Langley, B.C., city council is considering preventing any new child-care facilities from opening on the main street of its downtown core.
It still has to go to a public hearing but this would mean that child-care facilities would not be allowed to open within 400 metres of another daycare on the same street, which would effectively prevent any new facilities.
There are four daycares in the downtown section — three on the one-way street — and council members are worried about the effect of more daycares on retail businesses.
“This is an area where we really want to ensure that it maintains its purpose as our high street, as our historic retail district so one of the things we’ve done over the years is make sure we have a balance of the service businesses and the retail businesses,” Mayor Nathan Pachal told Global News.
The city says that while it does want to limit daycares in its downtown core to preserve its emphasis on retail, it is committed to establishing more daycare spaces and is putting an expanded daycare in a nearby park.