LAYTON -- Licensed home day-care providers in Layton can do more business now that the City Council has increased the total number of children they can care for.
At its March 18 meeting, the City Council approved amendments to the city's day-care regulations. They increased from six to eight the number of children one provider can care for and doubled from six to 12 the total number of kids that two adults in the same facility can care for."It is somewhat more restrictive than what the state would allow," Layton Community Development Director Scott Carter said. The state will allow a maximum of 16 children to be cared for by two adults in a single home-occupation day care.
Some Layton day-care providers believe the city should follow the state's limits.
However, Carter said the Layton Fire Chief is adamant that 12 children should be the limit because 16 kids are too many for just two adults to evacuate from a home during an emergency.
Peggy Burton, a Layton day-care provider, said the city should especially consider increasing the number of infants that can be cared for. The current limit is two children under age 2.
"Infant care is in great demand," she said. She believes some young mothers need day care for two children under age 2 in order to get off welfare.
Councilwoman Debra Ledkins said it's the city's duty to determine public safety. She recommended the fire department study a possible increase in the number of infants that can be cared for in the future.
However, City Manager Alex Jensen still maintained three infants is too many. He said the current changes in overall limits are enough for now.
Carter said ideally, the neighbors shouldn't even be aware someone is operating a home day-care center. He also stressed it is a secondary use for a home, and that factor makes a huge difference.
Homes don't have the safety features, such as multiple exits, that a building specially built for such a business would have.
Layton has 122 licensed day-care providers and Mayor Jerry Stevenson was concerned that only about 3 percent of them showed up to the public hearing on the revised regulations.
Still another concern all Layton City officials have is how many unlicensed day-care providers operate in the city. The city has no control over them.