Childcare facilities easier to open after Pierce County approves new zoning laws
Pierce County officials are updating the county’s zoning rules to make it easier for childcare providers to open new facilities.
The changes, which go into effect on July 1, make it easier for home-based childcare facilities to open and scale back the permitting process that commercial childcare facilities have previously been required to go through. Pierce County Executive Ryan Mello said the changes were among the county’s priorities in the latest version of its comprehensive plan – the result of feedback county leaders have heard about the lack of childcare in the region.
“I hear all the time that working families are having more and more of a difficult time finding available childcare, much less available [and] affordable child care,” Mello told The News Tribune.
Pierce County has an abundance of people who need childcare, and childcare providers who want to offer more, he said. The zoning changes seek to bridge the gap between those two groups.
Pierce County council member Robyn Denson (District 7) said childcare providers looking to open new businesses face restrictions from a variety of agencies, like the state. The changes are part of the county’s efforts to make childcare more accessible under the county’s zoning rules.
“Our role with childcare is predominantly around zoning and land use regulations,” she told The News Tribune. “So essentially we regulate where child care facilities can exist.”
Childcare providers said the changes would benefit both them and their customers.
Maria Tobin, program manager for the South Sound Military and Communities Partnership, said the region’s military families could especially stand to benefit from the new zoning changes.
Servicemembers at Joint Base Lewis-McChord live in unincorporated Pierce County, Denson noted. The zoning changes will help thrm access childcare closer to home and could allow their partners to find work – in turn reducing financial strain on the region’s military families.
“We know child care is a nationwide issue,” Tobin told The News Tribune. “We know it is one of the biggest barriers for military families to have that second income.”
Anecdotally, Tobin said she is hearing about more childcare providers applying for business loans to open more childcare facilities since the county finalized the zoning changes.
“[We’re] excited to see that progress is being made in this area,” she said.
