The city of Decatur’s Linda Harris lets us know that tonight’s Planning Commission Meeting has been postponed until next Wednesday, January 19th.

Additionally, Decatur Municipal Court for both today and tomorrow has been postponed until an undetermined date in the future.

While no one on the Decatur City Commission brought up the potential walkability concerns of limiting residential child care to 10,000+ square foot lots at last night’s meeting, the popular national transportation website, Streetsblog, picked up my post from yesterday and ran with it.

In fact, we’re their front page story today!  Here’s the first few paragraphs from their post…

In the movement for sustainable transportation, it’s often the sexy stories that monopolize our attention: crazy anti-transit politicians, re-imagining streets for safer biking and walking, potential freeway teardowns.

But a lot of the time, when livability and active transportation come under assault, it’s in rather mundane circumstances. As this example from suburban Atlanta goes to show, some of the most consequential battlegrounds are still the local planning commissions and zoning boards.

Network blog Decatur Metro offers the case of the Decatur City Commission’s consideration of a new ordinance to allow family daycares on two major thoroughfares. Watch how quickly and ruthlessly the value of walkability is undermined, on the grounds of neighbors’ imagined complaints:

Actually that last paragraph should read “Decatur’s Planning Commission”, not the City Commission.

Picture courtesy of the City of Bartlesville.  Idea to use a cute picture of kids on a sidewalk, courtesy of Streetsblog.

Both “walkability” and “child care” in the same post?  It’s a Decatur blogger’s dream come true!

Tonight, the Decatur City Commission will vote on approving amendments to the zoning ordinance to allow family home daycares in R-85 and R-60, approved by the Decatur Planning Commission last week.

So?  Well, of particular note is a conversation recorded in the minutes from the Planning Commission meeting (page 22) between some of the commission members and Planning Director Amanda Thompson.  The issue at hand is the lot size requirement in the proposed ordinance, because while the state regulates 35 square feet per child of indoor space, there is no outdoor requirement.  (In Georgia, family daycares can watch a max of six children per day.)

In response to an unrecorded question from commission member Scott Doyon, Ms. Thompson explained that she had recommended a 10,000 square foot lot size “because it would allow an adequate play space as well as a buffer between neighboring properties.”  She also admitted that most R-60 lots are smaller than 9,000 square feet and thus would not meet the minimum lot size to allow a family home daycare.

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Decatur’s Zoning Board of Appeals tabled the 315 West Ponce de Leon Avenue developer’s parking variance request last night so they could “meet with neighbors”, according to the city’s Planning Director Amanda Thompson.

The developer will also withdraw their commercial building approval from tonight’s Planning Commission meeting.

Like this apparently.  From last night’s city Planning Commission meeting docs…

Click to enlarge or click over to the PDF to check out the latest site and floor plans.

The DNO e-pub reports that the plans received approval from the planning commission last night.