Reston parents paying nearly $20,000 a year for home-based child care could have more options if Fairfax County supervisors eliminate the public hearings that currently stand between would-be day care operators and approval.
At the Land Use Policy Committee meeting on Tuesday, a majority of supervisors directed county staff to draft zoning changes that would make opening a home day care serving up to 12 children a purely administrative process. No Planning Commission hearing. No Board of Zoning Appeals review. No Board of Supervisors vote.
"The fear of going through the process rebuffs those who might be interested in providing day-care services at home," Springfield Supervisor Pat Herrity said at the meeting.
The push comes as the median annual cost of home-based day care in Fairfax County sits at $19,760, according to 2025 data from the Virginia Early Childhood Foundation. Center-based infant care runs even higher at $27,300.
A 100% approval rate — after months of waiting
County data tells the story of a process that rarely says no but always says wait. Of 53 home day care applications that reached a public hearing between January 2024 and June 2026, every single one was approved.
Yet applicants spent a median of 104 days just getting their paperwork accepted, then another 104 days awaiting a Board of Zoning Appeals decision on special permits. Applications requiring Board of Supervisors approval took 251 days. The application fee alone is $615, plus more than $1,000 for a required zoning plat.
Sully District Supervisor Kathy Smith noted that some applications are "taking over 200 days" through the Board of Supervisors process.
Two options on the table
County planner Jacqui Kamp presented two paths forward. Arlington County already allows home day cares serving up to 12 children without a public hearing, a model that informed the staff proposals.
Option 1 would allow all home day cares serving five to 12 children to obtain an administrative permit, eliminating public hearings entirely. It would also let providers hire a second nonresident employee, up from one.
Option 2 would keep a legislative process but raise the by-right threshold to 10 children in single-family detached homes, require a special permit only for 11 or 12 children, and let applicants submit a simpler house location survey instead of a full zoning plat.
Supervisors Dalia Palchik (Providence), Dan Storck (Mount Vernon), Rodney Lusk (Franconia), and Herrity all expressed a preference for Option 1 at the Tuesday meeting.
Reston's representative keeps options open
Hunter Mill District Supervisor Walter Alcorn, whose district covers Reston, said he "could live with either of these approaches." Board Chairman Jeff McKay similarly said he could support either option but suggested that if any oversight layer remains, it should sit with the Board of Zoning Appeals rather than the full board because the BZA process moves faster.
What comes next
County staff will develop draft zoning ordinance text and hold community outreach meetings in fall 2026, with translation services and targeted outreach to existing providers. According to the county's planning department white paper, staff projected authorization and public hearings by early 2027.
Fairfax County currently has 1,158 licensed or permitted home daycares, according to the June 2026 white paper. The Planning Commission's Land Use Process Review Committee was scheduled to take up the proposal on Thursday, July 9.
