Hello and welcome to On the Agenda, semmonly podcast by the city of Reno that quickly updates you on actions taken at the recent council meeting and checks in with various departments to keep you up to date with happenings [music] within the halls of city hall. I'm AJ from the city of Reno's communications team and with me [music] as always except for last time city manager Jackie Ashley did great. Ashley Turney did a fantastic job. >> She did. I was out of town >> but we missed you. >> Thank you. >> You had a good Thanksgiving break. some family, the siblings, we all got together. We had a wonderful time. >> Oh, good. I love that. >> Yeah, it was really great. Travel wasn't so fun, but the other parts were wonderful. >> You need a vacation from the travel. >> Oh my gosh. >> Uh today our guest speaker will be telling us about a recent ordinance introduction uh related to standards for child care centers. But before we get started, Reno City Manager Jackie Bryant will give us some highlights from the last council meeting. >> Yeah. So, first council approved a resolution supporting the Zephr Point Apartments affordable housing project, which will rehabilitate 216 affordable housing units for our community, thus requiring another 30 years of affordability. So, that was really exciting. Council also directed staff [music] to return with an ordinance amending the Reno Municipal Code Chapter 14.05 to reflect the 2024 edition of the International Property Maintenance Code. Basically, what this does is it allows the city to follow the [music] most current guidelines related to building safety, sanitation, plumbing, [music] electrical systems, and more. We really hadn't done this in quite some time, so that [music] will be a good ad. Also, the Reno Redevelopment Agency met. [music] It is the same board members as the city council members, but we have to open up and close because it's [music] a completely different meeting. but they met and they approved a TIFF application for 200 town homes on East Commercial Row. So, that's really exciting. I'm thrilled [music] about this project. >> That's fantastic. And we've talked uh TIFF before. >> We have talked, so if you don't know what that is. >> I think it's episode 7. >> Go check it out. >> Definitely check it out. Um thank you [music] for the highlights. As always, you can read more at reno.gov/news. Um or you can check out the council meeting on our YouTube page. During this week's meeting, council also heard an ordinance introduction for standards related to childcare centers within the city of Reno. To find out what that is, Grace is joining us yet again. A senior management analyst. I almost messed it up again. I did it last time. >> You got it. >> Uh from our our development services team, but specifically planning. Correct. >> Yeah, it's a real long title. >> That is a long title. So it sounds very easy to understand but there's like little nuances to it. So what >> definitely so yes we introduced an ordinance amendment that would be related to child care. Um we really have been hearing from residents in the region but we all know that child care is really difficult to find. Um people struggle to find child care especially affordable child care in this region and really all over the country. I think it's a national issue. Um, so the city's zoning code had barriers that made it difficult for new child care providers to open facilities. Uh, council directed staff to find a way to either remove or reduce these barriers in hopes of maybe increasing child care options for Reno families. >> That's great because that's like you said, it's a nationwide issue with affordable um, child care. So, can you explain the the main changes that were proposed in the ordinance and how they address some of these barriers? >> Sure. So, our scope is really limited. There's so many agencies that are involved with child care providers. Um, you know, the state really regulates the safety and the rate the ratios that are required for childcare providers. There's uh the county health department is also involved. And so we're not the only agencies that providers have to come to. Um, but we looked at our zoning code. Um, our zoning code ultimately regulates three different types of child care providers. We have childcare centers. Those are the large child care providers. you think of the blue kangaroos, the God GDDARD schools around town. Um, we have inhome child care. This is usually or has to be accessory to your primary house. So, this is someone who's maybe watching kids for some friends um and they have maybe 5 to 12 children in their home. >> Gotcha. >> And then we have workplace childc carees where employees uh bring their kids to work and there is a childare center in in their workplace. Um, and so what this ordinance does is it will remove or reduce the need for some of those costly and timeconuming permits. So for inhome and workplace, we required a minor conditional use permit. It's a 30-day process. Um, it's just over $4,000 for this permit. Um, and then we reduced the need for the conditional use permit and made it a minor conditional use permit for childcare centers. So just making a little bit easier for some of these childcare facilities and reducing that barrier um that we just didn't see was necessary. >> Hey Grace, can you explain why reducing it from a conditional use permit or CUP uh to a minor use permit, MUP, why did that matter? >> It's less intense of a process. So a CUP usually takes about 65 days. It has to go to planning commission. Um, and it's also almost $5,000 for that permit. And what we find is if you're a childcare provider, you're not well verssed in presenting these things to planning commission. It's really intimidating to go up in front of a body like that and present your case. Um, with a minor conditional use permit, we still notice the neighbors. We still have this public process. Um, but staff is able to hold your hand a little bit more through the process and work with the applicant instead of sending them in front of this body that maybe a developer is more apt for that. >> Sure. Does it cost less money for the permitting process for an MUP? >> Correct. Yep. An MUP is about $4,300 and a CUP is um almost $5,000. >> But in this case, what did you do with respect to MUP fees >> for MUPs? Just for inhome and workplace, we got rid of that requirement so they wouldn't have to pay that fee. >> So there's no fees at all now for >> there is a fee for childcare centers, but they're just paying that reduced fee. But for the inhome, correct? No fee. >> Nothing. >> Correct. That makes a lot of sense cuz yeah, if you're in a home provider, you're not going to be well verssed in being like, "Hey, I just want to watch some kids." >> You don't have the money. I mean, $4,300 for the process plus, you know, it's just it was too it was too much. >> And we see, you know, we looked back to look at some of the inhome