Planning board approves Discovering Kids daycare at 26 Searsport Avenue with conditions

The Belfast Planning Board on July 10, 2024 approved a site-plan amendment and use permit for Discovering Kids to convert an existing office at 26 Searsport Avenue into a small childcare facility serving up to 12 children and staffed by four employees.

City planner Alexandra Sykes presented the board’s findings describing the project as a change of use on a previously developed lot in the Searsport Avenue commercial zoning district. The board found the location is not in a shoreland or flood hazard zone and that the proposed use is permitted in the zoning district. Staff identified compliance with the city code (chapter 90 site plan, chapter 102 zoning and chapter 98 technical standards) as the basis for the review.

The board’s conditions require the applicant to provide up to eight off‑street parking spaces plus one accessible space (calculated as 1.2 spaces per employee and one space per four children), install side‑yard buffering plantings, and install a four‑foot fence enclosing the outdoor play area at the rear of the building. Staff and the applicant clarified during questioning that the board’s finding calls for four evergreen trees along each side property line to meet minimum buffer requirements (the board and applicant discussed earlier confusion about whether that number applied to all property lines).

The applicant, Alan Tomasello, said Discovering Kids is already licensed by the Maine Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Education for services tied to individualized education plans and operates other preschool sites. “This is my 35th year in the field,” Tomasello said, describing the program’s focus on language and early‑learning skills and saying the site will employ staggered drop‑off and pick‑up routines and staff supervision to manage vehicle flow.

Board members asked about life‑safety inspections, accessible access and ramping, trash collection and parking geometry. Staff and the board added a condition that a certificate of occupancy (CFO) from the code enforcement officer be required before final occupancy and that the CEO confirm life‑safety items (including any required permits and inspections such as from the State Fire Marshal) have been addressed. The board agreed that, when seasonal constraints prevent immediate planting, the CEO may issue a temporary occupancy authorization requiring completion of landscaping within an agreed timeframe.

Other conditions require compliance with sign and lighting ordinances, screening for any dumpster should one be used, and submittal to the city of copies of any non‑city permits. The board discussed hours of operation; the applicant said he expects typical hours Monday–Friday roughly 8 a.m.–4 p.m., and the board elected to record expected hours in the project description for neighbor awareness rather than make hours a limiting condition.

After the staff presentation and discussion, the board moved to adopt the findings and conditions as amended and then voted to approve the site‑plan amendment and use permit for the childcare facility. The motion was made and seconded on the record and the chair called the vote; the application was approved.

Next steps: the applicant must provide required non‑city permits to the city and obtain the certificate of occupancy after the code enforcement officer verifies life‑safety compliance and that any conditions (plantings, parking layout, signage, accessible ramp) are met.