential district shall be one thousand five hundred (1,500) feet from any existing child day care facility or any existing social service residential facility (SSRF), as defined in Section 47-18.32, excluding level I SSRF located in a residential district.

K.

Hours of operation.

1.

In residentially zoned districts where child day care facilities are a permitted or conditional use, hours of operation for child care shall be limited to 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.

2.

Limitation of the hours of operation shall not apply when adults and their children or children under their custodial care are present at the same time on the facility premises and child care is provided as an incident of a program offered by the facility.

3.

The hours of operation may be extended by site plan level III permit as provided in Section 47-24.2.

L.

Buffer requirements. In addition to all other applicable landscaping requirements provided in the ULDR, the following requirements shall apply to parcels of land on which child day care facilities exist:

1.

Where the ground level outdoor play area of a child day care facility is within fifty (50) feet of any other property, the following physical barriers will be required:

a.

A wall in accordance with the requirements of Section 47-19.5, Fences, Walls and Hedges, located along the property line between the outdoor space and adjacent residential property; and

b.

A landscaped fence, between the outdoor space and adjacent nonresidential property.

2.

Where the ground level outdoor play area of a child day care facility is within fifty (50) feet of any street, a landscaped fence or wall shall be required, in accordance with the requirements of Section 47-19.5, Fences, Walls and Hedges, to be located along the property line between the outdoor space and the adjacent street.

3.

A landscape fence or wall as required in this section shall be constructed in accordance with the following requirements:

a.

A landscape fence shall be constructed of wood or chainlink fence six (6) feet in height with a landscape strip at least two (2) feet wide between the fence and the adjoining property and include densely planted shrubs or trees at least four (4) feet high at the time of planting and attaining maturity at a minimum height of six (6) feet.

b.

A wall six (6) feet in height, opaque with no open areas viewed from any angle, shall be installed in accordance with the standards provided in Section 47-19.5.

M.

Parking and loading requirements. See Section 47-20.

N.

Application requirements. In addition to the requirements for applications for development permits as contained within Section 47-24, Development Permits and Procedures, an application for a development permit for a child day care facility shall also include the following:

1.

A traffic and parking plan showing the location and number of parking spaces; location of loading and unloading area; traffic circulation on and off of the parcel and relationship of potential traffic to and from the child day care facility with existing traffic on adjacent streets and roadways.

2.

Documentation evidencing compliance with all requirements of the state and any agency authorized to regulate child day care facilities.

(Ord. No. C-97-19, § 1(47-18.7), 6-18-97; Ord. No. C-99-18, § 3, 3-16-99)