Council Weighs Day Care Conversion Argument

The City Council has scheduled a public hearing for this evening (Tuesday) to consider a controversial plan to relocate a day care center from Geary Road to 200 Mayhew Way.

The council meets at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the City Council chambers, 1666 N. Main St., after a scheduled closed session to consider:

• negotiations with the Police Officers Association and the Police Management Association, and
• compensation and performance evaluations for the city manager and city attorney.

The Planning Commission on June 28 unanimously approved the application by Kid Time, currently at 1547 Geary Road, to convert a single-family residence at 200 Mayhew Way, near the Concord and Pleasant Hill borders, to a 4,384-square-foot day care center. The center is intended for up to 80 children, age 2 to 6. Some conditions with that approval:

• a 40-child limit on the number of children outdoors at any one time.
• an 8-foot-tall wood fence on shared property lines and
• morning and afternoon quiet times.

On July 12, Linsey Fan, representing 22 other neighbors, filed an appeal of the Planning Commission action citing issues that include

• neighborhood compatibility
• noise
• privacy
• traffic and safety.

A staff report by Walnut Creek Community Development Department, which is attached to this story, gives the historical background of how the area was annexed into the city in 1967 and the neighborhood lacks continuous sidewalks. The applicant intends to build a 14-stall parking lot on the east side of the property, plus play areas and gardens. Plans call for the removal of three large oaks and seven other trees.

Kid Time is looking forward to moving to a permanent home. It has been renting for 30 years on Geary Road, wrote Director Leah Rosenthal-Kambic in an email. She said Kid Time, owned by Steve Wilson, has invited the neighbors in the Mayhew Way location to come see (and hear the noise levels) at the current location on Geary Road.

"We invited the Planning Commissioners individually to visit us and see for themselves, all of whom were pleasantly surprised by the lack of chaos and the relative calm of the school," said Rosenthal-Kambic.

Mayhew Way neighbors have objected to the size of the proposed day care conversion, according to a piece in the Contra Costa Times.