Safety and Parking Still a Concern with Day Care Expansion

The subject of the came before the again at the May 11 meeting. Day care owner Arthur Smiles is seeking an application to expand the facility into the adjacent space currently occupied by the .

During Smiles’ , the board asked him to return at a later date addressing issues with the property dealing with the amount of cars in the relatively small parking lot and the layout of the additional classrooms posing a potential fire hazard, both of which were brought up again.

The day care is currently licensed for 207 children with 185 registered and 150 attend on any given day. While the future number of licensed children is not set, the study considered increasing the number of children by 120 to a total of 327 children, a 69 percent increase. The firm also used the same percentage to calculate that there would be an additional 20 teachers on site as well as for the number of parking spaces.

To qualify for a teaching position at the facility a person usually must have an education background and complete various training programs according to Madha Kumar, a worker at the day care and former Director of Tutor Time. To be on staff the person must have high school diploma, but if they do not have an educational background, they can take classes and must clear all necessary background checks to “make sure they’ve never been a subject of abuse or neglect.”

The ratio of staff to children varies according to the age of the children: 4:1 for 18 months and under is; 5:1 for 18 months to 3 year olds; 7:1 for ages three to four is; 8:1 for those aged four to five; 10:1 for children over five. There are a total of 80 children under the age of three in the facility.

The increase in staff would necessitate the additional use for about 20 cars, but that the vehicles could park in the surrounding area. According to Rebecca Goldberg, a traffic engineer from Cameron Engineering, the traffic study indicated that there was ample space within a five to 10 minute walk of the location and according to attorney Alan M. Stein the increased amount of cars would be “imperceptible” to surrounding residents and businesses.

“It seems like your summation in here is we recognize we need (additional) spots, we only have 28 so we’re going to ask for a ‘bye’ on this one because we’re going to park on the streets of your village,” Trustee Werther said. “It might address the issues at the day care center, it doesn’t address the issues as they affect our residents.”

Deputy Mayor Paul Pereira reported observing parents parking in the nearby restaurant lot to pick up their children from the day care as well. “Because it is working now doesn’t necessarily mean that I’m comfortable with adding 100 and additional children, 20 additional employees and dozens of additional cars coming in and out of that lot,” he said.

There are currently about 30 existing spaces, plus room for four vehicles to “stack” near the tracks. “These spaces and the existing drive aisles don’t met today’s dimensional standards,” Goldberg said, as the property was changed with the addition of the trestle.

said he would have liked to have seen the number of motorists making the southbound turn onto Herricks Road included in the report, which was not. According to Goldberg, the report focused on the amount of traffic going into and out of the facility.

The day care expansion would generate one trip per minute during busiest times “which is not enough to impact the operation of the driveway or on Herricks Road,” Goldberg said, and presented a

modeled fire truck at the site, testifying there was enough space to maneuver at the southwest corner but would have to back out in order to leave.

Goldberg said that a study was developed which included a conceptual parking plan to improve “the parking yield and the circulation on the site.”

Among the report’s recommendations was that a current “no left turn” sign be replaced with two symbol signs, one to replace the existing sign and one across Herricks Road. The sign across Herricks Road may have to be requested from Nassau County since Herricks Road is a county road. Trustee George Durham added the suggestion for adding a sign of “active driveway” to warn drivers coming around the bend under the trestle.

Trustee Paul Cusato said that in January he became “tied up” at the site behind a woman making an illegal left turn and blocking entry for other cars. He added that that very morning he saw three people making the left turn south onto Herricks Road.

The facility reportedly has held fire drills in which everyone was evacuated in two minutes and that all rooms have two exits.

Durham noted that there was no maneuverability between the rooms if a fire was to breakout in the hallway, pointing out an entrance and exit on one side.

“That can certainly be looked at,” Stein said.

The board withheld its decision on the application for a future meeting.