Annapolis committee backs ordinance to expand home-based childcare and align city rules with state standards

The Annapolis City Government Committee on Oct. 26 voted favorable recommendations on a package of changes to the city—s childcare rules (filed as O125) and forwarded the ordinance to the full City Council with committee members and sponsors continuing work on one remaining drafting detail.

Sponsor Alderman Gentlemeyer summarized the measure as "three moving pieces": aligning city childcare regulations with recent state updates, allowing "large" family childcare homes (9 to 12 children) where state law permits, and removing a local restriction that limited nonresidential employees at home-based childcare sites. (Alderman Gentlemeyer)

Committee members voted in favor of two sponsor amendments and ultimately recommended the overall ordinance for council consideration. Amendment 1 removes certain off-street parking requirements for family childcare homes to reduce the development burden on small, home-based providers; Savage described that change as a response to the reality that pick-up and drop-off patterns, rather than long-term employee parking, drive most daily demand. Committee members who represent dense neighborhoods said they were sympathetic but warned about potential spillover parking impacts.

Amendment 2 fixed an inadvertent drafting error that would have allowed larger childcare facilities in environmentally sensitive "critical areas." Alderman Savage and staff described that correction as an important catch; the committee voted to recommend the fix.

A third change, proposed at the Education Commission's suggestion, would remove the city's separate outdoor-play-area standard for childcare centers and rely instead on state standards found in COMAR (the Code of Maryland Regulations). City staff clarified the relevant COMAR citations and agreed to clean up the amendment's text before final council consideration. The sponsor withdrew an initial motion on that amendment to allow reworking of the language but asked that the committee forward the overall ordinance to the full council with the expectation the amendment will be finalized before final council action.

Director Jakubiak, who had reviewed the drafts with the sponsor, called the measure "an important piece of legislation" that "ensures that the city code is compliant with the state definitions and code and generally allows for daycare facilities." (Director Jakubiak)

The committee discussion also included brief debate about where parking limitations should remain in place: some members asked that constraints be retained in certain neighborhood commercial (NC) districts to avoid adding curb parking pressure in dense areas. The sponsor agreed the language could be tailored further to address district-specific concerns.

After discussion and a small number of procedural corrections to draft COMAR citations, the committee voted to give a favorable recommendation to O125 and authorized the sponsor to refine the Education Commission amendment before full Council consideration. Multiple aldermen joined as sponsors at the committee—s request.

If approved by the City Council, the ordinance would permit family childcare large (9—to 12 children) consistent with state law, eliminate some city-level parking requirements for home-based providers, correct the critical-area drafting error, and align outdoor-play-area standards to COMAR for childcare centers.