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DRAFT <br />any age. She noted that this use was considered a daycare if a waiver were provided, as included <br />in the packet but clarified that the City was not obligated to agree. <br />Commissioner Pearce noted that she had looked up the definition of "care and supervision" with <br />respect to the general licensing requirements, which covered "maintenance of rules, protection of <br />children, supervision of children's activities and schedules." Because this program stated that <br />children could come and go as they please, the applicant indicated that they did not provide rules <br />and supervision and, thereby, did not provide care and supervision under the definition, and, <br />therefore, was exempt. Ms. Decker confirmed that was the premise stated by the applicant and <br />as described by the Department of Social Services. She added that the DSS policy described <br />children who did not need supervision. She noted the applicant's premise that the parent would <br />sign a waiver acknowledging that the use was not a day care and that all of the applicant's <br />activities were martial arts activities. She stated that the floor plan showed computer and resting <br />areas and that while the applicant claimed all the activities were related to martial arts, staff did <br />not believe that some activities, such as coloring, qualified for that status. She added that <br />homework involving martial arts language was done, as was regular school homework; in those <br />cases, the children were being supervised. <br />Commissioner Fox cited a letter from Mike Martin, which read, "My wife and I both work and <br />find it increasingly difficult to cobble together after-school care for our children." A second <br />letter from Cherie Francois read, "... they are available to watch my child during the hours that I <br />need for him to be in an after-school program." The January 9 letter from Laura Tenorio-Fejeran <br />read, "I cannot find another program with such a high level of care...." She noted that the <br />parents used the word "care" in their letters, which seemed to contradict the "not-a-day-care" <br />waiver. <br />Commissioner Fox inquired whether, if the facility was located in an industrial area and the <br />children were free to come and go to the facility, the children would walk home. <br />Ms. Decker noted that Commissioner Fox's first statement regarding the letters from parents <br />generally addressed "care," not "day care," although some letters specifically stated that if the <br />after-school program were to be closed down, some parents would need to find day care. Staff <br />noted that this application was similar to some other uses that resembled day care, with some of <br />the components of day care such as transportation; staff crafted language requiring that the <br />children be signed in and out in order to follow the City's practice. Similarly, as an example, <br />Ms. Decker stated that the City had many applications with second residential units that looked <br />like and had all of the facilities for second residential units; residents may state that they were <br />not second residential units, but the City would proceed in requiring that they conform to the <br />second residential unit ordinance. Generally, if a site resembled a particular use, the City <br />proceeded on that basis and required the proposal to meet the ordinance. <br />With respect to Commissioner Fox's question regarding children in industrial areas being free to <br />come and go, Ms. Decker replied that the issue of having use permits in industrial zones <br />involving children has been a particularly difficult for both staff and the Planning Commission. <br />Staff has had various internal discussions regarding the appropriateness of having these uses in <br />industrial areas and that the Code allowed these uses with conditional use permits. Staff looked <br />DRAFT EXCERPTS: PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES, 2-13-2008 Page 2 of 15 <br />