Day-care center under fire by neighbors again

Greg Risling

COSTA MESA -- The validity of a city-granted permit for an East Side

day-care center will be sent back to the Planning Commission where it

will be further debated.

A study session involving commission members, neighbors and operators of

the Southcoast Early Childhood Learning Center was held Monday night.

Commission members listened to both sides and decided they will direct

city staff to review the issue once more at their Jan. 24 meeting.

What irks the center’s operators is that the city staff had already

stated their opinions to a list of complaints by neighbors. Deputy City

Manager Donald Lamm concluded there weren’t any major violations in a

letter dated July 23, 1999. He added the city wouldn’t proceed to require

a new use permit

So why would the commission direct staff to review the permit again?

“You aren’t the only one that is confused,” said Perry Valentine,

assistant development services director. “Our conclusion hasn’t changed.

We thought the [Lamm] letter was the final answer to the controversy. It

doesn’t seem to be the case.”

Neighbors have vehemently protested some of the center’s actions, most

notably the construction of a concrete wall. The wall was built last

summer after two children were killed when a car plunged into a sand

playground at the day-care center. The city granted an encroachment

permit allowing the wall, although neighbors complained that it blocked

motorists’ views and was a safety hazard.

The latest disagreement stems from a permit issued in the 1960s. The

permit calls for an elementary school, but some neighbors argue the

day-care center operation doesn’t comply with that provision.

Lamm’s letter addressed all of the neighbors’ concerns, but that hasn’t

stopped their effort.

“It’s difficult to listen to hear someone attack you,” said Sheryl

Hawkinson, who runs the day-care center. “The issues are constantly

changing to the point where we don’t know what the real problem is. It

just keeps dragging on.”

Valentine said the only changes that could warrant a hearing about the

day-care center are finding a violation of the city permit or determining

it is a public nuisance. Handling the neighborhood’s complaints hasn’t

followed usual protocol.

“It’s an unusual situation,” Valentine added. “We know what their

[neighbors] arguments will be. We’ll see if there is a different

conclusion.”