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State law would let small child-care homes operate in Mount Desert residential areas, board told
Summary
Planning staff told the Mount Desert Planning Board that LD 2173 requires municipalities to allow small and family child-care providers in residential zones (both defined by the state and capped around 12 children); the board discussed licensing, traffic and whether larger facilities should trigger planning-board review.
Mount Desert’s planning board discussed how recent state law changes will affect child-care uses in residential neighborhoods and what local zoning language must change.
A presenter reviewing LD 2173 said the statute identifies two types of residential child-care uses — "small child-care facilities" and "family child-care providers" — and that both state definitions are capped (the presenter described the cap as about 12 children). "Essentially what they're saying is that they want someone to be able to have a child care daycare out of their house," the presenter said, and added that a town cannot impose zoning requirements for those uses that are stricter than those applied to single-family homes.
Board members raised typical neighborhood concerns: traffic and drop-off impacts, noise and whether small in-home operations should be routed to planning-board review when they appear likely to generate neighborhood impacts. The presenter said the town's code officer retains discretion to request additional information — for example, traffic data — when a proposed use is likely to create an impact, and noted that the child-care provider still must meet state licensing, health and safety requirements.
One practical option the board discussed was distinguishing a small home-based child-care use from a larger daycare by creating a separate larger-child-care use category and restricting where larger facilities are allowed; that approach would preserve local control over larger facilities while aligning with the statute's requirement to allow small in-home childcare.
Next steps: Staff will add required child-care definitions to the town’s table of uses and propose locations and thresholds for any larger-child-care facility category; the board will revisit draft language in a future meeting for public review.
