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Lakewood Planning Commission approves zoning changes to implement state child-care law
Summary
The Planning Commission approved Resolution 2025-04 to align Lakewood zoning with Senate Bill 5509, allowing commercial child-care centers in most zones and requiring conditional-use review for certain industrial sites; the item moves to city council for further hearings.
The City of Lakewood Planning Commission on a unanimous voice vote approved Resolution 2025-04 on local zoning changes intended to implement Senate Bill 5509, which requires expanding where commercial child-care centers may operate.
Staff said the state bill will not require local compliance until June 2027, but recommended completing local code changes now to close policy gaps. "This is brand new in state law. It's a couple months old," a planning staff member said while presenting the proposed amendments.
The adopted changes make new construction and conversions for commercial child-care centers an outright permitted use in most zones, with exceptions for industrial, light industrial and open-space areas. In industrial or light-industrial zones the draft code provides for conditional-use approval for on-site child-care centers, with special exclusions near high-hazard facilities. Staff explained that the conditional-use process gives the city a chance to require site-specific safety measures where needed.
Commissioners sought and received clarification about who would be responsible for safety and operations where child care would sit inside business parks. "The city would be looking to see what's on site, what's the surrounding uses, what's needed to make sure that those kids would be safe," the staff member said, adding that licensed commercial child-care operations are also subject to state licensing rules.
The commission voted to approve Resolution 2025-04 and directed staff to forward the item to the City Council. Staff noted the council’s schedule: the council review is expected to start on November 10 and a council public hearing is scheduled for November 17. No public testimony was offered to the commission at the hearing.
What happens next: staff will draft implementing regulations and return to the commission with proposed code language and any recommended buffers, screening or operational limits where alcohol and child-care uses overlap. The commission did not adopt local buffers during this meeting and left specifics to forthcoming draft regulations and the council process.
