REPORT TO COUNCIL
SUBJECT
Title
Introduce an Ordinance to Amend Various Sections of the Sunnyvale Municipal Code Title 19 (Zoning) Related to Child Care Facilities (CDD 15-11); Approve Guidelines for Commercial Child Care; and Finding of CEQA Exemption Pursuant to CEQA Guideline 15061(b)(3). (Planning File: 2015-7149) (Continued from August 25, 2015)
Report
REPORT IN BRIEF
The purpose of this study is to provide guidance to interested parties, staff and decision-makers about appropriate locations for commercial child care centers in Sunnyvale (Study Issue CDD 15-11, Attachment 1). In addition to preparing guidelines for appropriate locations for child care centers, expansion of industrial locations for child care centers is also evaluated. This report does not address family child care homes which are subject to separate State and local rules and are only allowed in the care giver's own home.
The guidelines for appropriate siting of child care centers address location considerations, parking and traffic issues, state regulations, safety concerns and compatibility with adjacent areas (Attachment 2).
The attached zoning code amendments (Attachment 3) revise the zoning code requirements for business-sponsored child care facilities in industrial areas of the city. Staff considered revising the code to allow commercial child care centers with a Use Permit in the Industrial and Service with the Place of Assembly combining district (M-S/POA), but due to concerns about use of hazardous materials in those areas, that option is not included in the draft ordinance.
The Zoning Code defines two types of child care centers: commercial child care and business-sponsored child care. Child care centers are currently allowed in Residential, Commercial, Office and Public Facilities Zoning Districts subject to the approval of a Use Permit. Child care in industrial zoning districts is limited to business-sponsored child care for which a company provides the facilit...
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