The Lakeway City Council voted Monday night to clarify and streamline the city’s home business ordinance. Bianca King, who runs an in-home daycare in the city, said the change alone wasn’t enough to drop her lawsuit that the ordinance was unduly restrictive.
King sued the city in March after he was denied permission to continue a small day care business at his home. At the time, King’s attorney argued that Lakeway’s Home Business Ordinance was unreasonably strict, violating the state constitution. .
King is a single mother who has worked in education and provides childcare for several local families. After being laid off early in the pandemic, she opened her daycare, which is now her main source of income. King registered her business as a babysitter her service with the Texas Board of Health and Human Services in January 2021 and is allowed to watch over her children up to four in addition to her own. I’m here.
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With the new ordinance, the city has simplified the requirements to 10 and added a section specifically addressing home day care.
Many of the requirements remain the same, such as home businesses being unable to alter the habitability of the premises and the use of the building as a business secondary to residential use.
Other requirements no longer included in the Code include the prohibition of storing goods on the premises and the rule that occupancy must take place entirely indoors.
Building and Development Services Manager Erin Carr said the aim of the change was to make the ordinance more specific and therefore more enforceable. She said it was difficult to do.
The Day Care Section of the Ordinance establishes that home day care must apply for permission from the Zoning and Planning Commission and the City Council.
Kerr said King will be able to apply for a home business permit under the new guidelines. Companies that have already obtained permits do not need to reapply, she said.
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King said putting the requirements into an ordinance was a positive step, but he feels the home day care permit application requirements remain too onerous. is complex for small day care providers, many of whom do not have the assistance of lawyers or processes.
King is also concerned that the city has room for ordinances requiring in-home day care, which could be difficult to comply with and could conflict with state requirements. She said she will be able to approve or deny day care permits based on information about
“I don’t know what restrictions they will impose,” she said. “We have very clear standards from the state about what we have to follow and what we need to do, but the city allows home care businesses to impose any kind of restrictions they want. doing.”
At a council meeting on Monday, council member Sanjeev Kumar said the reason the ordinance allows discretion when approving permits is that each house, plot and business model is different and the council takes it into account. He said it was because he needed to be able to do so.
King was also frustrated that the city’s ordinance had not included permission to have helpers on site to help children.
With the lawsuit pending, Mr. King’s business will continue to operate. Mr King said in March he reached an agreement with the city to allow the business to operate until the matter was resolved.
Carr said once the ordinance’s wording is finalized, it will be signed by the mayor and posted on the city’s website.