childcare providers that we've gotten in the past 5 to 10 years. And there was I could count them on one hand and most of them had been withdrawn. Um, and the reasoning we saw is they're usually watching five to seven kids and they didn't have the money or the time to invest all this money in this process. And so that kind of told us, okay, this isn't working. We're not seeing inh home childare pop up or maybe they're going unlicensed because they just don't want to go through this process. >> And that's not good either. >> Exactly. >> Right. Because you can't shove a bunch of kids into a house. >> So, we're hoping that this makes it a little bit easier and more streamlined and transparent um so that they do come in and get licensed. One of our our biggest things here at the city is that we like input and feedback. Tell us a little bit about how you engage with residents and what type of feedback you receive during the development of this. >> Yes, we usually go through, especially with our zoning code, title 18, we go through a very similar process for any time we amend that. We go to council to initiate the process. Uh and then we go to all of our neighborhood advisory boards and we usually hold some virtual stakeholder meetings outside of that um to really dedicate the full hour to this topic. Um and so that's exactly what we did. We went to all the NABS and we held two virtual stakeholder meetings. We also engaged our comm's communications team to help us with uh media coverage and press releases and email blasts and social media. We know a lot of people get their information from what we're doing on social media and so we want to make sure we cover that outlet. We received overwhelmingly positive feedback on this, >> which was great. We did have a couple suggestions of maybe things we could do to make this better, some additional requirements we could add, but ultimately staff and council recognizes that's just more barriers adding to these providers if we require them to do more. >> Tell us a little bit about um how this proposed ordinance aligns with the city's strategic priorities. >> Sure. So, the ordinance supports the city's goals for economic opportunity, homelessness, and affordable housing. Um, ultimately, you know, by making child care more accessible for residents, it helps families participate in the workforce and supports economic growth. Um, I think a lot of families when they have a kid, they have to go through that decision of do I go back to the workforce or is it more economically feasible to stay home because daycare is so expensive. And so, by making it easier, hopefully less families have to go through that decision. You know, Grace, you talked about it during the meeting, but for this this podcast and these listeners, explain the comparison of cost for daycare for young ones versus tuition for college. >> I know that was like one of the most startling statistics I saw when I was doing my research. Um, infant care is the most expensive care because the ratios are so low, right? Um, and so it's cost more to send a child to infant care than it would to send a child to uh the University of Nevada or UNLV, which is And they don't even get to go to like football games or [laughter] >> No, >> you know, >> no, I remember doing it when mine were little and the infant care is was astronomical then >> and I can't imagine, >> you know, trying to figure that out today. >> No, it's um yeah, that was one of the more startling statistics I saw. Um, and I think everyone who has a kid would be like, "Yeah, that is true. That's what it >> costs." That's a crazy stat to tell people. >> Wow. So, all positive from this, it sounds like. So, what are the next steps for the ordinance and um how will its impact be monitored? >> Yep. So, we um council approved the initial reading. Uh they referred it to a second reading and adoption. And so if that's approved, we will um it will go into effect after it's adopted and it'll go into our zoning code and we can implement it after that. >> When does the second reading come back on council because it can't come next week, right? >> Nope. January 14th. >> Yeah. So then after that it'll be effective. >> Correct. >> Okay. Say end of January, anyone interested in inhome daycare. >> And we've had some people submit today and I just told them hold off. >> Oh, that's wonderful. That means it's before you pay your fee. Yeah, >> this is one of those times when I'm, you know, reminded of why I went into government was to to be able to help people, you know, systemically as opposed to on an individual basis. I'm just incredibly proud of the work the team did and the leadership from council to get us to where we are today. This was a win for everybody. >> Yeah. Your set of procedures for for future success for people. >> Yes. Is there anything else you would like to add about this? About your um your department, the toy drive you guys have going on in development services? I know that's happening. [music] >> Yes, I know our director Chris Pingri is very competitive and I think our toy drive is like should get national attention at this point. He does so much work every year for the toy drive. So, um if anybody would like to participate or drop off a toy, please do so. >> Where do they go? they will come to second floor on city hall. And then um we are also trying to do some other things for child care with business license and um we're working with the children's cabinet to create a pamphlet um or basically a booklet of how to open up a facility. So if you would like to open up a childcare facility um or you have any questions, you can call me at 775-657-4691 and I can help you through that process. >> Awesome. Thank you, Grace, for joining us today again on the agenda. Uh before we sign off, Jackie, what is happening on the next council agenda, which we have to let people know we're [music] doing back to back again because it's holiday time. >> Double up. So, we are having our last council meeting of 2025, 10:00 a.m. It's the same time every time on a Wednesday. And during that meeting, council will consider the purchase and installation of field lighting for the Hilltop Park in northwest Reno. That will be funded with residential construction taxes. They will also consider a prefabricated bridge for Teglia's Paradise Park, also funded with residential construction taxes. And then they should be considering a donation from WYZ Labs so that the Reno Police Department can provide security cameras for victims of domestic abuse. >> Oh, that's fantastic. So that is uh on the 10th of the 10th, isn't it? >> December 10th 10th >> 10:00 a.m. >> Be there or be square. If you would like to learn anything else about the city of Reno, if you want to read more agendas, check out reno.gov/meings or reno.gov/news. Um, there you can also find our newsletter, the Reno Report, which has an easy little [music] signup screen. So, check it out.