Commission reviews Olive Boulevard parcel for potential child day care; code’s 80,000‑sq.-ft. threshold questioned

During the Sept. 4 meeting the Planning & Community Design Commission reviewed an application and staff analysis about a vacant parcel along Olive Boulevard that an applicant proposed to convert to a child day care. Planning staff told commissioners the city’s current code treats stand‑alone child day care centers in the corridor as a special‑permit use and historically has required large lot areas (staff cited an 80,000‑sq.-ft. threshold used to control certain corridor uses). The parcel under discussion measures about 17,860 square feet and is smaller than the stated threshold. Staff and commissioners discussed several points: whether lowering the size threshold (for example to 20,000 sq. ft.) or using a site‑by‑site special permit could allow a day care; state licensing and square‑footage and outdoor‑space rules that the applicant will need to meet; parking and drop‑off circulation concerns; the amount of outdoor green space the site could provide; and the owner’s willingness or ability to reconfigure the lot (for example by removing asphalt) as a condition of approval. Commissioners emphasized they do not want Olive Boulevard to be occupied by a cluster of similar single uses and that any exception should protect streetscape and stormwater objectives. Staff said the special‑permit process already allows the commission to add site‑specific criteria (for example increased green‑space minimums, circulation and parking rules, or design conditions) and recommended doing a technical feasibility review — including fire‑marshal and state licensing checks — for the specific site before drafting any code edits. No code change was adopted at the Sept. 4 meeting; staff will follow up with a feasibility assessment and, if warranted, propose conditional‑use criteria or targeted code amendments.