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Fairfax County is considering zoning changes intended to make opening home daycare facilities faster and less expensive, county staff told the Board of Supervisors’ Land Use Policy Committee on July 7.

Under current rules, home daycares serving five to 12 children require a license from the Virginia Department of Education and must navigate a county zoning process that takes an average of 104 days for special permits and 251 days for special exceptions. Smaller operations serving up to four children require county health and fire-safety inspections and a permit renewed annually.

“Access to high quality, affordable childcare is a critical component of a community’s well-being,” said Jacqui Kamp, a county staff member.

County documents identified areas of Fairfax County that lack adequate childcare access for children younger than five, though the presentation did not specify which neighborhoods face shortages.

Staff presented two preliminary approaches. The first would allow home daycares serving five to 12 children to operate under an administrative permit and would increase the permitted number of nonresident workers from one to two. The second would preserve the legislative zoning process while changing submission requirements and modifying permissions.

All 53 home-daycare zoning applications that reached the public-hearing stage were approved, a record Board Chair Jeff McKay cited in arguing for streamlined review. “It takes way too long,” he said.

Supervisor Pat Herrity agreed the process should be easier but said the requirement that a daycare be operated by a person who uses the house as their primary residence should remain. “It’s a hard process,” he said, but the residency rule prevents houses from being purchased solely as daycare businesses.

Supervisor Jimmy Bierman said “an administrative process that makes it easier if we set the proper boundaries” around parking and operations could be appropriate.

Under existing rules, one nonresident staff member may work at a home daycare from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday.

The proposals are preliminary. County staff could begin drafting the changes this summer, with public feedback planned for fall 2026. No zoning change has been adopted.