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Commission backs UDC amendments to ease siting of childcare and expand co‑location options
Summary
The commission unanimously recommended that City Council adopt a package of Unified Development Code amendments designed to reduce barriers for commercial childcare, add a co‑located accessory childcare use, and adjust parking and locational standards to encourage childcare near workplaces and civic uses.
The Planning Commission on April 8 unanimously recommended that City Council adopt proposed amendments to the Unified Development Code intended to expand where commercial child and adult day care centers can locate and to simplify approvals for co‑located childcare.
Senior planner Allison Stocker described the package as a targeted effort to reduce regulatory barriers without altering state licensing or building codes. Key proposals include permitting or making conditional certain childcare uses in more nonresidential and residential zone districts, adding a new "adult or child day care center — accessory" use that allows independent providers to occupy space in civic, office, higher‑density residential or employment settings, and reducing the commercial parking requirement from 1 space per 400 square feet to 1 per 600 square feet in nonresidential settings to support adaptive reuse.
"We are proposing 1 per 600," Stocker said of the proposed parking standard, while noting stakeholders recommended retaining a higher parking ratio in established older neighborhoods. Stakeholders and commenters urged balanced protections for neighborhoods; Diane Bridges and Dutch Schultz asked for conditional use review in many residential zones and for limits on primary access from residential streets or alleys.
Speakers from nonprofit and provider groups described the region’s childcare shortage. "We have in our county almost 47,000 children under the age of 5. For 47,000 children, we have 18,500 childcare spots," said Sherry Lynn Boyles of Joint Initiatives for Youth and Families. Commissioners and staff discussed separation distances from regulated businesses and clarified that licensing and separation checks remain the responsibility of the provider during the licensing process.
Commissioners supported the balance between increasing availability and preserving neighborhood compatibility; the commission voted unanimously to recommend the UDC changes to City Council.
