CITY PLANS REVIEW OF DAY CARE REGULATIONS, ZONING

A neighborhood dispute over a day care home has prompted the Cape Girardeau City Council to review city zoning laws and how they apply to child day care centers.

The council Monday denied a request by Melba and Jerry Keele for a special use permit to operate a day care home for 10 children at 1820 Delwin while they lived elsewhere.

City zoning regulations require that the operators of such facilities live at the home and restrict to six the number of children allowed at the center.

But new state day care regulations allow operators of day care home to make their residence at another home. The state also grants licenses to day care home operators for up to 10 children.

Melba Keele told the council that if the special use permit was denied, she planned to live at the day care home and only keep six or fewer children.

Although they rejected the Keeles' request, city council members agreed to examine the matter further to see if zoning ordinances should be changed to conform to the state regulations.

"If this is an issue that needs to be addressed, it's an issue that needs to be addressed with a change in the ordinance in its entirety," said Councilman Al Spradling III. "I would recommend the city council review the ordinance with the Planning and Zoning Commission."

Council member Mary Wulfers said she agreed with Spradling.

"If there are changes to be made, it's a city-wide issue, it's not a Delwin Street issue," she said.

But Councilman David Limbaugh said he was hesitant to change the city's ordinance only to conform with state day care regulations. He said that when the state approves such regulations, cities are given the capacity to enforce more stringently than local laws.

"The reason the state legislature chose not to force it down local governments' throats is they wanted to give cities the flexibility to preserve the integrity of neighborhoods," Limbaugh said.

He said "neighborhood" issues like day care homes should be examined on a "case-by-case" basis rather than with sweeping legislation.

"If it doesn't offend the neighbors, it's not a problem," he said. "I think that's why it's important to preserve the city's control."

But Councilman Doug Richards said he favored moderating the city's zoning code if it's more restrictive than other Missouri cities.

Deanna Long, the state's day care licensing supervisor for Southeast Missouri, said the city's regulations probably are more stringent than other cities she works with.

Long said many cities are "in a state of flux" as they adjust to changing state day-care regulations.

But she said the demand for licensed day care in the city has increased dramatically in the past decade.

"The day care need has doubled in the past couple years," she said. "There's a huge demand for child care."

Residents who attended Monday's council meeting also said there's a need for more day care providers.

Steve and Barb Weideman said they had difficulty finding day care for their child when they moved to Cape Girardeau two years ago.

Another woman said that when she began searching for day care four months prior to the birth of her son, she was told she should have inquired earlier and that there were few openings.

Kay Litwicky said she had a similar experience trying to find day care for her child. She said there's a particular shortage of providers willing to take infants.

Long said there are 17 day care homes in Cape Girardeau, and she indicated at least some of those might also violate city codes depending on where they're at.

Long said that few, if any, of the 17 day care home are licensed for fewer than 10 children, which means a full allotment of children in the home would violate city zoning codes if it's situated in an area zoned single-family residential.