Compromise Reached Over Daycare Expansion

After a month-long debate, the two parties involved in the controversy surrounding the expansion of the Oxford family of daycares have reached a compromise, but one Smyrna City Council representative still thinks the city’s zoning language should be reviewed.

Jimmy and Cindy Smith, owners of Oxford Academy and Oxford Babies have agreed not to expand their business into a home they own at the corner of Flagler Circle and Church Street, but instead renovate their family home located about a block to the west on Church Street for use as another facility.

“The neighbors’ concerns were the building that faced Flagler, a parking lot that faced Flagler and a driveway that went on to Flagler,” Cindy Smith said. “We’ve said that we would not do any of those three. We want to be a good neighbor and we want to work with them. The thing is this could have all been avoided if they’d just come and talked to us. They never did that and we had already started the permit process quite a while ago and no one said anything till we had cut trees down and so forth.”

This compromise comes after Don and Bonnie Berry, the owners of a neighboring home on Flagler Circle and the organizers of Concerned Citizens of Cheney Woods, .

Daycares are allowed in residentially zoned areas because of an amendment added to the city’s R-15 zoning designation in 2006 during one of Jimmy Smith’s terms as a Ward 5 Council Representative. Smith was absent from the meeting where Council voted on the amendment. Day nurseries are permitted in residential areas as long as they meet a certain set of criteria.

Before a compromise was reached, Alan Aycock, the Berrys’ real estate representative, called for all the language allowing daycares in residential areas to be removed from the ordinance. At this posting calls placed to Aycock and the Berrys had not been returned so it’s not known if they still support removing the language now that they’ve reached a compromise.

The Berrys and some of their neighbors said that the city’s language concerning day nurseries in residential areas was too vague compared to other cities in the metro area. Some feared that the Smiths would try to expand further down Flagler Circle.

“He tells me at any given time he has a waiting list of 300 or 400 people and I think it’s pretty costly,” Don Berry said in June. “So 60 will be in the new building. And once he goes from there he’s going to want to expand is the way I see it. And I’m not putting words in his mouth, but why would he not?” 

In June, Jimmy Smith told Smyrna-Vinings Patch that he wouldn’t be able to expand into other homes on Flagler Circle because they lie in a floodplain. Cindy Smith reiterated her husband’s point.

“I know you’ve heard a lot of rumors about us offering to buy different properties,” she said. “We’ve heard anywhere from four up to nine. That is not true. The only one that we have offered—and that’s been as far back as 10 years—was Mr. Tompkins who sits on Church right next to (Oxford) Academy.”

Cindy Smith said that “false accusations” and “negative propaganda” had been hurtful to her, but not her business.

“We normally get two to three calls a day of people who want to check where they are on the waiting list, they want to get put on the waiting list,” she said. “That has increased to five or six a day.”

She said once new plans are submitted to the city of Smyrna’s Community Development Department, it should take about six months to complete the new renovations to her family home.

“What it means is it affects probably 70 families that would have potentially had childcare spots,” she said. “That’s who it really effects. Yes, we’ve had to make some investments, but the people that our hearts go out to are the people that are struggling to find high quality childcare.”

In the meantime,Smyrna’s Planning and Zoning Board still plans to review the language regarding day nurseries in residential areas. The board discussed it and heard from citizens at its last meeting on June 18.

City staff recommended an amendment to the ordinance that they think clarifies one of the criteria for a daycare in a residential area. so the measure was tabled. It is on the agenda for the meeting Monday, July 9.

If the Planning and Zoning Board approves amending the zoning language, it will go before Smyrna City Council for a vote. Ward 5 Council Representative Susan Wilkinson who represents Flagler Circle said she’d like Council to discuss the amendment.

"I think the thing that’s concerning is it’s going to come on to Flagler and have the drive coming out of Flagler,” she said. “And that’s trying to protect our residential areas as well as allowing commercial. It’s still residential, but it’s really a commercial business. You know making it compatible. So I think the Council needs to look at it.”

Read More About the Oxford Academy Expansion on Smyrna-Vinings Patch:

• Yard Signs Show Opposition to Daycare Expansion