Smiling Faces Day Care, 410 S. Main St.

Every hearing and vote

1. December 8, 2020 · City Council

   Parking and standards for commercial day cares and private schools in residential zones

   Approved · 5-2 with the mayor

   Staff proposed a parking requirement of 0.24 stalls per child plus one stall per full-time and 0.5 per part-time caregiver, all on site with no on-street credit; existing day cares become legal non-conforming. Council Member Debby Lauret and Mayor Brunst said Smiling Faces should have more flexibility than 83 children. A caller asked the council to delay, citing larger Utah families and that traffic studies were unfinished. Council Member Tom Macdonald said he had not targeted or threatened the Pardo family, as a written comment suggested, and proposed per-household parking, which staff said was hard to monitor. Council Member Brent Sumner said emails had referred to 200 children, which was unclarified. Mayor Brunst's motion to continue failed 3-4; Sumner then moved approval.

   Moved by Council Member Brent Sumner, seconded by Council Member Terry Peterson. Vote: Passed 5-2 including Mayor Brunst, who voted no; among council members 5-1 with Council Member Debby Lauret voting no. The earlier motion to continue failed, 2-4 among council members.

2. July 14, 2020 · City Council

   Conditional use permit for Smiling Faces Day Care, 410 South Main Street

   Approved with conditions · 5-2 with the mayor

   The item was continued from June 30. Smiling Faces plans to move its existing business, now about 43 children from roughly 32 families, to a larger site and enroll up to 100 children; the site stays as is but needs conditional use approval because it is in an R8 residential zone. A traffic study found 24 stalls needed for 100 children, with 26 available counting on-street spaces after four stalls on 400 South and two on Main Street are removed for clear-vision reasons. The Planning Commission recommended approval with seven conditions, including a 100-child cap and no more than 10 pick-up or drop-off vehicles in any 10-minute period. Attorney AJ Pepper argued the applicant met all standards and that national ITE parking standards should not apply; Deputy City Attorney Steve Earl said the council could properly weigh traffic safety, clear-vision areas and parking and rely on ITE standards. Council Member David Spencer and Council Member Terry Peterson said their concerns were child safety, parking and line of sight, not the quality of the business, and that 83 children was still too many. Council Member Debby Lauret said her own observation of peak pick-up times found parking adequate. A letter to Mayor Brunst from the state child care licensing program said families would be better served at the larger site. A motion for a 0.20 stalls-per-child ratio and 100 children failed, with council members voting 2-4 (Mayor Brunst also voted yes). Lauret then moved an amended version with 0.24 stalls per child and a cap of 83 children, which passed. Written public comments were largely supportive, with a few noting the current lot is tight.

   • Applicant: German Pardo (Smiling Faces Day Care), represented by attorney AJ Pepper of Snell & Wilmer
   • Zone: R8 (conditional use required for a commercial day care on a collector street)
   • Planning Commission recommended approval with seven conditions, including a cap of 100 children
   • Final cap adopted by council: 83 children at 0.24 stalls per child

   Amended motion moved by Council Member Debby Lauret, seconded by Council Member Tom Macdonald. Vote: Amended motion passed 4-2 among council members (5-2 with Mayor Brunst); Council Members Terry Peterson and David Spencer voted no. The first motion (100 children) failed 2-4 among council members, 3-4 with the mayor; Council Members Macdonald, Peterson, Spencer and Sumner voted no.

3. June 30, 2020 · City Council

   Conditional use permit for Smiling Faces day care at 410 South Main Street

   Continued · 4-3 with the mayor

   The operator of an existing day care nearby wants to move the whole business to this R8 zone site, which sits on two collector streets, with no site changes. A traffic study found 24 stalls needed for 100 children and 26 available including on-street spaces, with one stall reserved for backing. The Planning Commission recommended approval with seven conditions: legal parking only, drop-off signage, a back-up stall, a 100-child cap for both buildings, two ADA stalls, pick-up and drop-off in the lot, and no more than ten drop-off vehicles per ten minutes. Deputy City Attorney Steve Earl said state law limits the council's discretion on conditional use permits. Written comments from neighbors, heard at the request of Council Members Tom Macdonald, Debby Lauret and Brent Sumner, raised concerns about drop-off queues on Main Street and 400 South, narrow streets, nearby intersections, the size and fencing of the play area, whether neighbors were notified, and employee parking on the street; one adjoining owner supported a day care use but questioned the parking plan. Mayor Brunst moved approval with the seven conditions plus red-lining two Main Street stalls. It failed; the council then voted to continue the item to July 14.

   • Applicant: Smiling Faces
   • Zone: R8
   • Capacity: up to 100 children
   • Planning Commission: recommended approval with seven conditions
   • Vote to approve: 1 yes (Lauret), 3 no (Peterson, Spencer, Sumner), 2 abstain (Macdonald, Lambson); mayor voted yes

   Motion to continue moved by Council Member Jeff Lambson, seconded by Council Member Debby Lauret. Motion to approve moved by Mayor Richard Brunst, seconded by Council Member Debby Lauret. Vote: 3-3 among council members; Mayor Brunst also voted yes