Council approves zoning change to allow 10,000-square-foot daycare at 5602 Dexam Road

The Rowlett City Council on Tuesday approved an amendment to a planned development to allow a 10,000-square-foot daycare building at 5602 Dexam Road and to modify site standards, voting 6-0 to adopt the ordinance.

The amendment authorizes The Learning Experience to operate a daycare by right on the approximately 1.49-acre lot, increases the maximum off-street parking from the 24 spaces required by code to 40 spaces, and eliminates the code-required dedicated drop-off and pick-up lane for the site. Planner Liliana Morajon presented the staff report and described the specific zoning change requested: converting a lot within PD 1-6-98a (revised) to PD 6-3-25 (revised) with the development regulations modified for daycare use.

Morajon told the council the property would be a roughly 10,000-square-foot building set back about 50 feet from Dexam Road, about 30 feet tall, with two proposed ingress and egress points. She said staff reviewed the project against the Rowlett development code and concluded a traffic-impact analysis was not required under code thresholds. ‘‘This amendment, if it does get approved, it’s going to be for that specific site,’’ Morajon said.

The applicant, identified as Vensha with The Learning Experience, told the council the franchise operates more than 500 centers nationwide and described the applicant’s operational model as one in which parents park, escort children inside, and sign them in. ‘‘We have parents come, park their car, bring their children inside safely,’’ she said, adding that a typical drop-off or sign-in takes about five to 10 minutes and that nearby project studies showed a peak of about 14 parent vehicles at any one time at a similar center.

Council members questioned traffic and circulation. Council Member Shoop and others raised concern about backups onto Dexam Road given the proximity of an elementary school and other nearby traffic generators. Staff and the applicant said the site plan includes a median cut and two access points; the applicant and engineering staff said city engineers had discussed the configuration and supported bidirectional on-site circulation with the median cut to help traffic flow.

The planning and zoning commission recommended approval by a 5-1 vote with one abstention. Council Member Bowers moved approval; Council Member Reeves seconded. The motion carried unanimously, 6-0.

Council and applicant comments noted that the project’s full staffing and enrollment would build up over time and that additional on-site parking was requested to accommodate staff rotation and peak parent parking demand. The applicant also said buses were not planned at present but that smaller vehicle-based pick-up services could be used in the future.

The council action amends the planned development regulations for the site; the ordinance adopted will apply only to the described lot and not to other properties in the wider PD area.