Kenai planners approve Beaver Loop day care and give it two years to open

The Kenai Planning and Zoning Commission voted 6-0 Wednesday to allow a therapeutic day care for young children, including children with developmental disabilities, in a vacant building at 2880 Beaver Loop Road.

Commissioners also gave the operator, the nonprofit Frontier Community Services, two years instead of the usual one to start operating, so it won't need to return for an extension next fall.

Frontier plans to care for about 15 to 20 children up to age 7 in the former group home.

Children with disabilities sometimes don't attend a full school day, said Amanda Wilcox, a contact named on the nonprofit's application. The day care could be an option that helps their parents keep working, she said.

Frontier holds a Rural Health Transformation Program grant through 2027 to develop its curriculum and ready the building for state licensing, Wilcox said. Its application anticipated opening after July 2027, but she said a soft opening in January 2028 is now likely.

"It takes a lot to pull together a daycare, especially one for children with disabilities," she said.

That timeline prompted a question from Commissioner Diane Fikes: "Is there any impact with approving a permit knowing that they're not going to actually have operation until 2028?"

City code gives permit holders a year to start operating, and the commission could extend that for good cause in about a year, Planning Director Kevin Buettner said.

Instead, a commissioner moved to grant a one-year extension now. The amendment and the permit each passed 6-0, with one commissioner absent.

City staff found the day care met the permit criteria. Children will be indoors most of the day, with a fenced play area on the east side of the building. Staff said about 40 added trips a day would have a negligible effect on a road carrying more than 2,000 vehicles daily.

No members of the public commented on the permit.

Wilcox said the nonprofit will apply in January for a second year of grant funding.