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 zoning division summarized the staff report: the site is in a Commercial High future land‑use area within a multiple-use planned development, totals about 8.89 acres, and the applicant requests a development-order amendment to amend the overall site plan and a Class A conditional use to permit a general daycare for 214 children on the 2.14-acre parcel. “At the time of publication, staff had received 18 contacts from the public, and 2 additional from yesterday evening expressing concerns related to traffic, accidents, noise, and parking,” Frantani said, and staff recommended approval subject to the conditions listed in exhibits C‑1 and C‑2.

Neighbors said the approved and existing pattern of schools and day cares in the area already creates unsafe conditions. Theresa Zabick, a Lakes of Sherbrooke resident, told the commission, “That intersection is a very dangerous intersection already,” and cited what she said were 32 crash‑related incidents at Lantana and Lyons last year, with roughly one‑third occurring in the intersection’s northeast quadrant. Sue Berman said a student fatality on Lyons Road near Woodlands Middle School “a few months ago” illustrated the risk of adding more traffic.

Several residents described recurring blocking and queuing on Aquarius Boulevard and Lantana Road during school drop‑off and pick‑up times. Richard Campbell, president of the Lakes of Sherbrooke Homeowners Association, said, “If you drive up Aquarius during drop off and pickup times, the middle school, at times, the Aquarius is impassable.” Multiple speakers asked whether a new traffic signal at Aquarius and Lantana could be installed; county traffic staff said that intersection is close to an existing signal at Lantana and Lyons and therefore likely would not qualify for a separate signal under standard spacing and warrant criteria.

Quasi Bari of the county traffic division replied to public questions on signal warrants and enforcement. Bari said the proximity to the existing Lantana‑and‑Lyons signal and the minimum spacing requirements make a new signal unlikely, and that the traffic counts used in the daycare analysis incorporated background traffic on Aquarius. “That intersection is very close to the intersection of Lantana and Lyons Road where there is already a signal,” Bari said. He also advised that patterns of motorists stopping in rights‑of‑way to drop off or pick up children may be enforcement issues for the sheriff’s office or code compliance rather than matters the zoning process can resolve directly.

Brian Kelly, the project’s traffic consultant and vice president at Simmons and White, said the daycare’s traffic profile differs from public schools because daycare drop‑off and pick‑up are spread over longer windows and include fewer vehicles at any single minute. “Day cares are very, very different,” Kelly said. “The drop off and dismissal is very spread out… It’s over two hours. It’s a much, much lower number of students, in this case, about 200 students.” Kelly said his firm’s traffic study met county code and that the daycare’s impact through the Lantana‑and‑Lyons intersection would be less than one percent of existing volume and therefore de minimis under county performance standards.

Several residents urged the commission to press the county and the school district to enforce pickup/drop‑off rules and to coordinate with the sheriff’s office. Commissioners and staff said the zoning commission’s role in this quasi‑judicial hearing is to evaluate whether the application meets the standards of approval; enforcement and traffic operations are separate matters the county, the sheriff and the school district can address.

After applicant and staff presentations and public comment, the commission voted to recommend approval of the development‑order amendment (item 5.a) and the Class A conditional use (item 5.b). The recommendation includes the staff conditions in exhibits C‑1 and C‑2 and will be forwarded to the Board of County Commissioners for final action on June 18.

What happens next: The Board of County Commissioners will hold a hearing on June 18 at 9:30 a.m. in the Jane M. Thompson Memorial Chambers, Sixth Floor, 301 North Olive Avenue, West Palm Beach. Because the zoning commission’s action is advisory, the county commission may endorse, modify, or overturn the recommendation.

Residents who raised enforcement and traffic concerns were advised to bring evidence and testimony to the Board of County Commissioners hearing and to pursue coordination with code enforcement, the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office and the school district on parking and curbside pickup enforcement.