Vienna Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) members on July 17 unanimously granted a conditional-use permit for a family daycare serving up to 12 children at 430 Old Courthouse Road, N.E.
The application “responds to an important need in our community for a family day home,” BZA member Robert Petersen said. “We’ve seen this over and over that the community has a real need for these types of facilities.”
Happy Hive Daycare LLC will operate the facility out of an existing 4,006-square-foot single-family detached house at the 0.3-acre site. Children using the home likely will range between 2 months and 6 years old, applicant Bahareh Ranjbar said.
Ranjbar already operates a home business there that serves up to four children, and will need to obtain state licensure to provide services to five or more children.
The facility will be operated in about 1,562 square feet of the house’s basement and people will be able to access that area via the back of the home and occasionally the front door or garage.
The home will be operated out of the applicant’s principal residence, as required by town code. The facility will be open Mondays through Fridays from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and only one non-resident will be employed there.
The BZA’s approval required the business to fence in the house’s rear-yard recreational area. Ranjbar said the project already is in the works and the wooden picket fence likely would be installed by July 19.
The BZA’s motion also stipulated that people dropping off children or picking them up must park on the south side of the street, where the house is located.
“I don’t think we want people crossing Old Courthouse Road,” said BZA member George Creed. “There’s an awful lot of traffic. I think it presents a real safety condition.”
