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Chair Pearce indicated that she was leaning toward not having the State involved in licensing entities that are exempt and that she felt the City can work things out and control it at the City level. Chair Pearce inquired if applications are currently on hold because of review. Mr. Dolan replied this is a complex issue and that he had hoped to have the matter to the Commission sooner. With respect to the question of unintended consequences, he stated that he believes there are some and are in limited areas. He noted that if the City calls an entity a child care and forces it to get a license, the entity is automatically in the “E” occupancy classification, which has some separation requirements which can result in cost of additional construction or can be solved with sprinklers. Mr. Dolan stated that there is not a lot more information he could provide and that each building will have a different circumstance.He noted that in Jack Balch’s building, the “E” occupancy was not an issue because the entire building was categorized as “E”. He pointed out that it is not about what is going on in the building but about what is next to each other, and in this case, the separation of uses was resolved by calling the entire building “E”. He stated that this would exist in some circumstances and have an added expense, such as increased restrooms, and recreation areas, which can be expensive. He noted that If the City sends the entity to the State, the State’s regulations require 75 square feet outdoors per student, and historically the State has not granted many exceptions, although exemptions have been granted in some instances. He added that the State was prepared to do that for John Pfund’s application because he had an area devoted to physical activity within the space. He noted that there were some who did not believe this was adequate because it would eliminate some building spaces as they could not provide physical activity space inside or outside. Mr. Dolan stated that another major unintended consequence is that there are not many zones that allow child care uses, which would, therefore, significantly limit opportunities for applications, regardless of the building. He noted that this has been presented in the form of a policy that the City would use to interpret terms, and the City could start changing the zoning code to allow more uses to accommodate child care. Mr. Dolan noted that if the Commission chose Option A and relies on the State, the only concern would be the limitation on opportunities, and staff could expand those opportunities through zoning amendments. Commissioner Narum questioned education requirements to get a day care license. She inquired how specific the State is in terms of would two years of college be enough or would there be specific classes to meet the licensing requirements. Mr. Dolan replied that staff got into detail regarding this with the Tri-Valley Martial Arts project. He stated that there were three paths: a Bachelor of Arts degree in anything gets the person a long way there; less than a Bachelor’s degree may require additional PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES, July 8, 2009 Page 12 of 15