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Best Practices to Support Child Care

  • Strategy: Create a local, sustainable public funding source dedicated to child care facilities
  • Develop a program and/or dedicated funding source to subsidize or otherwise reduce local development review or impact fees for child care development
    • New providers do not have any source of revenue until the facility is open and operating. Helping to reduce startup costs can help a provider with cash flow and long-term sustainability. This approach is often used to support other community priorities such as affordable housing.
  • Create a property tax credit or rebate program to incentivize property owners to create new child care facilities
    • SB 24-002 took effect in August 2024 and allows local governments to create property tax credits or rebates to support local priorities (including child care). For child care providers who own their facilities, reducing this operating expense can help to support the sustainability of child care businesses. For child care providers who lease space, creating property tax credits or rebates can help to incentivize property owners to lease to child care providers and may help to reduce some rent expenses.

  • Revise local land use policies and regulations to incentivize the development or creation of child care facilities
  • Establish a housing density and/or floor-area ratio bonus program specific to child care co-location
    • Density or floor-area ratio (FAR) bonuses can be an incentive to developers who are interested in increasing density beyond what is allowed by standard zoning regulations. There are some examples outside of Colorado of local governments using this tool to support child care.
  • Create regulations that allow onsite child care serving employees as a use-by-right (administrative review)
    • Many employers are becoming increasingly interested in providing child care for employees through onsite child care, but some are located in areas where a child care use would require a variance or would not be allowed at all. Onsite child care facilities are designed to serve primarily employees who work onsite, and many impacts and safety concerns are greatly reduced as a result. Allowing onsite child care through administrative review can reduce costs and help to encourage onsite child care facilities.
  • Expand zone districts allowing child care facilities as a use-by-right (administrative review)
    • In many communities, child care facilities are a use-by-right only in commercial zones. However, they may be appropriate uses in other zone district types as well. Reviewing local codes for appropriate opportunities to expand the types of zone districts that allow child care through administrative review only can help to expand new possibilities for child care facility development.
      • White Plains, NY changed zoning to allow child care in office zones resulting in a 114-child facility in an office park
      • San Diego, California allows child care centers by right in all nonresidential zones
      • Prince George's County, Maryland has a special exception in zoning for child care facilities in excess public school buildings undergoing adaptive reuse
      • Palo Alto, California includes in its comprehensive plan a variance permitting expanded site coverage in industrial zones when the additional building space is used for child care
  • Modify/amend PUD or other standards to incentivize the integration of child care facilities as a public benefit
  • Modify zoning regulations to give weight to child care as a public benefit/public good
    • Planned Unit Developments (PUD) are a type of flexible zoning that allows for the creative use of land in a specific area to meet community need. Typically, PUDs require the demonstration of some kind of community benefit in order to be approved. Local regulations may also consider public benefit/public good as a part of the approval or variance process. Local governments can evaluate if/how child care is addressed in these regulations and consider whether there is an opportunity to support child care development in the community with modified regulations.
  • Develop inclusionary child care ordinances
    • An inclusionary ordinance requires a developer to account for the needs created by a development - for example, in an inclusionary housing ordinance a developer may be required to consider the housing needs of staff to serve the new development. Typically, the developer can opt to meet the need as a part of the development effort or pay a fee in lieu of meeting the need directly which can then be used by the local government to meet the need in conjunction with other development projects. Inclusionary ordinances for child care may be possible following a nexus study.
      • Boston has a zoning ordinance that requires the inclusion of child care in new development in 15 zone districts in the downtown area. The ordinance requires that buildings which create over 100,000 square feet of new floor space must 1) set aside a portion for a child care facility or 2) “cause such facilities to be built elsewhere in the city.”
  • Require inclusion of child care in annexations and/or new subdivisions above a certain, locally determined threshold
    • This would function similarly to an inclusionary ordinance, but would be for new annexations and/or subdivisions of a certain size
  • Create a zoning overlay zone in child care desert areas that offer incentives for child care development
  • Adopt policies that require child care opportunities as a part of dense/walkable communities
  • Developing a child care needs assessment, action plan and implement policies to promote child care development, especially in business and walkable neighborhood centers
    • When creating large-scale community plans, including prioritizing the creation of dense or walkable communities, a community may consider the amenities that residents of these communities can access without having to drive. This can help to meet local and regional emissions-reduction goals by reducing the need for driving. When identifying these standards, local leaders can consider child care as a critical service that should be located proximate to housing in a walkable/dense community.
  • Reduce parking requirements for child care facilities in local codes
    • Many child care providers find that parking requirements impose a burden on the spaces in which they might operate. Child care facilities are unique in that they have a significant need for parking for about 2 hours a day (during typical pick up and drop off times) and then very minimal needs for parking the rest of the day. Local officials can evaluate the parking requirements, and through conversations with local providers about operations, may identify opportunities to reduce parking requirements and lessen this burden, making it easier to develop new child care facilities.

  • Identify and implement opportunities to reduce regulatory barriers to the creation or expansion of family child care homes
  • Align local rules and regulations, such as building codes or zoning codes, with state licensing requirements 
  • Create local rules for flexibility in the development of child care facilities
    • Child care providers in both centers and home-based settings face several different sets of regulations including state licensing, building codes, zoning codes, health codes, and fire codes. Each set of regulations creates additional complexity for the development or redevelopment of child care, and sometimes providers even discover that the requirements of these regulations are in conflict with one another. Local officials hold the ultimate control over many of these regulations, even when they are housed in different offices. A thorough administrative review of the various regulations and codes that apply to both in-home and center-based facilities can reveal duplication and conflict which can be resolved by local officials to create greater alignment and ease for providers.
  • Develop an expedited development review process for child care facilities, including both new and redevelopment
    • Lengthy review processes can create significant expenses and loss of potential revenue for child care operators. Local officials could create an expediting process to help move child care facilities through the process more quickly, reducing their expenses and increasing the likelihood of a successful, sustainable project. This approach is often used to help support the development of affordable housing.
  • Build flexibility into local design standards for child care facilities
  • Create a local flexibility and/or waiver process for change of occupancy/use resulting in increased child care availability
    • Local design standards and change of occupancy/use requirements can create financial burdens for child care providers. Local officials can examine opportunities to create flexibility and reduce upfront costs that may be faced by those seeking to build new child care facilities.
  • Provide flexibility and incentivize home based child care through local rules and regulations
    • Colorado state law requires home-based child care facilities to be treated as a residential use. Local officials can reduce burdens on child care providers by incorporating this law into code updates.
      • DA/CDEC Resource

  • Adopt policies for the use of vacant publicly owned real property for child care facility development
  • Include vacant or underutilized property in the state’s vacant property inventory system managed by the department of personnel and administration
  • Create a land donation, land acquisition, or land banking program that includes child care as an eligible use
    • In many Colorado communities, land is difficult and/or expensive to come by. Other times, potential providers may have difficulty identifying land that may be available for child care. By creating systems and policies for cataloging available land and making it clear that it could be utilized for child care (or, even better, identifying this this as a priority use), child care providers can more easily get connected with opportunities to build new facilities.

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