One of the worst planning meetings I ever attended was a hearing in an upscale resort town at which wealthy condo owners lined up to complain about the sounds of children playing. And won.
Daycare that meets state licensing requirements should be a use-by-right in all zoning districts except truly heavy industrial.
Those condos were probably around a million each 30 years ago. Those of us who have worked in upscale resort towns knew all about the 1% a couple of decades before there was a broader realization of how extreme the differences are. The VT program is great, though still insufficient, and was probably politically possible because most Vermonters are very aware of how we compare with Quebec, where child care is properly funded.
My current tenants in the house I lived in for 12 years in the East Bay started a large in-home daycare there. I was so thrilled! Finally all the troubles I had faced desperately seeking a quality childcare option for my kids would at least be solved for the next neighbors with young families. However, the neighbors didn’t see it that way. They wrote me all sorts of nasty-grams telling me I was “driving down their property values” by “allowing” my tenants to do this (P.S. even if I wasn’t happy about it, the law says you can’t stop tenants from opening an in-home day care where they live). The classist, racist, ethnophobic rants were very similar to all the regular NIMBY talking points (traffic, people will be “casing” the neighborhood when dropping off their kids, crime, theft). All this when we weren't even constructing anything new!! I’m glad the law protects them and in-home daycares don’t need to go through planning commission processes, or city council approval, but we can’t continue to live this way where alarmist mobs can stop, or try to stop, construction of daycares. There is a childcare crisis (mom of a 4 year old talking here) and we need to address it.
Oh how well I know this problem! Back in 2025, I was leading an effort by LePort Montessori Schools to open a high-quality Montessori preschool in Montclair, Oakland.
We were shut down by neighborhood protests and threats of CEQA lawsuits.
140 high quality childcare spots not built, because of NIMBY opposition.
Our proposed location was ideal (or so we thought!): right near an elementary school, so parents could do preschool & elementary drop-off at the same time. Quite near to a high way on-ramp, so no traffic going through neighborhoods, and parents being able to drop kids off on their way to work. We proposed detailed traffic plans, including “drive-by drop-off” which we had already implemented along Market Street in SF for our SF school, and staggered drop-off times.
We bent over backwards to appease the NIMBYs. They prevailed—in a neighborhood were parents go on preschool waitlists when they are pregnant!
The laws just have to change to make this anti-family vetocracy impossible.
Wow your experience is horrifying! Any good public hearings you recommend watching? (“good” as in where neighbors were particularly aggressive.) Such a tragic example of the problem
This is a great piece. I have been at those same meetings, have heard the arguments from individuals that the sound of children playing is unacceptable. But, we know it's not about the supposed noise from other people. It's about the other people.
Of all the public hearings I had to do throughout the years as a traffic engineer, the day cares were the worst--and they're really not that bad. Wanna end congestion? Put a daycare close to home (if you aren't staying home with them…)
Great article - WA state passed legislation making child care centers a permitted use in all zones except industrial this past session. We've also removed parking minimums and made it easier to site child care in existing buildings. Read more here: https://mrsc.org/stay-informed/mrsc-insight/june-2025/childcare-zoning.
Your assessment of the situation in Napa is inaccurate. But who’s surprised since it is easily twisted to fit your agenda. NIMBYS? Children as pollution? People who oppose monstrosities are not children haters, NIMBYS or whatever evil image you want to portray of them. There is always more to every story. Always.
“Child care, not prisons” is a good slogan we shouldn’t have to say! I hadn’t thought of the childcare shortage in terms of Republicans’ obsession with work requirements but that’s a very important point—very cruel to force people to work when there’s so little support for the childcare they need
One of the worst planning meetings I ever attended was a hearing in an upscale resort town at which wealthy condo owners lined up to complain about the sounds of children playing. And won.
Daycare that meets state licensing requirements should be a use-by-right in all zoning districts except truly heavy industrial.
