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Planner says state bills will require broader childcare allowances; city to map implementation
Summary
City planner Hans Sheppard told the Lacey Planning Commission that recent state legislation would require child care centers to be permitted in most zoning districts and create new occupancy pathways for existing buildings; staff will return with proposed code language and implementation options.
Hans Sheppard, the City of Lacey’s senior community planner, told the Planning Commission on March 25 that two recently passed state bills will require the city to change how it treats child care centers.
Sheppard summarized the first bill (referred to in the briefing as Senate Bill 5509) as requiring child care centers to be permitted in most zoning districts, with two caveats for light industrial and open-space/institutional zones. He said the city already permits day care centers in many zones but will need to create conditional-use pathways where outright permitting is not required.
A second measure (referred to in discussion as 5655) focuses on occupancy and load calculations for existing buildings and, Sheppard said, appears to create an easier pathway for religious institutions to convert space into child care. He said those building-level occupancy and licensing requirements remain governed by the building official and by state licensing rules, which the city will reference rather than duplicate in local code.
Commissioners asked whether the bills apply to home-based care or only to larger institutional providers. Sheppard said the legislation is oriented toward institutional child care ("kinder care"-style facilities) rather than individual, in-home providers. He also said the city will need to add or adjust language about vehicle drop-off and loading areas depending on zone and use.
Sheppard said implementation will likely be a low-to-moderate code change in Lacey because the city already permits many day care uses, but staff will return with draft code language to create conditional-use pathways for light industrial zones, standardize loading/drop-off requirements, and reference state occupancy calculations in the building code.
The Commission did not vote on policy changes at the March 25 meeting; Sheppard said staff will prepare draft code amendments and present them at future meetings, then hold a public hearing before any recommendation to the City Council.
