A May 2 recommendation by the Fairburn Planning & Zoning Commission might make it easier to locate day care facilities in more appropriate areas of the city.

The move resulted form a request in April to rezone property from O&I (Office & Institutional) to C-2 (Highway Commercial) to accommodate the establishment of a day care center. Fairburn currently allows day care centers in areas zoned C-2, M-1 (Light Industrial), M-2 (Heavy Industrial and PS (Public Service). Planning & Zoning Coordinator Gail Denman suggested in an April 27 memo that the Zoning Ordinance be amended to allow placement of day care centers in other zoning districts.

“There are several churches in Fairburn that currently provide day care centers but are in violation of the zoning ordinance. Thee are a handful of business licenses issued for home day care, and rightfully have several restrictions they must comply with in a residential zoning district,” Denman said. “There is a need for quality day care facilities in the city. To limit the areas in which a day care operation can be located is not in the best interest of the city. For example, a school is a permitted use in the Office & Institutional zoning district, but a day care which is a similar use or an incidental use is not. Similarly, a senior citizens center is a permitted use in O&I but an adult day care facility is not.”

Denman suggested and the commission voted to recommend that the city council allow day care centers and facilities as Conditional Uses for additional zoning districts, including O&I, DC-2 (Downtown Commercial), C-1 (Neighborhood Commercial) and C-3 (Planned Shopping Center). Denman also provided a number of recommended design standards for day care facilities.

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