Douglas County planners recommend Sterling Ranch lot for daycare

The Douglas County Planning Commission unanimously recommended approval Sept. 14 of a plat amendment creating a 1.25-acre lot for a proposed daycare at Sterling Ranch. A resident opposed the project and said he represented about 20 nearby families.

The recommendation covers Sterling Ranch Filing 6A, Second Amendment, file SB2026-014. The commission’s motion requires technical corrections to the final plat to be completed to the county’s satisfaction before the plat is recorded, the meeting recording shows.

The Board of County Commissioners is scheduled to consider the plat Sept. 22 at 2:30 p.m., according to the county’s Aug. 25 manager’s report. The planning commission’s recommendation does not authorize daycare construction or operation.

The plat would divide 3.12 acres into Lot 229A, the proposed daycare lot, and Lot 230A, a separate superblock reserved for future development. The applicant said the planned Kiddie Academy center could serve up to 200 children, an estimate rather than a confirmed licensed capacity.

Traffic was a central neighborhood concern. A traffic-conformance analysis estimated that the proposed 12,900-square-foot daycare would add 39 daily trips, 30 morning peak-hour trips and 28 afternoon peak-hour trips compared with an earlier 9,700-square-foot use. The analysis concluded that the roadway network and accesses could accommodate the additional traffic and that no further traffic analysis was needed, the staff report says.

The applicant said drop-off and pickup would be staggered and that the center would have 42 parking spaces. Building orientation, parking, landscaping and buffering will be addressed through a concurrent site improvement plan under administrative review. Lot 230A will require additional subdivision approvals, including separate water-supply and transportation determinations. The daycare also will need health-plan review and state licensing before construction and operation.