Thousand Oaks Scraps Plans for Day-Care Ordinance

Reluctant to clutter the books with new laws, the Thousand Oaks City Council has scrapped a proposed day-care ordinance but left open the option of imposing tough restrictions on residential child care.

The city has always required child-care centers with six to 14 children to obtain special use permits. But because the application was complex and carried a $390 filing fee, none of Thousand Oaks’ 30 child-care providers has bothered to get a permit.

In an effort to encourage compliance with the longstanding law, the City Council on Tuesday voted to streamline the application to a one-page form and slash the fee to $75. Applicants will be able to get permits through a brief administrative hearing with city staff and will no longer have to go through a public hearing before the Planning Commission.

Before granting a permit, however, the city will notify all homeowners within a 100-foot radius of the proposed child-care center--as required by state law. If neighbors protest, city staff can limit outdoor play hours or require noise-blocking sound walls.

Both the notification process and imposition of conditions are spelled out in the city’s existing permit laws and are not unique to child-care providers.

While gratified by the simpler application process, several child-care providers said they did not see the incentive to apply for a permit--especially since they had gotten along without one for years.

“Before I applied, I would have to know specifically what I would have to do,” said Bea Reay, a child-care provider for 16 years. “And there’s a big blank spot on the application for ‘special conditions.’ It’s too ambiguous.”

Even City Atty. Mark Sellers acknowledged that city officials have no plans to force child-care providers to apply for permits. “It’s not like we’ll be going out there with our lists and checking them all,” he said.

The city does not now prosecute child-care providers for failing to obtain special use permits as required under the Municipal Code. And the staff does not intend to begin shutting unauthorized facilities, Sellers said.

Instead, code enforcement officers will respond to specific complaints about noise, traffic or parking problems.

If investigators determine that a child-care center does not have a special use permit, they will ask the provider to apply for one and they may impose conditions to deal with the complaints. But they will not penalize the owner for operating in violation of city codes, Sellers said.

Given such lax enforcement, several child-care providers argued that the city should simply allow home-based day care to continue unregulated.

Both Simi Valley and Ventura allow licensed child-care homes to operate without a special use permit, although providers in Ventura must obtain a business license.

More than a dozen speakers, including state Sen. Cathie Wright (R-Simi Valley), argued for similar freedom in Thousand Oaks. Since 7,500 of the city’s children need day care, council members should welcome providers, not scare them away with complicated rules, they said.

“The city of Thousand Oaks is family oriented--so, then, help the families,” Wright said, urging the council to take a hands-off approach and let the state watch over child-care facilities.

Only one speaker at the two-hour hearing asked the council to impose stricter regulations cracking down on noise and traffic.

But, after minimal debate, the council decided not to enact any new laws.

Council members unanimously rejected the Planning Commission’s recommendation to limit the number of child-care centers within a 300-foot radius. Instead, they simply urged city staff to consider potential increases in noise and traffic before granting several permits in close proximity.

“This is one of the most non-controversial ‘controversial public hearings’ I’ve been to in almost 30 years,” Councilman Alex Fiore told his colleagues.

“We are overburdened with controls and regulations,” Fiore said. “We can handle this on a case-by-case basis. I expect the city to act as an ombudsman if there are complaints.”

Since day-care centers have generated only a handful of complaints in the past five years, many providers--and other onlookers--asked why the council was spending so much time debating new restrictions.

“These issues are irrelevant (compared) to the crying needs of our community,” local activist Ekbal Kidwai said.