In Snohomish County, there are 62 child care slots for every 100 infants, toddlers, or preschoolers whose parents work, nearly 20 slots less than the state average.
Washington state is facing a critical lack of child care, with Snohomish County being one of the worst within the state. Snohomish County is considered a child care desert with approximately 13,000 slots still needed to have licensed care for every child.
Last week, the County Council unanimously approved an ordinance from Councilmembers Nate Nehring and Jared Mead that aims to improve access to child care across the county by reducing regulatory barriers for where day care centers can open.
“In certain residential locations, right now, county code frankly disallows the establishment of child care facilities,” Mead said in an interview. “That’s the first barrier.”
The main piece of Ordinance 25-015 is to allow child care facilities of up to 8,000 square feet to be automatically permitted in areas they weren’t, primarily in rural residential areas, in unincorporated Snohomish County.
With the ordinance, county leaders hope to see child care facilities being built in areas that need them, but this ordinance will only scratch the surface of helping address Snohomish County’s child care desert.
“You could build all of the facilities you want, but if you don’t have the teachers willing to do the job, then it is not going to do anything,” Mead said. “People need to really understand how robust the problem is.”
With this ordinance, as long as the existing codes and regulations are followed, these businesses can be a permitted use and avoid a rather lengthy process.
“The difference in a conditional use is they (businesses) have to go through a hearing through our hearing examiner, which is not only time-consuming but a financially burdening process,” Mead said. “If it was a permitted use, all they would have to do is file for the permit through the county’s planning department.”
Since the conditional use process requires a public hearing, it could take months for it to pass in addition to the added costs, possible legal representation needed, and potential members of the community and the surrounding community fighting against your business opening up.
“It boils down to two main things. One, we are allowing it (child care facilities) in areas where it’s currently not allowed,” Mead said. “And two, the areas where they are currently allowed, but they are conditional use, we are changing to permitted use, to avoid a multi-month and expensive process.”
