Church planning day care center

Neighbors on 5th Avenue worry parking could be an issue

WATERVLIET >> Residents living in the city could soon have another option for child care, but some feel the opening of such facility at a 5th Avenue church could create parking problems in the surrounding neighborhood.

Blessing’s Day Care Center is being planned inside Jermain Memorial Presbyterian Church at 601 5th Ave., the culmination of a two-year-old idea by a member of the congregation, Lorraine Morales, who will serve as its director, according to the church’s pastor, the Rev. Inho Suh.

“One of our members who has run day care programs for over 20 years thought that having a day care here would help a need in our city,” said Rev. Suh, “so she sort of stepped forward and began that process about two years ago.”

City Councilman Nicholas Foglia said the daycare is still only a proposal, however, and that the church still has some legal hurdles to overcome.

“The zoning permit by the city has not yet been issued,” said Foglia, “and the state Office of

Children and Family Services has not yet issued a permit to operate.”

The center would handle as many as 45 children, with an additional 40 in an afterschool program, and is proposed to be open from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m.

“We made it 7 to 7 since the state actually came in and asked if we would extend it,” said Rev. Suh. “We were going to go from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., but there are two-working-parent households in our area, so to put it at 5:30 would make it a little more difficult for parents to get back and pick up their kids.”

Foglia said some residents have expressed concerns with the plan, but said Rev. Suh has been working to accommodate them as best as possible like, hosting a meeting with neighbors last week.

“A few residents have expressed concerns with several aspects of the proposal, including parking,” said Foglia. “This issue was discussed at the meeting, and several suggestions were made, including the day care using only their property front. Inho said that they will try their best by informing parents of parking and providing directions to parents.”

According to Rev. Suh, church officials are planning to have a designated area for parents to drop off and pick up their children.

“We will ask the parents to come through 5th Avenue and park on the church property side, facing south, and they can park, drop off or pick up kids from that area of the street,” said Rev. Suh. “Our staff will be able to park in a small parking lot, and when that lot is full, we will ask them to also park on our side on 5th Avenue.”

Several residents did not want to talk about the proposal Monday, while others said they were not even aware of the plan. Rev. Suh said, however, that he did take the time to meet with a handful of neighbors last week to talk to them about their concerns.

“I think we were able to address some of the misinformation that our neighbors had,” said Suh. “I felt like this meeting went really well, and I was able to look them in the eye and let them know that these concerns are important to us, too, since we want to be great neighbors.”

Rev. Suh said suggestions that came out of the meeting included recommending church officials write a letter to parents to tell them where to park and drop off or pick up their children.

Foglia believes having another day care center could be beneficial for the city. While he could not say how many children there are in the city, he guessed a large portion of those going to the new center would be from the city.

“As I believe a need exists in the city for day care and quality afterschool programs, this program may help working families make ends meet,” said Foglia. “The program will also be in previously underutilized building.”