Henderson planners OK day care expansion

By Jeremy Twitchell

Monday, June 1, 2009 | 4:57 p.m.

A request to expand a day care and add an assisted living facility within the Mission Hills Rural Preservation Overlay divided neighborhood residents last week at a Planning Commission hearing.

Commissioners on May 28 unanimously approved the assisted living facility and approved the day care expansion on a 4-1 vote, with Commissioner George Bochanis in dissent.

The Frank and Marsha Jeffreys Family Trust owns and operates the Coyote Kids Day Care at 400 Trenier Drive, near the southwest corner of Greenway Road and Mission Drive. The family requested to build an additional day care building that would take its capacity from 30 to 81 children and two assisted living residences that will accommodate 40 adults.

The Henderson City Council is scheduled to consider the request for final approval June 16.

The rural neighborhood has large lot sizes, custom homes and no sidewalks or street lights, and though the ordinance that created it allows for schools, churches, day cares and assisted living facilities, many of its residents have vehemently opposed efforts to build such facilities within the neighborhood.

Dan Abendroth, president of the Mission/Paradise Rural Alliance, said nearby schools already have created heavy traffic at the intersection of Greenway and Mission and argued that the larger day care and assisted living facility would increase congestion.

“It’s just way too intense a use for this corner,” he said. “We’re trying to keep (Mission Hills) rural, and what’s happening is this area is slowly getting picked apart by projects like this.”

Other residents, however, gave the existing day care glowing reviews for how it has cared for their children and said allowing the Jeffreys family to provide additional services would only enhance the area.

Mission Hills resident and former Planning Commissioner Paul Bunker said he thinks the facilities would be a perfect fit and took a swipe at those who were trying to keep them out.

“The elderly and children are what truly makes a community,” he said. “I think we will always welcome them. What I will not welcome is an elitist attitude that everything should stay out of this area.”

Of the 13 residents who spoke, seven were in support and six were in opposition.

Planning Commission Chairman Dan Shaw said he was involved in forming the ordinance that created Mission Hills as a rural neighborhood. He said the understanding has always been that it would allow facilities like the one the Jeffreys want to build and that the proposed location — at a relatively busy intersection at the extreme edge of the neighborhood — is ideal.

“It seems to me that having it out on the perimeter would be much preferable to having it in the interior,” Shaw said.

Attorney John Marchiano, representing the Jeffreys family, said the Jeffreys are willing to work with the neighbors on specific concerns, such as lighting.