By Johnna Pinholster
VALDOSTA — An ordinance allowing a daycare in a residential-professional area was met with opposition but ultimately approved at Thursday’s Valdosta City Council meeting.
Netarsha Gibson requested the permit for a property located at 2900 N. Oak St.
She originally requested permission to operate the daycare center from 6 a.m. to midnight five days a week with no more than 25 children.
The conditions set by the Planning Commission cited the daycare should have no more than 18 children, install an opaque fence around the outdoor play area, and the hours of operation must be from 6:30 a.m to 8 p.m.
Ultimately, the ordinance passed, with the conditions the daycare would operate from 6 a.m to 6 p.m. with no more than 25 children from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. and no more than 15 children from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., with only 10 children on the playground at any time and an opaque fence installed around the play area.
Roy Taylor spoke in favor of the facility. The property Gibson proposed for the daycare is owned by Taylor.
The property has been a commercial facility on and off for the more than 20 years Taylor has owned the property, he said.
“You can’t make a living with just 18 kids,” Taylor said. “I don’t know who came up with that dumb idea.” Taylor said he would put a vinyl fence around the property.
Susan Giddens spoke against the daycare, as she lives nearby.
The expansion of North Oak Street and the increase in commercial properties has made the neighborhood a cut-through and increased the amount of traffic, she said.
Having a daycare open until midnight will keep people coming into a neighborhood that quiets down at 6 p.m., Giddens said. Billy Childers also spoke against the daycare as his residence is behind the facility.
He requested that if the daycare is approved there would be no operation after 7 p.m. and that all access to the daycare be from the front of the property.
“It’s not suited for a daycare,” Childers said.
Sonny Vickers, District 3, said only allowing 18 children at the daycare would be a financial disaster for the owner. The final ordinance passed at a vote of 4-3, with Alvin Payton Jr., District 4, Mayor Pro Tem Willie T. Head, District 2, and James Wright, District 1, opposing.
In other news:
• Council approved an ordinance for a conditional-use permit to allow a minor auto maintenance and repair business in an Urban Commercial Corridor Overlay District for property located at 2620 Bemiss Road. The request was made by Andrew Corrao, DBA America Tire and Auto.
• An ordinance for a conditional-use permit to allow duplexes in a single-family residential district was requested by Richard Miller and approved by council for property located at 1401 and 1403 River St.
• Gabriel Walker from the Public Works Department is the city’s employee of the month.
• Council approved two names to be submitted for consideration to Lowndes County for the Animal Control Board.
The names were Davind D. Burks, a Valdosta Police Department officer, and Thomas Henry “Tad” Moseley III, a veterinarian with the Animal Health Center of Valdosta.
• Sue Cox, Wanda Hunter and Rodney Flucas were approved for appointments to the Central Valdosta Development Authority/Downtown Development Authority.
• Rick Williams was reappointed to the Valdosta-Lowndes County Conference Center and Tourism Authority.
