EVERETT — Two county council members are hoping to expedite the process of approving child care centers in Snohomish County amid an ongoing shortage of providers.
In an ordinance introduced Wednesday, the council members, Democrat Jared Mead and Republican Nate Nehring, proposed allowing child care centers in certain residential zones. The ordinance would also amend zoning regulations to define day care centers as “permitted uses” in some areas, shortening the application process for new centers.
The ordinance would only affect unincorporated areas of Snohomish County. Cities in the county have jurisdiction over their zoning.
It’s part of an effort to “remove as many barriers as possible” to building new child care facilities, Mead said in an interview Friday. He hopes the new ordinance could entice facilities to open to meet the growing need for child care throughout the county, while bringing down costs.
“This is all about building up the child care industry, building more slots,” Mead said. “Washington state is known as a pretty tough state in terms of child care needs versus child care slots, and in Snohomish County we’re on the worse end of that.”
A Washington State Department of Commerce report issued in 2022 called the state of the child care market “broken.” The cost of full-time care for a child preschool age or younger can be up to 35% of a two-parent family’s income and up to 150% of a single parent’s income, the report found.
The high costs of child care and lack of availability can be barriers to employment for parents. A 2019 survey from the Department of Commerce found nearly half of parents who responded found it difficult to find, afford and keep child care. Over a quarter of those who responded either quit their job or left school because of child care issues.
The ordinance would allow day care centers in some urban residential zones, where current requirements only allow the centers when connected to a school or place of worship. It would also allow day care centers to be built in areas zoned for townhomes, where the centers are currently prohibited.
The proposed ordinance would allow day care centers under 8,000 square feet inside certain residential zones to be administratively approved. Administrative approval means providers would not be required to apply for a conditional use permit, which requires a decision from the county’s hearing examiner. Those hearings can add about two to three extra months to the approval process, a council document said.
“We’re not exempting the facilities from any reviews. It just doesn’t force it to go through a hearing,” Mead said. “They still have to pass all the same permitting and zoning requirements.”
The County Council will host a discussion on child care at its administrative session at 9 a.m. March 18. A public hearing on the ordinance is set to take place at the County Council meeting March 19.
“If I can summarize it in one sentence, we want to make it easier for providers to open and operate child care facilities in Snohomish County,” Nehring said in an interview Thursday.
Will Geschke: 425-339-3443; william.geschke@heraldnet.com; X: @willgeschke.
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