Residents of Leavenworth who want to operate child care centers in their homes will soon have to apply for business licenses.
Leavenworth city commissioners reviewed ways they could improve the city’s standards for child care centers during a study session on Tuesday.
According to the city manager, Scott Miller, the Leavenworth Planning Commission requested that city commissioners consider updating the standards based on issues that were dealt with by the planners. Jack Walker, chairman of the planning commission, sent Miller an e-mail that highlights the issue.
In his message to the city manager, Walker indicated the planning commission recently recommended denying a special-use permit for an applicant to operate a child care facility for up to 12 children. This recommendation was based on the planning commission’s belief that the applicant did not meet requirements for loading and unloading children on the property.
The city planner, Roger Denton, said that is only one of the issues the planning commission has dealt with when deciding if a special-use permit should be recommended. As he started reviewing a report he delivered to commissioners before the meeting, Denton said other issues during the last few years have included changes in the number of children at centers and the requirement that child care centers in homes be owner-occupied.
Denton’s report also highlighted how many children the Kansas Department of Health and Environment recommends should be allowed. A registered family day care home can have as many as six children; a licensed day care home can have up to 10 children; and a group day care home can have a maximum of 12 children.
“Our ordinance doesn’t actually set a limit of 12,” Denton said.
Denton said the state also recently enacted an exemption that would allow child care centers to exceed license capacity by two children if the city allows the exemption.
“It is something the state has left in the hands of the city to make a decision,” he said.
Karen Logan, the city clerk, provided commissioners with a breakdown of standards used by several cities in Johnson County — Lenexa, Overland Park, Shawnee and Prairie Village. Commissioners evaluated the standards of those cities before they started reaching a consensus on Denton’s questions about Leavenworth’s standards.
Commissioners agreed the city’s limits should be set at six, 10 and 12 children, with no exemptions. They also decided that licenses with the city should be required for each classification.
“I’m really not interested in all of these fees,” Mayor Lisa Weakley said as she reviewed fees that are charged by cities in Johnson County. “A lot of these fees, though, are pretty modest.”
Weakley said she supported the license requirement in order to keep track of child care centers that might receive complaints. Chris Dunn, community development director, said requiring a license would make it easier to shut down a center if the operator is found to be in violation of state and local requirements.
Commissioner Larry Dedeke also said requiring a license would make it easier for the city to remove special-use permits from properties that do not adhere to the standards. The city’s current ordinance only requires a special-use permit for centers operating as a licensed day care home or a group day care home and does not require one for a registered family day care home. That will not change.
In his e-mail to the city manager, Walker indicated that an issue arises when someone sells property that has already been issued a special-use permit for child care services. The city’s current standards allow for the buyer to continue operating under guidelines for the permit.
“The special use is granted on the property, not to the applicant,” Walker wrote in his e-mail. “In theory, we could have a perfectly acceptable child care facility or other business operating under an SUP and that person decides to the sell the property to another person.”
Walker indicated that the new owner, “no matter the reputation or type of business,” would be able to operate a business while the special-use permit still exists for the property.
Walker suggested that the city commission consider changing the standards for a special-use permit to apply toward the applicant and not the property.
“It’s an admirable idea,” Denton said.
However, Denton said courts have already decided that zoning is a property issue and not a personal issue. He said requiring a city license for all day care centers should address the problem since any new operator would have to apply for a license.
“It makes a lot of sense to me,” Commissioner Ken Bower said.
Since the home-based child care centers are already required to be owner-occupied, Denton asked if commissioners wanted to set a limit on the number of nonresident employees. Although commissioners debated setting a firm limit because of questions regarding the need for employees based on the number of children, they decided to only allow one full-time employee for each of the three categories of child care centers.
Commissioners also decided to require a city license for employees at residential child care centers. They indicated this would allow the city to better monitor the people who would be employed.
Logan said the city requires a similar licensing program for massage businesses and employees who work at those establishments.
Setting prices for the licenses was debated because fees in Johnson County range from $25 to $57 for business licenses. Commissioners agreed to start the licensing program with annual fees of $15 for the business and $5 for each employee.
“Let’s start out with that,” Miller said. “It’s a real service we need in this community.”
As for the issue of loading and unloading requirements, commissioners decided that there were too many variables for the commission to enact strict guidelines. They suggested that a “public safety officer” should make that decision based on each application.
Dunn said that Denton could perform those duties when evaluating a request for a special-use permit.
In other discussion:
* SECTION 8 — Commissioners discussed a proposed update for the Section 8 Administrative Plan. The plan is required by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
According to a memo from Denton, the Section 8 application list is “almost exhausted.” Before the city re-opens the list for applications, he said the administrative plan should be updated in order to ensure that all applicants are subject to current preferences and regulations.
Pat Tooley, Section 8 coordinator, reviewed the update as he addressed one of the major changes. Tooley said Leavenworth has never had an application or placement priority.
According to the proposed plan, preferred placement will be given to elderly residents on fixed incomes; disabled people who may not have sufficient income as head or co-head of the household; working families where the head or co-head of the household is just starting out in the workforce; and families where the head or co-head of the household is currently enrolled in accredited educational or training programs.
The plan stipulates that families that choose not to continue education or try to start a new career will be placed below those who are given preference. Dunn said preferred placement will allow the city to remove those who are able to work but refuse to seek employment.
As an example, Tooley said he has one Section 8 resident who is 20 years old and able to work, but chooses not to work. Dunn said the new plan will enable Tooley to track down and remove Section 8 residents who are “defrauding the government.”
Other changes include an enforcement process for the “one strike and you’re out policy”; several new rules for tenants; a monthly review of families that exceed threshold reports; and a new rule requiring all properties to be maintained in accordance with the city’s nuisance guidelines.
Although Denton indicated in his memo that the application list might be reopened, Tooley said it may be a while before that happens.
“I don’t see us opening the waiting list any time soon,” Tooley said. “There’s a huge need because of the economy now.”
Leavenworth has 339 Section 8 vouchers and 246 vouchers are currently being used. Tooley said the $78,000 used each month is not enough to cover all of Leavenworth’s allotted vouchers.
Leavenworth, Kan. —
