A Michigan developer is planning to build a new childcare center in Evans.
814 Services LLC, also known as EIG14T, based in Berkley, Mich., has submitted a variance request to Columbia County’s planning department for a tract of land just more than one acre near the intersection of William Few Parkway and Columbia Road.
According to documents accompanying the variance application, the company aims to build a 12,000-square-foot facility located at John Adams Lane and William Few. The narrative states that the proposed tenant for the structure operates “community-based schools and public elementary after-school programs,” including summer camps and “hands-on, philanthropic activities.”
Among its childcare specialties, the narrative goes on to say, are language immersion, global learning, character development and science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (STEAM) education.
The daycare would operate from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., with parents signing in children electronically in a reception area, rather than a curbside drop-off.
The variance is seeking to reduce by half the 30-foot required landscape buffer between the subject parcel, zoned Community Commercial, and the vacant, county-owned adjacent land, zoned Residential Agricultural, north of its property line. This is to accommodate the playground the developer plans to install for the childcare facility.
EIG14T notes that without the space to build the playground, the tenant would seek other options for its location.
The developer’s website highlights its work across 36 states, many of them childcare centers, as well as urgent care medical centers and coffee shops.
The Columbia County Planning Commission is slated to consider the developer’s request on Oct. 3.
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter covering business for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
