VISTA: Council weighs restrictions for home day-care businesses

Shadowridge request prompts city action

By CRAIG TENBROECK - Staff Writer | Saturday, August 23, 2008 11:12 PM PDT

VISTA ---- A neighborhood clash over a home day care center this summer has prompted Vista to re-evaluate how it regulates such businesses.

The city has no rules that spell out when and where people can operate in-home day care centers. But that may change Tuesday if the City Council inserts some guidelines into the city code, as recommended by the planning department.

The discussion comes as Vista faces threats of litigation from Lucy Coyle, a Shadowridge resident whose request to expand her day care business from eight children to 14 was rejected by the City Council this summer.

Several south Vista residents had expressed concerns about noise, safety and traffic.

"We didn't oppose her — we opposed the location," Gene Ford, treasurer of the Shadowridge Owners' Association, said Friday.

Coyle has said she's working with an attorney and plans to sue the city.

"It's all political," she said Friday as she watched five children at her beige stucco home.

Cities have limited power to regulate home day care businesses.

Under state law, people can operate centers that serve up to eight children without city review.

For centers with nine to 14 children, cities can set "reasonable" restrictions related to traffic, parking, noise and spacing, according to the state Heath and Safety Code.

City staffers contend that the proposed guidelines do just that.

"On the basis of the experience we had with (Coyle's) case, we decided to create guidelines to assist the public in the future," City Attorney Darold Pieper said Friday.

With the council's approval, the city would require that large family day care homes have:

--- a 5-foot-tall fence or wall around outside play areas.

-- an empty, two-car driveway for parents to pick up and drop off children.

--- a minor-use permit if the home is smaller than 10,000 square feet.

The city would also prohibit two such businesses to operate within 300 feet of each other or within 1,200 feet on the same street.

"Within the framework that's allowed by the state, I think they've done a reasonable job of coming up with rules that should allow them to recognize when one of these day care centers is in direct conflict with the community," Ford said.

Coyle called the rules "ridiculous."

The driveway restriction would be an obstacle for her, she said, because her Ford Excursion doesn't fit in the garage and the homeowners association won't let her park it on the street.

In a letter dated June 5, Katayoun Alidadi, an attorney with the Public Counsel Law Center in Los Angeles, called the proposed changes overly restrictive and "in general violation of state law."

Contact staff writer Craig TenBroeck at (760) 901-4062 or ctenbroeck@nctimes.com.

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fairness wrote on Aug 24, 2008 9:50 AM:yet the city (Vista) has no problem allowing more than 14 people staying at 1 house, most with cars, fights, creating all kinds of neighborhood problems & doesn't seem to have a problem with how many are located on a single street. Different rules for different folks I guess.

good point wrote on Aug 24, 2008 9:55 AM:and I wouldn't want to live next to either one ! (Even the pool at my condo during the Summer is like Chuck E Cheese ! Thank goodness they are going back to school lol.)

we need martial law wrote on Aug 24, 2008 10:58 AM:for three years..... get rid of ALL illegal aliens. Close the loophole in the 14th Ammendment--- and make it retroactive to 1986.

AND (for those who whine about illegal immigration being the Federal government's responsibility, and gripe about how individuals and businesses who hire illegals are not fined) I support a "use them, lose it all" punishment.

Give the illegals and those hire them a 90 day window to get rid of the illegals, and for the illegals to self deport.

After 90 days, any business or individual who is found to have an illegal alien in their employ is subject to a 250,000 fine for each DAY an illegal is working for them--- per individual illegal alien. If they don't comply, or don't have the money, all of the assets are seized and sold at auctions to benefit education (for U.S. citizens).

After 90 days, any illegal aliens still found in the United States are sentenced to five years hard labor building the border wall. If they are caught after the wall is built, they are used in other construction projects. Any illegal alien with a criminal record is sentenced to 15 years hard labor.

Overcrowding problem solved. Day care problem solved because mom or dad can now afford to stay home, thus, no need for a day care center on residential streets every 2,500 feet.

To martial law wrote on Aug 24, 2008 11:38 AM:Wow- how does anything in your rant have to do with solving a day care problem? Let me get this straight, if the illegals go away, my mortgage payment, car payments, food costs, property taxes, etc, will all be lower and I will no longer need day care?

concerned business wrote on Aug 24, 2008 12:21 PM:Wow The City should focus on all the crimes and kids running the streets and let this woman make her business sucessful and for Mr. Ford. No we won't vote for you as you run for City Council.

Business is Business wrote on Aug 25, 2008 4:42 AM:Regulate the lawful day care centers, shutdown the undocumented ones, and do the same with the group homes. There are reasons for requiring permits for such activities and where are the 3rd graders from Temecula blogging this article?

Vista Resident wrote on Aug 26, 2008 7:45 AM:"we need martial law" I elect you our next president.... I wish more people would voice this same issue... To the post underneath our next president, think about it, it has everything to do with the daycare issue, I guarantee half the kids in these daycares belong to illegals in one way or another... I can't get subsidized care from the state because the budget for it is dried up because of the illegals so Yes it is a VERY RELATED POST!!!! Not to mention like the other poster added Vista has no problem packing them in and does nothing to enforce a two bedroom apt with 15 different people and 5 different vehicles tell the lady to move here and run her daycare! This is getting ridiculous....

carmen wrote on Aug 26, 2008 10:12 PM:I work from home and if my neighbor had a home daycare with 14 kids, the noise would drive me crazy. Good luck to her neighbors if she gets her permit.

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