History may play a big part in whether a new day care center is allowed to be built on Jenkins Road in Tyrone.

During last week's meeting of the Tyrone Planning Commission, developer Doug Krepps, who was representing Stanley Bishop, asked the commission to consider a proposal to build a day care center and offices on an eight-acre tract on Jenkins Road.

But after town resident Teresa Lee told the commission about the property, the commission postponed any vote on the property until some key questions were answered.

Lee said the property is special because an old log cabin still occupies the land and a spring spouts forth water.

She added there is also a Gothic wrought iron gate and asked the commission to take special care of the property and try to avoid clear-cutting it to make way for a day care center.

The commission asked the developer if he was aware of the log cabin on the property and he said the owners of the property, the Hobgoods, plan to disassemble the cabin and move it to another location.

Planning Commission Chairman Tom Williams suggested maybe something could be worked out between the Hobgoods and the developer to keep the log cabin on the property and serve as a living history lesson for the county's children.

Planning Commission member Lyn Redwood also suggested the developer do more to create a parklike setting instead of just having a few trees around the buildings.

Another concern of the Planning Commission was the traffic the day care center would cause on the already busy road.

The Planning Commission asked the developer to do a historical and archaeological study, along with a traffic study and tree count, and present the information at the group's June 24 meeting.

In other news, town manager Barry Amos announced the formation of a committee to draft a proposed tree ordinance for the town.

The town currently has a tree protection ordinance, but Amos believes the ordinance needs to be strengthened.

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