And then there should be some version of this Vermont program: https://dcf.vermont.gov/benefits/ccfap
Insane. You’d think condo owners of all people would understand bad permitting, but maybe not in a resort town
Love the Vermont program, thank you for sharing!
Those condos were probably around a million each 30 years ago. Those of us who have worked in upscale resort towns knew all about the 1% a couple of decades before there was a broader realization of how extreme the differences are. The VT program is great, though still insufficient, and was probably politically possible because most Vermonters are very aware of how we compare with Quebec, where child care is properly funded.
My current tenants in the house I lived in for 12 years in the East Bay started a large in-home daycare there. I was so thrilled! Finally all the troubles I had faced desperately seeking a quality childcare option for my kids would at least be solved for the next neighbors with young families. However, the neighbors didn’t see it that way. They wrote me all sorts of nasty-grams telling me I was “driving down their property values” by “allowing” my tenants to do this (P.S. even if I wasn’t happy about it, the law says you can’t stop tenants from opening an in-home day care where they live). The classist, racist, ethnophobic rants were very similar to all the regular NIMBY talking points (traffic, people will be “casing” the neighborhood when dropping off their kids, crime, theft). All this when we weren't even constructing anything new!! I’m glad the law protects them and in-home daycares don’t need to go through planning commission processes, or city council approval, but we can’t continue to live this way where alarmist mobs can stop, or try to stop, construction of daycares. There is a childcare crisis (mom of a 4 year old talking here) and we need to address it.
Oh how well I know this problem! Back in 2025, I was leading an effort by LePort Montessori Schools to open a high-quality Montessori preschool in Montclair, Oakland.
We were shut down by neighborhood protests and threats of CEQA lawsuits.
140 high quality childcare spots not built, because of NIMBY opposition.
Our proposed location was ideal (or so we thought!): right near an elementary school, so parents could do preschool & elementary drop-off at the same time. Quite near to a high way on-ramp, so no traffic going through neighborhoods, and parents being able to drop kids off on their way to work. We proposed detailed traffic plans, including “drive-by drop-off” which we had already implemented along Market Street in SF for our SF school, and staggered drop-off times.
We bent over backwards to appease the NIMBYs. They prevailed—in a neighborhood were parents go on preschool waitlists when they are pregnant!
The laws just have to change to make this anti-family vetocracy impossible.
Link to a hopeful article from when we still thought we would open this preschool: https://www.mercurynews.com/2015/05/20/after-nearly-100-years-montclair-womens-cultural-arts-club-closing/
Wow your experience is horrifying! Any good public hearings you recommend watching? (“good” as in where neighbors were particularly aggressive.) Such a tragic example of the problem
This is a great piece. I have been at those same meetings, have heard the arguments from individuals that the sound of children playing is unacceptable. But, we know it's not about the supposed noise from other people. It's about the other people.
Of all the public hearings I had to do throughout the years as a traffic engineer, the day cares were the worst--and they're really not that bad. Wanna end congestion? Put a daycare close to home (if you aren't staying home with them…)
Great article - WA state passed legislation making child care centers a permitted use in all zones except industrial this past session. We've also removed parking minimums and made it easier to site child care in existing buildings. Read more here: https://mrsc.org/stay-informed/mrsc-insight/june-2025/childcare-zoning.
Your assessment of the situation in Napa is inaccurate. But who’s surprised since it is easily twisted to fit your agenda. NIMBYS? Children as pollution? People who oppose monstrosities are not children haters, NIMBYS or whatever evil image you want to portray of them. There is always more to every story. Always.
What did I share that is inaccurate Mary? Did neighbors not sue a daycare under the California Environmental Quality Act?
My agenda is ensuring California has enough daycares for children who need them, which I hope we can all support
“Child care, not prisons” is a good slogan we shouldn’t have to say! I hadn’t thought of the childcare shortage in terms of Republicans’ obsession with work requirements but that’s a very important point—very cruel to force people to work when there’s so little support for the childcare they need