Council votes in favour of new Greenwood daycare

North Bay City Council voted unanimously on Monday evening for the establishment of a new daycare within the city.
Council chambers saw a large turnout of adult supporters at the meeting, letting their views be known that they were hoping council would give the green light to the plan.

The daycare will now set up shop at the Greenwood Avenue Baptist Church, rejuvenating the building.

The facility had become an issue with some within the community, especially those living in the area.

The controversy surrounded around traffic concerns in and out of the neighbourhood, along with noise and litter.
But mostly, the complaints were to do with a lack of parking, especially with winter months and small children coming and going out of vehicles.

The site currently has 25 parking spots, with a planned drop off and pick up area to be designed into the facility to maximize safety.

The planned daycare hopes to accommodate 80 spaces and already has 40 of these taken for the upcoming season, starting around the back to school months.

However, council fully sided on the development of the daycare and hoped to subdue the concerns of those worried about the impact in the immediate vicinity of the church.

Councillor Dave Mendicino came on side with two simple reasons, job creation and the fact that the city is in need of more daycare spaces.

He says that at the end of the day, this is just good city planning and rezoning of the building for a service in demand within the city.

"It makes sense for a neighbourhood such as this", Mendicino says.