LEWISTON – Five Somali women are working or going to school because Kaltun Yassin is available to watch their children in her Spruce Street apartment.
That’s five women working to make their lives better, Yassin said, and she could help more – if city zoning ordinances would let her.
“I’ve had to turn two families away,” she said. “The mothers said they just wouldn’t work. They’d just stay home with their children.”
She’s licensed by the state of Maine to care for 12 children, but city zoning limits her to six. Without dedicated parking spaces and an outside play area, she can’t care for more children.
“But these women are neighbors, and they don’t have to drive,” she said. “Why do I need parking spaces?”
She might not, if city planners agree to change the ordinances governing home day cares. The city Planning Board on Monday agreed to consider the matter. It should have a revised ordinance ready for review later this month.
This could be a way to get more downtown people working, said Phil Nadeau, deputy city administrator.
“Day care is one of the limiting factors for people going to work,” Nadeau said. “Without good, trusted day care, mothers can’t leave their children and go off to work. And I hate to think that zoning ordinances are stopping that, turning out to be barriers for opportunity.”
Lewiston’s zoning codes were written with more rural and suburban neighborhoods in mind. They require day-care homes to provide a minimum of two parking spaces for dropping off and picking up children. They also require a minimum of 75 square feet of outdoor play area.
“That works fine for a more rural neighborhood, but it breaks down when you talk about an urban setting,” he said. “In fact, it looks like this drives affordable day care out of the downtown area.”
But downtown apartments have more access to on-street parking, and most are within walking distance of downtown parks. Yassin’s apartment is across the street from Kennedy Park, less than 20 feet away.
A change in the rules could lead to a number of day-care homes downtown, Nadeau said. He hopes that would make it more affordable.
Dave Hediger, deputy director of planning and code enforcement, expects the request to be on the Planning Board’s March 27 agenda. If the board approves changes, the matter would go to the City Council for two public hearings.
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