BONNYVILLE – Having their proposed location turned down by town council isn’t going to deter Happy House Daycare from looking for a place to call home in Bonnyville.
Owner Uta Squire stressed there’s a need for more childcare in Bonnyville, and she won’t stop looking for a location that will meet their needs.
“We already have a wait list for Bonnyville, and we haven’t even advertised yet,” she exclaimed. “I also have a staff list of people that have applied to work for us in Bonnyville.”
The original development permit was for 6210 50 Ave., between Western Budget Motel and Enbridge. After tabling the discussion at their earlier meeting, town council decided on Jan. 28 they couldn’t allow a daycare to set up in an industrial area.
Councillors Ray Prevost, Elisa Brosseau, and Brian McEvoy voted against approving the permit, while Mayor Gene Sobolewski and councillors Chad Colbourne and Rene Van Brabant were in favour. Coun. Lorna Storoschuk declared a conflict of interest.
“To me, there’s a reason why we don’t allow these types of occupancies in this zoning,” noted Coun. Brian McEvoy. “This doesn’t belong in this industrial commercial zone.”
Council agreed another daycare is needed in Bonnyville, however, the location wasn’t a good fit.
“This is something we all want,” Coun. Ray Prevost expressed. “We want a daycare, the problem is that it’s in the wrong area. Nobody’s opposed to a daycare in Bonnyville. It’s just the location isn’t conducive to a daycare in this situation… I’d like to have it here, because it’s important… to the community and the people at large who are going to use the service.”
Prevost believes approving the application would be “ripping up” the town’s land use bylaw.
“You’re doing that to one of the most important documents, and as much as I hate to say this, it’s precedent-setting because the minute you allow this one, then you pretty much can’t deny anybody else because it’s not really a discretionary level,” he continued.
With this in mind, Squire understood why the town denied her development permit.
“The reason you have the bylaw is for your community. The thing is that was a building that was perfect for a daycare,” she said. “The size of the lot was excellent, but the location wasn’t 100 per cent perfect. Sometimes you have to work with what you can get, but in this case, it didn’t pan out for us.”
Squire is now on the hunt for a better located facility that still fits the specific requirements on her wish list.
“It has to be a minimum of 9,000 square-feet. There has to be enough parking, have a playground, and the building has to be suitable for children. There has to be enough bathrooms, and you have to have a commercial sink. You can’t just grab a building and put kids in there. There’s a lot of licensing and regulations I have to cover if I’m going to run a legal daycare.”
She added, “I’m just going to keep on looking and hopefully something will come up my way. It’s not just finding a building; it’s making sure that you’ve got the parking and playground too. It doesn’t have to be a big playground, as long as it’s somewhere the children have a safe place to go out, run around, and play.”
Happy House Daycare was started by Squire in her basement in 2008, and has grown to include a north and south location in Cold Lake. In November, she began searching for a building in Bonnyville to expand to the area and would like to be able to accommodate up to 150 children. The one in town would be open Monday to Thursday from 6:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Fridays from 6:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
