Henderson day care expansion gets city’s approval

By Jeremy Twitchell

Wednesday, June 17, 2009 | 4:45 p.m.

The Henderson City Council on Tuesday unanimously upheld the Planning Commission’s decision to grant a day care owner in the Mission Hills neighborhood permission to double the size of her facility and to add a 40-bed assisted living facility for seniors.

A group of residents of the Mission Hills Rural Preservation Overlay, who said the additions would be too intense for the area, appealed the Planning Commission’s May 28 decision to grant the necessary permits.

Marsha Jefferies, owner of the Coyote Kids Daycare located at Trenier Drive and Greenway Road, plans to add a second day care building to expand from 30 to 81 children and to build two assisted living facilities that would be franchises of the Beehive Homes brand name.

The assisted living facilities are planned to be rated at levels one and two, meaning residents won’t require constant care and will be capable of moving about under their own power or with the assistance of a walker or wheelchair.

The rural neighborhood has large lots, no sidewalks, no curbs and no streetlights. Though the city ordinance that created the overlay allows for schools, churches, day cares and assisted living facilities within it, residents have tried without success to block such projects from being built within the area.

Dan Abendroth, president of the Mission/Paradise Rural Alliance, filed the appeal because he said the expansion and its traffic would overwhelm the already busy intersection of Mission Drive and Greenway Road.

“We looked at it, and we let (Jefferies) know that it was too intense,” he said. “The biggest thing that’s going on here is the traffic on that corner … being a rural overlay area, we don’t want to see traffic lights at that intersection.”

Abendroth proposed an alternative that called for the day care to remain the same size and for a single assisted living building that would accommodate 20-30 adults. He said it was not a reflection on Jefferies’ abilities as a day care provider, but concern about what would happen in a few years when she decides to retire and another operator purchases the facilities.

“(Jefferies) runs an excellent day care and she’ll more than likely run an excellent assisted living facility,” he said. “But what happens when she retires? What happens after that?”

Abendroth and the three other residents who stood when he asked how many in the audience opposed the project were heavily outnumbered at the hearing, however, by Mission Hills residents and Coyote Kids patrons who expressed strong support.

Resident Kimberlee Rodriguez, a teacher at nearby Smalley Elementary School and a Coyote Kids customer, said the expansion would not significantly increase traffic because many of the children at Coyote Kids belong to teachers at Smalley and neighboring Mannion Middle School, who are already factored into current traffic patterns.

“I do not see any additional traffic, because we’re coming that way anyway,” she said.

Robert Herr, assistant public works director for Henderson, said traffic engineers have analyzed the proposal and raised no objections.

“We don’t anticipate any difficulty handling this increase,” he said.

Jefferies’ attorney, John Marchiano, said he is a Mission Hills resident himself and understood the concerns brought forth by Abendroth and others.

“These people have really and truly worked more than anybody may know to preserve our neighborhood,” he said. “This is just one of those tough ones.”

He said he and Jefferies reviewed Abendroth’s suggested alternative, but could not find a way to make it work.

City Council members said the majority of calls and messages they received regarding the proposal were in favor of it. Councilman Steve Kirk said he initially planned to vote against the expansion, but after hearing from all those who supported it, was swayed.

“If I wouldn’t want it in my neighborhood, I wouldn’t put it in yours,” Kirk said. “But it seems to me that the overwhelming majority of the neighborhood has spoken and supports it.”

Mayor Andy Hafen said he approved the project because it is on the edge of the overlay area and that residents shouldn’t worry about projects of similar size ever working their way toward the neighborhood’s core.

“I know that some of the residents are concerned about this setting a precedent, but I can assure you that something of this magnitude would not fit within the interior of your neighborhood,” he said.