FAIRMONT - A request to change City Code to allow day cares to operate in light industrial zones was denied Tuesday by Fairmont's planning commission.
The decision followed city staff's recommendations: "We've been fairly consistent ... in what we've allowed and not allowed for code amendments," said Mike Humpal, community development director.
However, the 4-1 vote went against public support shown for Stepping Stones Learning Center. The day care wants to move into an empty building, formerly a juvenile detention center, in a light industrial district off State Street.
Stepping Stones' search for a new location began in November, according to Nick Graham, when the day care learned of a remodeling project planned this summer by its current landlord - Fairmont Area Schools. The school system asked Stepping Stones to vacate Lincoln School for three months, starting in June, while the project is under way.
Unable to afford two moves in a short period of time, Stepping Stones started looking for a new facility and found what Graham, chairman of the board of directors, has described as the perfect - and only - functional and affordable building for the day care in Fairmont.
"I'm here representing 20 hardworking employees, the parents of 100 children, 80 families and various employers in Fairmont," Graham told the planning commission. "We are the only childcare center in Martin County. If we close it will have a huge negative effect on everybody."
The request for the code amendment came from the property's owner, Gerard, a Nexus Family Member.
"We will appeal the decision to the City Council," Graham said, following the meeting. Gerard will actually be the one to file for the appeal.
Gerard wants to sell the building, which has been empty since 2002, as well as the nine acres on which it sits, to Stepping Stones.
Gerard's attorney, Mark Mandersfeld, argued the operation of a day care in an industrial district makes sense and is compatible with the current land use - one of the reasons city staff said the commission should deny the request.
"Kids don't belong in factories, but that's not what we're talking about here," Mandersfeld said.
He noted the facility is approved for the care of young people, and he defended a day care as a reasonable extension of that use.
From a public safety standpoint, Mandersfeld said the site is on the edge of town, bordered on one side by farm fields, with less traffic than other areas of Fairmont where day cares are permitted.
"With a tremendous amount of space, the property is self-buffering," he said.
Parents and other people associated with the day care stood and voiced their opinions on why the planning commission should change the code.
"Stepping Stones was the only place in town willing to take infants," said one mother, who described the proposed facility as amazing, with a safer drop-off area than the existing one at Lincoln School.
When the time for public input ended, commissioners voiced their own support for Stepping Stones before the vote was held.
"I'm sure everybody here has agonized over this decision," said commissioner Reed Gethmann. He went on to clarify that regardless of how the vote went, everyone on the board "realizes Stepping Stones is a valuable asset in this community.
"A vote 'no' does not mean we are not supporting Stepping Stones," he said.
He also noted that none of the current commissioners were on the board when the juvenile detention center was approved for the light industrial district in the 1990s, so none of them necessarily agree with the original decision.
"We have to separate those two issues," he said.
David Krusemark was the only commissioner to vote for the code change: "Stepping Stones is such an asset. ... If we can help them out in any way, I'm really for them using the building."
Commissioner Tom Hawkins had a lot to say on the topic, before and after the meeting. During the public hearing, Hawkins said he was "strongly against the proposal to change the code."
For explanation, he gave the history of his personal experience working on Fairmont's comprehensive land use plan.
"I learned a lot about why the city zoning is done the way it's done," he told the audience. "... This is a normal response without understanding zoning code. I would have been on the same side of the fence as all of you two years ago."
In short, setting precedent was his concern. He feared the code change would give leverage to other business owners seeking to move into parts of town where their operations aren't compatible with existing business.
"I agree it's a great building and perfect for what you're doing," Hawkins said. "But it's perfect for a lot of things."
Following the meeting, Hawkins got into a heated debate with Graham and other supporters of the code change.
"It is unconscionable you would accuse me of being against kids," Hawkins said to Graham, stating his history of donating money to non-profits in Fairmont, including Stepping Stones.
"... If we change the rule for one private business, we would have to do it for everybody."