Danville City Council OKs permits for new day care centers

Two special-use permits were unanimously passed by Danville City Council on Thursday night, paving the way for a day care center for mentally retarded individuals at 2601 N. Main St. and a child day care center at 2500 W. Main St.
A third special-use permit request was tabled for further discussion, mainly because the applicant was not present to answer questions.
The request asked for permission to use space in the Al-Taqwa Islamic Center at 120 S. Union St. for members to jointly home-school their children.
Councilmen David Luther and E. Stokes Daniels both pointed out that home-schooling means it is done at home and using the religious center for that purpose would mean it would need to be defined as a private school.
Wording in the request made it difficult to understand whether it would be operated as a private school or if the applicant wanted it to be more like expanded home-schooling.
Council members wondered if the school would be charging the students to attend, and whether the students had compulsory attendance waivers to allow them to be home-schooled rather than attend public schools.
Councilwoman Ruby Archie said the applicant had to decide if it would be a private school or home-schooling, and seconded Councilman Adam Tomer’s motion to table the matter until their questions could be answered.
Sue Davis, superintendent of Danville Public Schools, presented the school budget for public hearing and thanked the council for its support.
She pointed out that a significant part of the upcoming school year’s budget would be for salary increases for teachers and other staff members.
Two items on the agenda for first readings called for increases in costs to citizens of Danville.
In one recommendation from the city, council was asked to pass increases in fees related to cemeteries, such as opening and closing graves.
Another recommendation asked council to approve a 5.9 percent raise in assessed values of Danville homes.
Tomer said he found the proposal “hard to swallow.”
“People say their homes are not worth 5.9 percent more (than last year) with the market the way it is,” Tomer said.
Both of those proposals will be discussed again at a future council meeting.
• Contact Denice Thibodeau at or (434) 791-7985.