MONROE, CT — Planning and Zoning Commission members heard a presentation Thursday on a plan to build The Learning Experience daycare center with a playground and 43-space parking lot on approximately 8.56 acres at 2 Victoria Drive.
Brian McCann, the attorney for the applicant, said the daycare would be less intensive than industrial uses permitted on the site, and employees of other businesses on the campus, such as Victorinox, may welcome the option for child care.
“I think this could fill a need and enhance the quality of life for younger families, while maintaining a vibrant economy,”McCann said, while calling the center an asset for the community.
Matthew Jarmel, an architect with Jarmel Kizel Architects and Engineers, said the 10,000-square-foot facility would house a maximum of 159 children, age six weeks to five-years-old, with a staff of 25 employees, including educators and administrators.
Business hours would be 6:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, with a flexible schedule for drop offs and pickups.
Jarmel said his firm has designed close to 400 schools for The Learning Experience, which currently operates approximately 430 schools in the U.S. “They emphasize, not only caring for children, but educating them as well,” he said.
The Learning Experience has an array of characters, led by Bubbles the elephant and his friends, which are featured on a YouTube channel, according to Jarmel.
He said Monroe’s facility would be licensed by the Connecticut Department of Children and Families as an approved daycare facility.
Though local zoning requires 56 parking spaces, McCann said his client is asking for 43 spaces and only needs 40. He said a row of 13 deferred parking spaces could be created about 300 feet from the facility if necessary.
A neighboring property owner expressed concern over the area being within an easement — which she and another property owner must maintain — causing safety issues with cars backing up along a driveway frequented by people riding bicycles on the Rail Trail.
Kathleen Gallagher, the town’s planning and zoning administrator, said she wants to ensure language in the conservation easement would be such, so as not to add to the burden of the property owners already tasked with maintaining it.
Jarmel said that driveway is not supposed to be used as a bike path. But he also predicted his client will never need to build the deferred parking spaces, because there would already be enough spaces for employees and the drop off area.
Commissioner Ryan Condon asked if anyone will monitor the parking lot to ensure people using the bike trail don’t park there. If they use it, Jarmel said daycare staff will call police, so officers tell them to move their vehicles.
Jarmel said the site will be well screened with a landscaping plan.
The design for a subsurface sewage disposal system must be approved by the Monroe Health Department, he said. A Dumpster on the site will be enclosed.
Prior to the hearing on the site plan, the property owner, Sentro LLC, also applied for a subdivision at 2 Victoria Drive that includes a 4.9-acre conservation easement that would never be built on and could be used and maintained by the town for passive recreation.
The subdivision, which divides the 8.56 acre lot in the back, where the daycare would be, and the front parcel bordering Main Street, which is over two acres, was unanimously approved by the commission with conditions later in the meeting.
Among the conditions, the number of parking spaces to be used to access the easement will not be specified, because it is something that could be decided later by the town.
Thursday’s hearing on the site plan for the special exception permit was continued to Aug. 7.
The design
The Monroe Architectural Review Board, which is advisory, reviewed the architectural design of the building on July 8.
Gallagher told the Planning and Zoning Commission how ARB members had asked for a pitched roof design over the entrance, to make the building less boxy, and for something less bright than the Sherwin Williams color, Confident Yellow, that was on a large portion of the front facade.
The architect already made some changes, adding a pitched roof design above the entrance and changing the yellow to a gray. The applicant will come back to ARB with the revisions on July 29.
“Since they are advisory, do you think this is in the right direction?” Gallagher asked the commission.
Overall, the commission seemed to agree with the ARB.
Jarmel went over safety features of the building design, which includes a vestibule and glass front door, which would be locked during business hours. “Parents have card access and would have to be buzzed in,” he said, adding there would be a system in place to track the children who come and go.
Edwards said there is an evacuation plan and Jarmel said most classrooms will have two ways of egress and the building would have a sprinkler system and alarms throughout.
If children exit a classroom on their own, Jarmel said a four-foot-high fence around the building would prevent them from running away. The gate door to leave the fenced area would be too high for a child to reach, he said.
The playground, surrounded by a six-foot-tall PVC fence, would be divided into two sections with age-appropriate equipment for children.
In response to Commissioner Leon Ambrosey’s questions, Jarmel said the playground would have rubber, turf surfacing, that is a pervious material held securely in place.
Dominic Smeraglino, a commission alternate, asked about street front signage.
Jarmel said there will be a sign over the front door and on the side of building facing the street, as well as a monument sign on the daycare property, along the driveway coming from Victoria Drive.
Gallagher said the developer will apply for a permit for the signage separately and it will have to meet the town’s regulations.
The site would have downward lighting that is Dark Sky Compliant, according to the applicant, with lights mounted to the building to illuminate the pedestrian walkway and light poles.
Vice Chairman Bruno Maini asked if buses would come to the daycare and Jarmel said it is typically up to the parents to bring their children to the private facility, however, there are some cases where a small bus may provide transportation for children with specific needs.
There would be no cooking on the premises, but prepared meals could be brought in. Commissioner Robert Westlund asked if there would be any gatherings bringing the entire school community to the facility at once.
Jarmel said The Learning Experience events outside of business hours are usually held somewhere offsite.
A 100-year flood plain
Though the daycare center would be built within a 100-year flood plain, in close proximity to the Pequonnock River, the Monroe Inland Wetlands Commission approved a wetlands permit for the project on June 11, after reviewing stormwater management and drainage plans.
Jason Edwards, of J. Edwards & Associates, the engineering firm for the applicant, said they will have to elevate the building about two feet above grade.
Planning and Zoning Commission Chairman Michael O’Reilly asked where the flood plain lines were on the map and after Edwards showed it to him, O’Reilly said, “so you’re sitting on an island there surrounded by water.”
Edwards said it is surrounded by wetlands, not water.
“When it’s not raining, it’s a small stream, but when it’s raining, it’s a river,” O’Reilly said of the catch basin.
Edwards said the area’s flood elevation is actually lower and they are going to try to get the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to change the flood map.
“Will people know this is in a 100-year flood plain?” O’Reilly asked.
Edwards said the owner will know and will have to have insurance.
O’Reilly asked if the commission could have more information about the flood plain.
Gallagher said one measure the applicant agreed to while working with town staff is for the snow removal area not to be up against a wetland, so salt will not go into it.
All respectful comments with the commenter’s first and last name are welcome.
All of these 100 year guesses are interesting. But how did this area do in the flooding of Aug 2024? Based upon the increasing number of severe storms with flooding that affected lives and not just property, caution should be taken. And many of the occupants in this facility will be small children. The risk factor of this location should be closely evaluated by the approvers of this proposal. For instance, a two foot increase in the building elevation may not suffice if a stream turned into a raging river.