Planning Board forbids Arbors Kids from dangerous practices

Date: 1/9/2012

Jan. 9, 2012

By Chris Maza

Reminder Assistant Editor

EAST LONGMEADOW — The Planning Board put its foot down at its Jan. 3 meeting and told Arbors Kids that no child’s foot will be set on the New England Lumber and Packaging Company property.

According to Planning Director Robyn Macdonald, staff at the childcare center, located at 95 Shaker Road, has been taking children through the active lumberyard located on the same parcel in order to access the Red Stone Rail Trail, which runs behind the property.

“When the change was made [in the special permit] to Arbors Kids, we were informed that there would be no changes whatsoever in the operating policy of the daycare,” Planning Board Chair Peter Punderson told Jason Robertson, representing Arbors Kids. “This is a huge change — taking children through an area that is a work area, through an area where there’s trucks, through an area where there’s danger.”

Planning Board member George Kingston said there are real questions about how children can be kept safe.

“The basic issue is how do you ensure the safety of the kids crossing through an active yard where forklifts and other things are moving around,” he said.

Robertson told the Planning Board that the childcare center had an agreement with Walter Gunn, who owns New England Lumber and Packaging, as well as the building housing Arbors Kids allowing the use of the lumberyard.

“Sometime after [opening], the executive director wanted to utilize the walking path and she contacted the land owner, Walter Gunn, our licensor, Karen Burns, and the parents and moved on from there,” he said. “She developed a walking plan, how we would get from the childcare center to the path. That was OK’d by the licensor and by Walter, so we weren’t sure if it was something that needed to be discussed with the Planning Board.

“It’s an oversight on our part that we didn’t come here. It’s not something we discussed and decided not to do. The executive director did what she thought was necessary and not until the Dec. 9 letter did it become apparent that we did something wrong,” he continued.

Robertson added that Arbors Kids has suspended the practice since receiving a letter from the Planning Board regarding the matter on Dec. 9, but hoped to resume it upon some form of agreement with the board.

“It’s something we’d love to continue to do. The parents like it, the kids like it, the teachers like it,” he said. “We would be amenable to any additional safeguards or any suggestions from the board.”

Gunn said that while he had an initial agreement with Arbors Kids to allow them to cut across the yard, he admitted it has posed problems.

“I did grant them some sort of verbal OK to try it out. It was an experiment because we were trying to find a way to connect the daycare to the bike path. They did develop a plan and I did check with our insurance carriers and they all signed off on it,” he said. “To me, it’s an inconvenience because when are they there and when are they not there? If it was even going to go forward as plan, I would suggest that they would have to have a specific time and that time is set in stone so we know when that is happening.

“I could take it or leave it, to tell you the truth. I get my rent every month. I would like to see the bike path utilized. I think everyone should use it, but I agree that there are some concerns here,” he added.

Gunn said that the location does not see the same traffic it once did.

“It’s a pretty inactive yard. We use it for storage,” he said. “It’s not what you think. In the old days, it was the entrance for trucks and that’s why the gate was put up.”

In addition to safety concerns, while looking over the approved site plan, the Planning Board discovered that the gate Robertson said the children and staff were exiting through was not included.

“This is a good example of why we have to have everything approved on the site plan,” Punderson said. “Now you’ve got a gate that you’re using that we didn’t agree to let you use in a situation that we don’t think is proper and you also don’t have the gate on the site plan.”

Kingston said that if the board were to allow Arbors Kids to continue using the lot as a cut through, that any plan would require a clearly delineated path.

“At the minimum, I would like to see some marking of where they walk and where they don’t walk and ideally, there would be some kind of physical barrier,” he said.

Gunn suggested the use of a permanent yellow marking down the center of the lot demarking where staff and children are to walk. Requiring the children to walk down the middle of a 70-foot-wide path would ensure safety from falling pallet stacks, which stand 10 to 12 feet high, and other dangers.

The Planning Board agreed that Gunn and Arbors Kids must agree on a plan and that plan, along with an updated site plan, must be presented for approval. Until approval is given, Arbors Kids must continue to cease use of the land as access to the trail.