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Warrensburg amends parking rules for day cares, halves floor-area requirement
Summary
The Warrensburg City Council adopted an ordinance amending Section 27-406 to cut the gross-floor-area parking ratio for day cares and preschools and switch to a hybrid formula of staff-on-duty plus square footage.
Warrensburg city officials on April 14 adopted an ordinance that changes how the city calculates parking for day care centers and preschools, lowering the previous requirement that had produced an unusually high demand for spaces on some projects.
Barbara Carroll, director of community development, told the City Council the amendment revises Section 27-406 of the city code to require one parking space for each employee on the maximum shift plus one space per 400 square feet of gross floor area, instead of the previous formula of one space per employee plus one per 200 square feet.
The change was prompted by the school district’s plan to convert the former Woods grocery store at 1047 South Maguire Street into a multiuse facility that includes early‑childhood classrooms. Carroll said the city’s existing formula would have required roughly 160 spaces for the preschool portion of that project, while the recommended standard would require about 102 spaces. The current site plan for the building already shows 145 spaces.
Carroll said staff reviewed ordinances in other Missouri cities and inspected recent local projects, including All Stars Daycare and a Christian school near the Casey’s on Young Street, before making the recommendation. City staff reported wide variation among peer communities — from single‑digit requirements up to triple‑digit requirements for similar uses — and concluded the current Warrensburg standard was “excessive.” The Planning and Zoning Commission recommended approval at its recent meeting; the district’s design firm, Insight Design, had requested the review.
Councilors unanimously adopted the ordinance after public hearing; no substantive public testimony was offered at the hearing. The amendment reduces the square‑footage factor by half (from 1 per 200 sq ft to 1 per 400 sq ft) and replaces the “per employee” calculation with one space per employee on the maximum shift to reflect staggered staffing.
The change is intended to better match actual peak parking demand associated with drop‑off/pick‑up patterns, Carroll said, and she noted the city’s review also considered on‑site circulation for pickup and drop‑off so queuing would not obstruct pedestrian or vehicular movement.
Council members voted unanimously to adopt the ordinance.
Looking ahead, staff said the revised standard will apply to future permit applications and to the school district’s Maguire Street project; Carroll said the district’s current site plan should meet the new requirement without additional parking construction.
