Planning commission approves zoning change to align Lakewood code with Senate Bill 5509

The Lakewood Planning Commission voted to approve Resolution 2025-04 to amend the city’s land use code to conform to Senate Bill 5509, staff said. The code change would allow commercial child care centers and conversions of existing buildings for child care as outright permitted uses in most residential and commercial zones and provide conditional-use approval in industrial and light-industrial zones (except near high-hazard facilities).

Staff planning advisor Tiffany said, “Senate Bill 5509 is the reason for this discussion,” and summarized that the state law requires expanded allowances for child care and that Lakewood’s code must reflect those changes. She told commissioners the city would not be required to comply until June 2027 but recommended the commission continue work now to finish the local code updates and close outstanding gaps.

The amendments explicitly clarify family daycare (home-based care for up to 12 children) in the residential-use tables and shift some earlier conditional allowances to permitted uses in zones such as arterial-residential and neighborhood-commercial where the code had previously required conditional approval. Staff emphasized that in industrial one and two zones an on-site child care facility would be allowed only by conditional use so that site- and safety-specific conditions could be imposed.

Commissioner Lynn Larson moved to approve Resolution 2025-04; Robert Estrada seconded the motion. Staff reported there was no public testimony during the hearing. After commissioners confirmed that industrial one and two zones would remain conditional uses (staff clarified the table reflects conditional status there), the motion was adopted and the item will proceed to City Council (staff noted council study would begin November 10 and council’s public hearing would be November 17).

Commissioners asked staff to return with specific draft regulatory language and implementation details, including any screening requirements for outdoor play areas and how conditional-use criteria would address safety at industrial sites. Staff said they will draft regulations and return to the commission before the council hearings.

Next steps: staff will prepare redlined code amendments and the required public-notice packet and take the amendments through a City Council public hearing and action process in accordance with the schedule set out by planning staff.