HomeMy WebLinkAboutApplicant letter to Planning Board, July 2, 201807/02/2018
To Whom It May Concern at the Danby Town Board,
I am submitting my request to the town for a special permit to operate a child day care and community
center on the premises at 1230 Danby Road. The maximum amount o f children I would enroll in the
child care program would be 30 children ages 3 months old through 12 years old. I will be working with
The Office of Children and Family Services in order to obtain the license needed to operate such a center
(after completing some upgrades and minor renovations). In addition to the child care, it is possible that
Earth Arts may rent part of the building to offer homeschool enrichment classes for part of the days,
part of the week. I plan on leaving the dance floor area of the property as an open space to be used as
an indoor play space in inclement weather and also to use for different community events. I would
prefer if all events ended by 10pm. As part of my child care, I invite families to come together for
seasonal celebrations about 8 times per year. No alcohol will be served on the property. I am also a
Family Yoga inst ructor and could rent that space out to other yoga teachers for classes. We may use the
outdoor stage as an outdoor nature kindergarten classroom in the future, but also use it for non-
amplified music during the community events. The kitchen will be used to create meals and snacks for
the child care and the fenced in garden will be our licensed play yard. Since there are othe r pieces to
this business plan beyond the child care, I will be naming the space Earth Rhythms with a sub -title that
reflects the collaborative community. We plan on creating a raised bed community garden on the land
and may seek to i nclude chickens and goats, if allowed by the Town. I have been operating home child
care centers in Ithaca for 11 of my 14 years here. The other 3 years, I was working as a Waldorf
Kindergarten Teacher. It is a mission of mine to serve working families by giving them a space to feel
comfortable leaving their children while they work. We f eed them home-made organic meals and
snacks. We allow them freedom within safe boundaries and we teach empathy, sharing,
communication, creativity, practicality, respect, stewardship and critical thinking, while surrounding
them with a community that grows in respect to the growing children we will be serving. All programs
will be covered by liability insurance. As it pertains to traffic and parking, the addition of a child care at
this location will certainly direct new traffic to this corner. Approximately 20 families will need to drop
children off and p ick them up . Currently at my home on Ridgecrest we have 14 families and three
employees coming and going in a residential neighborhood and there have been zero complaints.
Having an actual park ing lot will be a great benefit to the child care and the hours of operation will be
between 8am and 6pm. Cars will enter and exit on Comfort Road.
Extremely grateful for this opportunity,
Devon Buckley, Owner of Earth Rhythms, Lessee of 1230 Danby Road
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