It’s taken longer than anticipated, and there’s been some bumps along the road, but the Warman Childcare Centre (WCC) is now on the verge of expanding to include a second facility that will increase its capacity to 136 licensed childcare spaces.
Warman City Council voted at a meeting on Monday, April 8 to approve a discretionary use application for a childcare centre at 600 Industrial Road South in Warman. The location, which would accommodate 90 licensed childcare spaces, is immediately south of Haichert Street.
The discretionary use application was submitted by the WCC, a non-profit organization which operates a 46-space facility near the Brian King Centre in Warman.
The existing facility would continue to operate at its current capacity, and the new building would accommodate the additional 90 licensed childcare spaces. Both facilities will operate under the umbrella of a single WCC board of directors.
“This type of service is badly-needed in this community,” said Warman City Councillor Marshall Seed during discussion on the discretionary use application during the April 8 council meeting. “This is the perfect location for a facility like this. It’s a no-brainer to approve this.”
Warman Mayor Gary Philipchuk also supported the motion to approve the application. He added the city staff and elected officials played a role in helping to facilitate the project.
“It’s a private project that will benefit the community,” said Philipchuk. “It didn’t just happen, the city helped provide some guidance to bring all the partners together.”
The expansion project has been several years in the making.
In November, 2022, the WCC, a registered charitable organization, was approved by the provincial Ministry of Education for 90 additional licensed childcare spaces. The group began exploring options for expansion, including leasing a vacant former grocery store on Central Street in Warman. Another plan to relocate in a former church property was also explored. However, both those proposals failed to come to fruition.
Discussions on other options continued, however; and eventually an agreement was reached between the WCC and a construction company to build a new facility at the proposed site on Industrial Road in the Southlands neighbourhood.
According to a report to the April 8 city council meeting from the Warman Planning Department, the proposed childcare centre would have primary access off Industrial Road. The site plan submitted by the WCC shows that the centre allows ample room for one-way drop off and pick up, as well as queuing of vehicles.
The site would not allow vehicle access via the back lane on Haichert Street, thereby ensuring a safer drop-off-and pickup area.
In addition to the 90 licensed childcare spaces, the centre would include spots for 35 to 40 children as part of a before-and-after school program.
The WCC began as a community initiative by a group of parents in 2013. In March 2014 the organization applied for, and received, 43 licensed spots from the Ministry of Education. The WCC organizing committee achieved charitable status from the province, and worked with the City of Warman to lay plans for construction of a building on city-owned land near the Brian King Centre. Construction of that building commenced in August 2015. The WCC was licensed in February, 2016 and the facility opened March 1, 2016. In March, 2019, a small renovation allowed three additional licensed childcare spots, bringing its total to 46. Two years later, the WCC was approved for an additional 90 spaces, bringing the total to 136. However, a lack of space until now has prevented the WCC from expanding to its full number of allotted licensed childcare spots.
In an interview with the Gazette in early December, 2022, when the WCC was exploring potential expansion options, former WCC Director Tammy Desrosiers said the additional childcare spaces were needed in the region, noting the WCC had about 300 families on its waiting list.
At that time, she said the expansion of the WCC facilities would allow the organization to expand the age range for children in its care, and would also provide job opportunities for about 35 early childhood education workers.