The Times Herald (Norristown, PA)
Senior living home proposes YMCA child care center
Parking, traffic are main areas of concern from board of supervisors
TOWAMENCIN >> A senior living community on Allentown Road in Towamencin wants to bring in some younger visitors.
Bill Brown, CEO of Advanced Living and the Schwenckfeld Manor community, has asked for permission to convert space in their complex into a child care facility, to be operated by the North Penn YMCA.
“We think it’s a great opportunity, because of the inter-generational programming we could have — our residents being involved with younger kids,” said Brown.
“We had a successful program at one time with Inglewood Elementary School, and we feel like this is a great opportunity for more inter-generational programs,” he said.
Brown, attorney Dave Onorato, and Suzie Mundie, the Early Childhood Director for the Lansdale branch of the North Penn YMCA, made the case to the supervisors Wednesday night as part of a formal conditional use hearing. Their proposal is to convert roughly 2,300 square feet of floor area inside the Schwenckfeld Manor complex, which had previously been the site of adult day care operated by the local Visiting Nurses Association, into a child care area to be operated by the Y.
“We’d like to use it for before- and after-school care, and also for a nursery school program between 9 (a.m.) and 1 (p.m.), and possibly some
summer fun programs,” Mundie said.
Children who attend would be dropped off just outside the designated area, brought through a secure entrance by parents or Y employees, then classes would be held in a large center room where state codes would allow a maximum of 27 children at once, Brown and Mundie told the board. An outside courtyard area is attached where the kids could spend part of their day, weather permitting, and is separated by locked doors from the rest of the Schwenckfeld complex.
“It would be a great place to have the children go out for a snack, or lunch, and maybe do a messy arts and crafts activity,” Mundie said.
The YMCA is a copartner with Schwenckfeld’s parent company Advanced Living Communities at the North Penn Commons complex in Lansdale. A child care use is allowed, but conditional use approval is required, due to the site being located in an institutional zoning district.
Similar child care programs are already in place at the Lansdale, Harleysville and Indian Valley Y branches, Mundie said, and the Y also runs offsite day cares at eight different sites in the Souderton Area school district, totaling about 500 children who take part. Operating hours would likely start at 6:30 a.m. and run until 6 p.m., Mundie told the board, and Y staff would transport kids in vans to their schools at the appropriate times.
A total of 10 parking spaces nearest to that entrance would be designated for the child care use, Brown told the board, with three for employees and seven for parents dropping off children, and the adjacent spots for the Schwenckfeld residents could be used as overflow.
“Remember: this is a site with over 300 parking spots, and so there is more than sufficient parking on the site,” Onorato said.
“We don’t anticipate that whatever extra parking is going to be generated by the YMCA use, will have any real impact on what’s happening out there. We think that there’s more than sufficient parking to manage whatever demand will be for the YMCA,” he said.
Brown and Onorato said the conversion would require minimal changes to the outside of the structure, just rearrangement and possible painting of the interior area. No changes would be made to the doors or entrances inside, nor to the driveways outside, and Brown said the child care space would be kept separate from senior area — “the entire building is locked down, all the time.”
Supervisor Dan Littley asked about the fire alarm system for the child care area, and Brown said it would be linked to the rest of the complex, and any fire alarm elsewhere would require evacuation of all spaces, including the child area. Supervisor Rich Marino asked how the project would impact traffic flow on Allentown Road, particularly during arrival or departure times for students at Inglewood across the street.
“As a parent, and former parent, of Inglewood students and their before-school day care program, exiting onto Allentown Road is really difficult, particularly when the school flashers are going,” he said.
Brown said parents making dropoffs would be encouraged to either go right from the Schwenckfeld driveway onto Allentown, with the flow of traffic, or exit the complex onto Weikel Road to go left past the school zone.
“Trying to make a left onto Allentown Road in those high-traffic periods, it’s extremely difficult to get out,” Marino said.
“Luckily, when that’s happening, cars should be going about 15 miles per hour,” Onorato replied; “And they don’t cut you any slack at all,” Marino answered.
Supervisor Laura Smith said she lives on one of those shortcut routes where drivers try to bypass Allentown Road traffic, and said added traffic flow was her main worry.
“We’re not saying no, just talking out concerns,” she said.
Onorato said the total child care traffic should be spread out over several hours during the morning, and said minimal issues were reported when the VNA adult care program operated there.
“Although we’ll add to the traffic, it’s not hundreds of cars,” he said.
In response to resident questions, Mundie said that on days when school is cancelled or dismissed early, state rules require the child care program be closed, and large events like class graduations could be held at the larger Y facility at 600 E. Main Street in Lansdale.
“If we wanted to do something large-scale like that, like if we’re going to do a pre-K graduation, that would be held at the Lansdale branch,” she said.