06/14/11 There was quite a bit of discussion on the special exception request of Carey and John Weir during this month’s Plymouth Board of Zoning Appeals meeting.
The Weirs recently purchase two homes at 519 and 523 North Walnut Street. Their plan was to move the day care center currently in their home to the two homes and expand services. The one story house would house up to 16 children 3 and under and the two story home would be from 3 to school age.
The property is zoned downtown commercial and the Weirs thought the zoning was appropriate for a daycare setting.
Carey Weir told BZA members that they had been looking for four years for the right locations. This area is just south of Van Gilder Funeral Home, west of the Court House and north of professional offices. She said they plan to have a play area between the homes and in the back yards of each home.
There were two questions for Mrs. Weir, how would she handle drop-off and pick-up of children and where would her employees park.
Carey said most parents will drop-off their children between 7 and 7:30 and pick-up is typically between 4:30 and 5:30. She pointed out that the Court House doesn’t open until 8 a.m. well after her parents have dropped-off and they close at 4, earlier than the majority of her parents’ pick-up. She didn’t see a real issue but said parents would be warned not to double-park.
City ordinance requires 1 off-street parking space for every 6 children. Each home will have a maximum of 16 children for a total of 30 children. That would require 5 off-street parking spaces. After some discussion and finagling it was determined that 2 cars could park in the garage, with another car beside the garage and one on the cement pad behind the two story home. The final vehicle could park in the driveway of the single story house. It was noted that off-street parking must be provided but she does not have to mandate where her employees will park.
The Plymouth Board of Zoning Appeals unanimously approved the special use for Carey and John Weir.
