A pair of daycare centers have been approved for development in Delaware following Monday’s Delaware City Council meeting. During the meeting, council passed ordinances for combined preliminary and final development plans for The Goddard School and The Learning Experience to construct branches in the community.
The Goddard School, which also has locations in Powell and Lewis Center, will encompass approximately 1.76 acres located at 505 Preakness Way, just east of Glenn Parkway and immediately south of Crownover Way. The site is an out parcel of the Belmont Place subdivision, which had its initial residential sections approved for development in 2014.
Prior to the approval of the residential sections, council approved a conditional use permit and rezoning in 2009 to add a Planned Mixed-Use (PMU) overlay district on the 109-acre Belmont Place site. The PMU was divided into two subareas —A and B — with the intention of reserving the out lots for commercial use.
Until recently, the site had been developed solely for residential use. Planning and Community Director Dave Efland said that between housing recessions and the market demand changing, “it’s been developed as it has, but that still leaves some mixed-use opportunities here.”
Efland said of The Goddard School, “This is exciting in that it’s the first out lot, the first non-residential construction that will start to complete more of the mixed-use opportunity out here that was envisioned, well, let’s say a decade-plus ago.”
Approved as part of the proposal is an approximately 13,075-square-foot building with two access points off the private drive known as Preakness Way. A total of 39 parking spaces are included in the plans, although it is noted in documents for the proposal that an additional 34 spaces can be constructed if needed in the future.
Efland noted during the meeting that the building, while housing The Goddard School, will be built and owned by development firm Stavroff Interests. While perhaps not likely, especially any time soon, Efland pointed out that the building could be repurposed in the years to come.
“There’s a possibility, however remote, that this may not be a Goddard School forever,” Efland told council. “The building might be converted and demised into other uses that are allowed under that zoning such as offices or doctors’ offices, those kinds of things.”
The Learning Experience branch will be constructed on approximately 2.36 acres located at 12 Glenn Road. The site, which sits on the corner of Glenn Road and Mill Run Crossing, is an out parcel of the Glennwood Commons shopping center located next to Meijer.
A 6,619-square-foot daycare center has been approved as part of the proposal. The site will have two access points which will both be along the internal shopping center access road. There will be no direct access from the school to Glenn Road or Mill Run Crossing. A total of 35 parking spaces and five drop-off spaces are included in the plans.
The Delaware branch of The Learning Experience will be the fifth branch in central Ohio, joining branches in Powell, Lewis Center, Dublin and New Albany.
