supplemental data supporting an increase in capacity
Planning and Zoning Traffic Data
This page is to help explain the traffic flow at 463 Danbury rd over the last 3 years.
I am seeking to increase my capacity from 64 to 90. My argument as to why this is feasible and will not need an additional traffic study is outlined below. The data below shows that for the last 3 years we have had consistent enrollment of 80-84 children. I have not been able to use the existing space in the building for capacity increase prior due to lack of bathrooms. I have increased the septic system and the bathrooms in the building and would like to include this space for my capacity now. Due to the need for full time care and lack of space for families, increasing my capacity reduces the amount of traffic during the day since almost all of my current families want full time care. I am seeking to include the presently enrolled children in the morning programs eliminating the need for afternoon programs.
Enrollment at CREATE has changed over the years with the community's needs. We have always offered morning and afternoon sessions if needed, and during the 2019-20 school year prior to closing for covid, we had 56 families in the morning and an afternoon session with an additional 42 children. Prior to closing, we had 98 families dropping off and picking up during the day.
Since Covid and the 2020-21 school year began, CREATE has had an enrollment of 79-84 children split between 463 Danbury rd. Morning and afternoon programs, and the use of 465 Danbury rd for a homeschool co-op during the 2020-21 school year.
The current need for families is full-time programs. Due to the lack of space and long waitlists in Wilton and surrounding communities for care, I have offered families with siblings the opportunity to split days for their children until my capacity is increased. We currently have 84 children enrolled who, all want a full-day program. Since our current capacity at 463 Danbury rd is 64, some families split their siblings' mornings and afternoons, creating more traffic and double programs. We are seeking to change this and have everyone start in the morning and pick up between 1 and 6 without having children also drop off at 1 pm or use 465 Danbury rd. My goal is to meet the needs of the community while eliminating the second programs each day.
I understand the new septic is designed for 99 (84 children and 15 adults), and the Fire Department has approved a capacity of 95. The way I use our rooms that correlate with state regulations; they will set my license for maximum capacity of 87. I sought a capacity of 90 in case I ever discontinue my 2's programs; state regulations will allow the increase due to room size. This is not essential, since I don't expect to decrease my 2's programs, and 87 is technically the maximum for the foreseeable future.
Below is the data from the last 3 years on when families dropped off and picked up. Since siblings always vary - I just counted cars, not children. I also include how long it takes to drop off, pick up, and show the state of CT count of cars on the road in front of my building from the last capture in July. We are already a part of these numbers. I run summer camp from June - August. Lastly, I include video here of the process, the traffic flow on RT. 7, and a timed video of our busiest pick-up.
Traffic Flow on Rt. 7
The data capture is from CTDOT cameras located on the telephone pole at the front south corner of my property.
We operate a summer camp and operated both morning and afternoon programs during this period.
Summer, we open at 8 am, and drop-off occurs between 8 - 9:30. We are part of these numbers. The decrease will be seen at the 1 pm hour since we will not have both pick-up traffic and families dropping off for an afternoon program any longer.
Rt 7 traffic 8 am
Rt 7 traffic at 8:45 am
My busiest time for drop-off is between 8:30 and 9 am.
This is what Rt 7 traffic looks like, and below is traffic flow both in and out at this time.
This school year I have 84 children registered. The amount of families with siblings varies each year. At the moment, I have 10 families with siblings that alternate one in the morning session, and one comes for the afternoon session. They all want full days. Until I increase capacity there are 20 children who share a full time spot, making the 1pm slot have 10 extra cars. 64 cars this year equates to 84 children.
Predicting the change in traffic flow for this year, the morning drop off stays the same, the 1pm time reduces traffic by 10 cars. The pick up will not change since the 10 cars that pick up their first child at 1 and drop off the second, return in the afternoon and will pick up both children in the future.
Future predictions of traffic flow will be based on this year. We will have maximum 87 children attending to match state regulations, adding 3 cars to these totals. However, not being able to determine how many siblings are enrolled each year, it can add up to 20 cars spread out over these drop-off/pick-up times if in fact the total enrollment were families with only one child enrolled.
Last school year, due to the increase in families moving to Wilton and lack of spots for childcare, I held morning and afternoon programs. More families wanted part time care since they were still working from home. Here is the traffic flow in number of cars. The 1pm time saw 14 cars joining and 22 leaving for the day. We had 56 cars in the morning equaling 64 children. 4 families of siblings in the morning, and 5 cars of siblings, plus 9 additional students at 1pm. In total last year we had 83 children enrolled.
Opening after Covid closures, during the 2020-21 school year, we had 79 students enrolled during the day between 463 and 465 Danbury rd. We did not do afternoon programs, and this resulted in 69 cars each day.
Below are the timed data of each school year.
To demonstrate flow in and out of the driveway I have included video below of different mornings and afternoons this year. Drop-off averages 2.5 minutes per car from the top of drive, returning to top of drive. Pick-up is longer. If cars come singly, it averages 4 minutes ... we chat. If multiple cars come at the same time, it is quicker to grab all the children and this averages about 4-6 minutes for the group.
Unlike everyone's experience with school drop-off and pick-up lines where parents have to line up 30-45 minutes in advance, I purposely have hired staff to expedite this process and have extended times, with flexible payment schedules to match, to alleviate this nightmare parents must face elsewhere.
This picture shows 5 families at drop-off 8:30 am.
1 leaving
2 dropping off in front of the building
2 parked
This also shows 5 families at drop off about 8:45 am. 4 pulling up to the door, 1 leaving.
Entering at 8:50 am.
2.42 min drop off at 9am.
