Local Zoning May Limit Availability of Day Care

It never occurred to child-care provider Jodi Halem that the raucous preschoolers playing in her backyard might be cause for a lawsuit from her neighbors or prompt misdemeanor charges from the city of Thousand Oaks.

But Halem learned last month that despite licensing from the city Fire Department and state officials, she is subject to city zoning laws.

Only after she paid a $950 processing fee, submitted plans of her home, posted a notice in her yard detailing the violation and weathered a contentious public hearing was Halem allowed to continue operating.

“I’m not a criminal,” Halem said. “Here I am taking care of children . . . and they told me [that] every day I stayed in business is a count against me. . . . I was panicked.”

Advocates say Halem’s case illustrates how arduous regulations and costly bureaucracy block efforts to provide more child-care services in an increasingly demanding market. Only 32% of county children who need day care receive it, according to a 1999 study by the Ventura County Child Care Planning Council.

Hoping to increase day-care alternatives for parents, county officials are now urging cities to ease zoning restrictions on home child-care providers.

Some cities, including Santa Paula, already have exempted child-care operators from zoning permits. But many others still charge large, “family” child-care operators as much as $1,500 to apply for a special use permit.

This is one reason cited for the declining number of family child-care homes, which dropped by 3% from 1996 to 1998, according to the planning council.

In early May, the Ventura Council of Governments, a body of elected city and county officials, notified all 10 city managers that local zoning laws must be amended to increase the number of day-care operators.

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Soon after, the county Planning Commission recommended dropping its regulations on so-called family child-care homes, which house up to 14 children, said Keith Turner, county planning director.

If the Board of Supervisors approves the amendments this summer, the county no longer will regulate child-care homes in the unincorporated areas for noise, parking or concentration of such businesses in one neighborhood. The state would still provide oversight of these issues.

Child-care advocates hope the board’s vote will encourage cities to follow suit.

“This is a relatively low-cost way of opening the doors a little further for the development of child care, and it sends a big message,” said Patty McWaters, county child care development specialist.

Many homeowners, however, don’t want their neighborhood rules regulated by the state. They want city officials to fight unwanted traffic or noise that many feel in-home day-care operators bring to their doorstep.

Last month, Robert Brown, the secretary of the South Shore Hills Property Owners Assn., issued letters on behalf of his 129 members to Halem urging her to close her day-care business.

He said that by operating a business in her home, Halem is violating the terms of a homeowners association agreement she and her husband signed when they purchased their house.

Retirees who are often at home during the day complained that the 12 to 14 children at Halem’s home were noisy and that parents created a traffic hazard during drop-off and pickup times, Brown said.

Since state law supersedes the city’s zoning ordinances, “we are left with no remedy should we want to stop this . . . other than file a civil lawsuit,” Brown said. “We’re actually considering things beyond that.”

Thousand Oaks’ senior planner Pam Leopold said her office relies on state licensing officials to inform providers that city zoning permits may be needed. She said Halem’s experience was unusual in that her neighbors complained to the city about the business after Halem had been operating there for several years.

“Typically we urge the applicants to talk with their neighbors and advise them ahead of time that the city would be sending out a notice of their zoning application,” Leopold said. “It’s pretty much on the honor basis that they come forward and get the proper permits. The city doesn’t spend time looking for residential violations.”

Nevertheless, Leopold said her staff is reviewing local zoning laws to determine whether exemptions should be made for family child-care operators.

“Certainly, there is a question [about the zoning laws] and it could be explored,” she said.

Despite the neighborhood battles, the fact remains that family child-care providers contribute a considerable sum to the local economy, said Steve Chase, one of the 30 appointed members of the Child Care Planning Council of Ventura County.

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Licensed child care is a $142-million-a-year industry in Ventura County, comparable in size to the strawberry industry, the Ventura County Child Care Planning Council found.

“Parents are desperate to receive care at all hours of the day and night and all days of the week,” Chase said. “And where there’s available care, that’s where they go.”