Date: Fri 10-Apr-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

P&Z-Day-Care-Commerce-Road

Full Text:

P&Z Considers Day Care Center In Commerce Park

(with cut)

BY ANDREW GOROSKO

Wendy and John Whelan of Cedar Hill Road are seeking Planning and Zoning

Commission (P&Z) approval to convert the former Prudential insurance building

at 10 Commerce Road into the Misty Morning Child Day Care Center.

The proposed center would care for a maximum of 114 children and have a

maximum staff of 25 people. Its hours would be Mondays through Fridays from

6:30 am to 6 pm.

Child day care centers must be licensed by the state. The existing one-story

6,000-square-foot brick building is on a two-acre site. The site would also

include a fenced-in playground that could hold a maximum of 30 children at any

one time. There would be 53 parking spaces.

Attorney David Harting of Middlebury represents the Whelans in the

application.

At an April 2 Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) public hearing on the

application, Mr Harting provided letters of support for the project from

several businesses on Commerce Road.

The former insurance office at 10 Commerce Road is built with a truss-style

roof and thus has no support posts inside. The floor plan for the day care

center would have to be approved by the state.

Mr Harting asserted that Commerce Road is broad enough to handle traffic

arriving at and leaving the proposed center.

P&Z member Michael Osborne recommended that garbage be hauled away from the

site when the center is closed to prevent any possible traffic hazards to

children.

Mr Osborne also urged that a clearly marked pathway linking the building to

the proposed playground be painted on the ground to make it clear to children

how to get from one place to the other.

Pointing out that the day care center would be catering hot lunches to 114

children, P&Z Chairman Stephen Koch urged that a concrete pad be set beneath

the facility's large steel garbage bin. A concrete pad would be easier to

clean than an earthen surface.

Mrs Whelan explained that most children cared for at the center would be

between the ages of three and five.

It also is possible to secure a special state license to care for children

from six weeks old to age three, she said.

The center also would care for the children of staffers. Those children would

be five to ten years old.

The summer months tend to be slower times for day care centers, she said.

The facility would offer morning, midday and afternoon sessions for children,

according to Ms Whelan.

The center would serve the children of the many people who work in commercial

and industrial facilities on Commerce Road, besides other areas.

Craig Johnstone, the owner of 18 Commerce Road, termed the proposed center

"something I think would be very beneficial in that area."

P&Z member Robert Taylor asked whether 53 parking spaces are enough spaces.

Discussion

Later, P&Z member Daniel Fogliano made a motion to approve the proposed child

day care center, provided that a concrete pad be used as a base for the

facility's large steel garbage bin, and that a pathway between the building

and the playground be clearly marked.

Mr Harting asked whether the base could be made of asphalt. Mr Koch responded

that asphalt is too soft and would sag in warm weather under the garbage bin's

heavy weight.

P&Z member James Boylan said he wanted more time to review information on how

much traffic the day care center would generate on nearby roads. Mr Boylan

said there are a number of traffic-related issues stemming from the proposal

which bother him.

On that note, Mr Boylan made a motion to postpone action on the proposal. The

motion was seconded by Mr Osborne.

In the vote on postponing action, Mr Boylan, Mr Osborne, and Mr Koch voted to

postpone, but Mr Fogliano and Heidi Winslow voted not to postpone.

Because the public hearing on the day care center had been completed by the

P&Z, no new information may be provided by the applicants before the P&Z makes

a decision on the day care proposal.

The applicants have submitted two traffic documents. One is a complete traffic

report prepared in 1995 by a traffic engineer. The other is a 1998 traffic

document which was prepared by the applicants' architectural firm.