Council Indefinitely Tables Amendments to Daycare Ordinance

Smyrna City Council voted Monday to table indefinitely amendments to the city’s R-15 zoning designation concerning day nurseries, but that didn’t stop citizens from coming forward to speak about the issue.

Council voted to table two items pertaining to the daycare language including an amendment that would have clarified the driveway criteria for a daycare in a residentially zoned area. This item passed 6-1 with Ward 6 Council Representative Wade Lnenicka voting in opposition.

The second item called for removal of language pertaining to daycares altogether. Council voted unanimously to table this item indefinitely, but that doesn’t mean it won’t come up again.

“This was not something that could be decided quickly,” said Ward 2 Council Representative Andrea Blustein. “We really need to give this some time and discussion and try to come up with a workable solution that will work for all people involved in this.”

City Hall was packed largely with supporters of , a private daycare located in a residentially zoned area. One parent who spoke in support of the school was Laura Beckus, an attorney and Oxford parent. She cited language found in the city’s community newsletter and at one of its websites, www.knowsmyrna.com.

“The first thing that popped up at me was ‘We want our local businesses to have every opportunity to succeed,’” she said. “I believe the spirit and intent of this body rings clear. We want our local businesses to have every opportunity to succeed and we should. We should as we state in our community newsletter, as we state on our website. We should reward the desires to grow existing businesses and those that I think are dedicated to the betterment of the children.”

Another supporter explained that she enrolled her child at Oxford Academy even though her family lived in midtown Atlanta because of the quality of care her child received there.

“I’ve recommended (Oxford) to dozens of friends, some of whom have moved from inside the city out to Smyrna,” said Lori Welch. “As a result of that, from coming out to Smyrna and getting to know your community, my husband and I started frequenting your business establishments (…) We spent a good bit of our hard-earned money in your community as a result of Oxford Academy.”

Oxford Academy’s owner Cindy Smith also came forward to argue that the street her business is located is not strictly residential.

“Church Street is very transitional,” she said. “We’ve had our funeral homes for 50 years and we have our great new senior center facility over there. We have all the churches. Oxford is definitely a school and fits in with that setting.”

One Flagler Circle resident who called for removal of daycare language from the residential zoning ordinance even said he supported Oxford itself, just not the process by which it was seeking to expand.

“I support business,” Don Berry said. “I wish I’d had a nice place like that when I was bringing up my daughters, but I think what we need to look at is the process. What ever happened to limited commercial, which is what the first building is? When we got ready to expand we just said let’s change residential to make it fit in there. I’m not sure that that’s the right way to do it.”

Becky Roberts McMann spoke on behalf of her mother who lives on Flagler Circle near Oxford Academy.

“The purpose of having it in an R-15 is first to meet the requirements of a residential area,” she said. “When you don’t look at that first, you have become, instead of community development, community destruction. You’re taking neighborhoods and breaking them down.”

In all nine people spoke in support of Oxford Academy while four spoke against the daycare language in the city’s residential zoning ordinance. After the votes were cast, Ward 5 Representative Susan Wilkinson, who serves the neighborhood where Oxford Academy is located, spoke about what’s next.

“I think it’s clear that we need good quality daycare here in Smyrna and I think it’s clear that Oxford has a good reputation,” she said. “It’s also clear to me that the owners of Oxford Academy would most likely operate a great business at any location. The challenge for us as a Council is the intent of the R-15 zoning to preserve and to protect existing development and to encourage similar and complementary type development.”

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