SR 05:220 - Laserfiche WebLink

During the neighborhood facilitation meetings, traffic was the issue identified and discussed. This includes traffic volumes, speed, method of drop-off and pick-up, parking, and overall parking safety. Neighborhood representatives felt that increasing the size of the daycare would increase the amount of traffic and, therefore, exacerbate the issue. The applicants demonstrated their efforts to address traffic safety through flyers they have distributed to and had signed by their customers acknowledging their need to drive slowly, drop-off children safely, and be respectful of the neighborhood in driving to and from the daycare. There was also discussion of ways to improve traffic safety for the neighborhood in general, such as with trimming hedges and adding speed bumps. Staff indicated that this matter could be referred to the City's Traffic Committee. Staff believes the Planning Commission addressed potential traffic impacts of an expanded home daycare in the adopted conditions of approval. In consideration of the traffic concerns expressed by the surrounding neighbors, the project is conditioned to require that the applicant prepare flyers, mentioned above, specifically stating that clients not park in the wrong direction, speed, park in neighboring driveways, keep their engines running, or use their car horns during pick-up and drop-off periods. The applicant will have each client sign a flyer and keep copies on file at the daycare facility. The applicant is also required to distribute her phone number to the neighbors and to encourage them to call the Suttons in the event of a problem. Facilitv Size State law and City Code define large family daycare as accommodating between seven and fourteen children. One of the goals of the neighborhood facilitation process was to reach an agreement between the Suttons and the neighbors for fewer than the maximum number of children. In this way, the Suttons would be able to expand their daycare but the number of children, and thus the amount of vehicular traffic, would be less than if the maximum of fourteen children were allowed. It was also understood that some of the children are and would likely continue to be siblings, thus reducing the amount of cars making trips to the daycare. A compromise of a maximum of twelve children and ten vehicles was proposed and tentatively agreed to by the neighbors in attendance, recognizing that they did not necessarily speak for the entire neighborhood. However, the Suttons did not agree to fewer than fourteen children. One of the key issues with the Sutton's desire for fourteen children is one of economics; since they are required to hire an additional employee when more than eight children are present, they feel that they need the potential for up to fourteen children in order to absorb the cost ofthis employee. Conditions of Approval The Planning Commission's approval of the use permit application included several operational conditions which require the Suttons to prepare flyers, signed by each daycare patron, advising them of neighborhood traffic, parking, and safety requirements, as described above. Conditions such as these are routinely used with large family daycares and seem to be effective in that few SR:05:220 Page 6