What it Means: This Amendment complies with recent NH RSA changes regarding home-based child care, while differentiating the use from non-residential programs.
- This amendment is necessary due to recent changes in State law found under RSA 674:16 VI (brought forth as HB 1567). NH Towns and Cities are legally obligated to follow these changes. Per RSA 674:16 VI, home-based child care shall be allowed as an accessory use to any primary residential use by right or by conditional use permit if all requirements for such programs adopted in rules of the Department of Health and Human Services are met.
The RSA also states that “Family or Group Family Child Care…shall not be subject to local site plan review in any zone where a primary residential use is permitted.” This effectively eliminates any possibility of requiring a conditional use permit because any criteria that would be included would also be typical of site plan review and would not be allowed. Therefore, Family Child Care and Group Family Child Care are shown as permitted uses in all zoning districts, if operated in a home that is the primary residence of the provider.
- Family Child Care is defined and enumerated in Section 3.40.
- Group Family Child Care is defined and enumerated in Section 3.41.
- A new use titled “Non-Residential Child Care Programs”, which captures everything that is not categorized by the State as home-based child care, has been added as a prohibited use in the residential zones.
Non-Residential Child Care Programs may be permitted with Site Plan Review in the Business, Business Seasonal, Industrial, and General zoning districts.
Question at Deliberative Session: Does child care service now need zoning approval? It does not, as dictated by the change in the RSA.
The changes incorporated in Article 9 are highlighted at this link.