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Ordinance encourages companies to offer childcare
By KELLY WILKINSON
City Council approved zoning changes for childcare centers at last Tuesday's meeting in an attempt to encourage more companies in non-industrial areas to provide on-site care.
"We need to encourage businesses to look at this issue more closely, so they will recognize that they will have more reliable employees if they aren't suffering from anxieties about their children," said Vice Mayor Pat Vorreiter, who led the motion.
Although Vorreiter said the ordinance was a positive step toward bringing the issue of childcare into the public eye, she also said the city could do more, like educating corporations on the importance of providing childcare.
She also stressed that available, quality childcare is tight in Sunnyvale, and that it is a challenge to convince corporations to fill the need. "There is a continuing need to balance the needs for childcare against the corporate interests," Vorreiter said.
According to a report complied by city staff, Sunnyvale has been concerned about providing an adequate number of childcare facilities for the community for 10 years. The changes put forth in this ordinance eliminate the need for a potential childcare provider to go through the lengthy and expensive process of providing an Environmental Impact Report, thereby streamlining the process.
"What this does is make the process more clear," said Erica Shirley, interim childcare coordinator for the city. "In clarifying the procedure, now companies won't spend time and money expecting one outcome and getting another."
The ordinance also tightened restrictions on childcare facilities in Sunnyvale's industrial areas. It requires a minimum distance of 1,000 feet between hazardous materials and the location of the childcare center. The city had not previously designated a minimum distance.
In order to have on-site childcare, corporations must have enough land to store their hazardous materials 1,000 feet away--just four corporations have the property to do this. Other businesses that would like to provide childcare can initiate an agreement with adjacent property owners forbidding the use of hazardous materials within the minimum range.
Prodigy Child Development Center on Arques Avenue is located within the city's industrial zone. Director Colleen Grogan, who was in favor of the restriction, recognizes the need for more childcare in the area, provided it is safe.
"A lot of people commute in, and want their children close to where they are working," Grogan said.
Both the Planning Commission and the Child Care Advisory Board studied the ordinance before it reached City Council. The advisory board raised concerns over childcare centers being located within industrial areas, and questioned the fairness of requiring corporations to enter into agreements before opening childcare centers.
"As a body, we felt that we would be putting businesses in an difficult position and might create dissension between business neighbors," Liz Gallegos, chair of the advisory board, said of the agreement clause.
David Boesch, director of Community Development, anticipated a split in reaction to the issue.
"There are some people who will say we haven't gone far enough, but we think this is a reasoned approach."
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Sunnyvale, California Since 1994
