Contact Vancouver Coastal Health’s Community Care and Facilities Licensing (CCFL) division at 604-675-3800. All enquiries will be forwarded to our Commercial Renovation Centre (CRC) for review.
Our staff work with developers, building and landscape architects, and early childhood educators to plan and design new group childcare centres in ways that contribute to the social, emotional, intellectual, and physical wellbeing of children.
Steps for establishing a childcare centre
If you are running a childcare with eight children or less, you will:
Need to live in your home
Not need a development permit, but you will be required to get a special inspection of your home followed by a building permit
Important note All new childcare centres and changes to exiting childcare centres require community care facilities licensing (CCFL) approval before we review an enquiry. If you don't have this clearance, you will need to contact Vancouver Coastal Health External website, opens in new tab.
Childcares are licensed by the Province of BC health authorities, which set licensing standards and regularly inspect licensed facilities. In Vancouver, the licensing body is Vancouver Coastal Health’s Community Care and Facilities Licensing (CCFL) division.
Our childcare design guidelines are based on best practices and research. They build on provincial regulations with the intent of providing healthy child development opportunities.
The guidelines are applied where childcare facilities are required as a condition of rezoning and for conditional approval development applications involving childcare facilities. If you plan to develop a new childcare centre your plans will be reviewed for compliance with these guidelines at the rezoning stage, development permit stage, or both.
Provincial regulations are typically seen as minimum health and safety standards, and should be viewed in concert with City guidelines. We set a larger minimum amount of outdoor space per child than the Province.
Our requirements allow for a greater range of large-muscle movements (running, jumping, biking), which has been proven to be essential in preventing health problems such as obesity, and in promoting cognitive, social, and emotional brain development, while making for more humane environments for children.
Ample space to learn and play is critical to quality childcare, particularly in high-density urban areas where an increasing number of children are growing up in smaller housing units without access to open space at home. Access to quality, licensed childcare improves healthy outcomes for children, and supports workforce participation of parents. It also helps to equalize outcomes between disadvantaged children and their peers.
Develop a business plan to ensure the childcare is financially feasible and incorporates the our design guidelines and provincial licensing requirements.
Applications must address relevant regulations, policies, and guidelines, including the our childcare design guidelines, Provincial regulations, and our expectations for high quality urban design. While most childcares are permitted as conditional uses in City zoning, it is important to check the specific zoning regulations and by-laws that apply to the location which you are considering for a childcare.
To apply for a development permit, take the CCFL memo along with a copy of your licensing application form to our Inquiry Centre. You can speed up the process by including:
A complete and detailed set of plans that includes info on the proposed indoor and outdoor spaces
A building permit application is comprised of construction drawings and specifications prepared by the applicant, which complies with the Vancouver Building By-law.
Once your project has been granted a development permit, submit the following:
Approval for occupancy requires that the constructed building complies with all building regulatory requirements and that the consultant team responsible for building design has similarly certified that all fire and life safety requirements have been met.
After construction is complete, request a final inspection from us to ensure that your space is safe.
Apply for your occupancy permit once you pass the final inspection.
It is the responsibility of the applicant to obtain fire department approval prior to licensing approval. You require sprinklers in a licensed child care facility if you're a group child care facility or if you have a licensed family child care that serves children under the age three. Refer to Vancouver Building By-Law Section 3.1.2.8. Child Care Facilities for more information.
In addition to sprinkler permits, other trades permits may be required.
Once we've granted the applicant permission to occupy a site, Vancouver Coastal Health Licensing officials will inspect the completed facility to ensure that all Provincial requirements have been put in place and the facility’s licence to operate can be issued.
