What permits do you need to open a childcare centre in Lucas County Oh?

Semi-Public Sewage Disposal System Program Fee

A business in Lucas County that is not connected to a sanitary sewer and disposes of sewage through its own semi-public system pays an annual programme fee to the Toledo-Lucas County Health Department, set by the tier its system falls into. The figures above are the commercial tiers of the department's 2026 Program Fees schedule headed 'Effective: January 1, 2026'. Which tier applies turns on the system's design flow in gallons per day and on whether it is mechanical: a small restaurant or veterinary clinic on a modest non-mechanical system sits at the bottom of the range, while a large facility approaching 25,000 gallons per day sits at the top. Holding tanks are priced separately and lowest at $50.00. The schedule also carries non-commercial tiers and an exempt-government line, neither of which reaches a commercial operator. This fee is distinct from the household sewage treatment system permits on the same schedule, which apply to dwellings rather than to businesses, and from the registration a contractor needs to install or service such a system, which is recorded separately for Lucas County. A business planning a build-out on an on-site system should expect the sewage programme and the food plan review to run in parallel rather than one after the other.

Food Service Operation / Retail Food Establishment License

The Toledo-Lucas County Health Department licenses food service operations and retail food establishments for the whole county, and this is the single most useful thing to know about food licensing here: the Ohio Department of Health's own directory entry for the department reads 'Serving the city of Toledo and all of Lucas County', so a restaurant, coffee shop, grocery or convenience store in Toledo goes to the same licensor as one in Sylvania or an unincorporated township, with no separate city health department in between. The City of Toledo's own business-license page says the same thing from the other side: 'Food Safety — Licensing of food vendors is managed by the Toledo-Lucas County Health Department.' The eight figures above are read from the department's 2026 Program Fees schedule headed 'Effective: January 1, 2026' — the file the department links as its current fee schedule — and each one is independently reproduced by the department's 2026 Food Program Fee Letter, which publishes the license-fee and state-fee components separately and records the ORC 3709.09(C) public hearing held on 20 November 2025. Two mechanics matter at application time. A license is not transferable: the department's January 2026 planning application states 'TLCHD requires a plan review application and new license when change of ownership occurs. Transferring of licenses is not permitted.' And occupancy comes first — a pre-licensing inspection can be arranged only after a certificate of occupancy has been issued, with two business days' notice to schedule. A licensed child care centre that prepares or serves food needs this license; ORC 3717.42(B)(8) exempts type A and type B family child care homes preparing or serving food for the children in their care, and (B)(7) exempts an operation serving thirteen or fewer individuals daily. Expect these figures to move: the Board of Health took proposed 2027 Food Safety fees in first reading on 24 September 2026, and the proposed figures are not published.

Child Care Centre License

$50 once, and the license then runs indefinitely — Ohio issues a continuous license rather than one that expires, so there is no renewal fee. Oversight comes from inspection instead: at least one every state fiscal year. The $50 is charged again if the centre moves, which must be applied for thirty days ahead, or if the owner changes; it is never refunded or transferred. Note the agency changed: child care licensing moved from Job and Family Services to the Department of Children and Youth, and the rules were renumbered from OAC 5101:2-12 to 5180:2-12 on 2 January 2025, so older guidance names the wrong department. A family child care provider — types A and B alike, both now state-licensed rather than county-certified — pays $25 on the same continuous basis.

Shared with other businesses in Lucas County Oh

• Vending Machine Location License — Toledo-Lucas County Health Department (Lucas County Regional Health District), $17.23 a year, per vending machine location — $11.23 health district fee plus a $6.00 state amount, as broken out in the department's 2026 Food Program Fee Letter, annual, on the food licensing period — the first day of March to the last day of February of the next succeeding year. Also required for retail stores, fitness studios and auto repair shops; what it involves is set out on the retail stores page.
• Food Plan Review and Pre-Licensing Fees — Toledo-Lucas County Health Department (Lucas County Regional Health District), Food Program Plan Review Category of the Toledo-Lucas County Health Department's 2026 Program Fees schedule, headed 'Effective: January 1, 2026': Remodel Plan Review $210.00; Plan Review Class 1 & 2, less than 25,000 sq ft, $315.00; Plan Review Class 3 & 4, less than 25,000 sq ft, $470.00; Plan Review Class 1 to 4 at 25,000 sq ft or more $500.00; Expedited review $1,260.00 in addition to the applicable plan review fee; Prelicense Reinspection $100.00 for each reinspection needed; Reprint of a Level One Certification Card $10.00. The department's 2026 Food Program Fee Letter shows a $0.00 state component on each of these lines., per project — one review per plan submission, with a separate charge for each pre-licensing reinspection required. Also required for restaurants, coffee shops and retail stores; what it involves is set out on the restaurants page.