Zoning commission recommends Primrose daycare at Sherbrooke Center amid neighbors’ traffic and safety concerns

The Palm Beach County Zoning Commission on the morning of May 1 recommended approval of a development-order amendment and a Class A conditional use to allow a Primrose Schools daycare on a 2.14-acre parcel at the Sherbrooke Center, at the northeast corner of Lantana and Lyons roads.

The commission’s recommendation is advisory; the Board of County Commissioners will make the final decision on June 18 at 9:30 a.m. at 301 North Olive Avenue in West Palm Beach. Zoning staff recommended approval, subject to conditions in exhibits C‑1 and C‑2.

Why it matters: Residents said the proposed center would add drop-off and pick-up traffic to an area already constrained by several schools and day cares and by a busy, crash-prone intersection. Staff and the project’s traffic consultant said the daycare would generate fewer daily trips than the previously approved retail use and that its on-site parking and circulation would limit queuing onto public streets.

The applicant, Zachary Todd, identified himself as the site planner and civil engineer with HSQ Group and said the proposal converts a previously approved 19,800-square-foot retail pad into a 13,794-square-foot Primrose daycare building (the applicant also used a rounded figure of “about 13,000 square feet” during the presentation). Todd told the commission the proposal would reduce daily vehicle trips compared with the prior retail approval – “We’re proposing 1,171, which is a 6,000 decrease from previously approved,” he said during the presentation.

Nancy Frantani of the county…