The New Orleans City Council on Thursday (April 18) signed off on a proposal designed to ease zoning requirements for child care centers in an effort to encourage and expedite the opening of new centers across the city.
Though the measure does streamline elements of the permitting process, an amendment submitted by Councilmembers Oliver Thomas, Eugene Green and Freddie King mandates a “conditional use” requirement in residential neighborhoods, meaning that new child care centers in those areas must be reviewed by the City Planning Commission and approved by the council before opening.
The council will have to take one more vote on the amended proposal before it is adopted into city law.
The proposed zoning changes come in the wake of a 2022 ballot measure in which voters decided to modestly increase property taxes to cover $21 million in support for early childhood education, including funding more than 1,000 additional seats in child care centers for low-income families. But with more financial support for enrollment in child care centers comes the need for greater child care center capacity.
“Even after the passage of the millage, we don’t have enough seats for children,” Councilmember JP Morrell said at Thursday’s meeting.
The city has dedicated funding toward workforce recruitment and development, as well as expanding facilities and classrooms, but the changes the council advanced Thursday take aim at the barriers to opening new facilities caused by the city’s zoning regulations.
The measure, designed to eliminate redundancies between departments and speed up the permitting process for new child care centers, came after a lively debate between councilmembers as to whether child care centers should be permitted “by right” or by “conditional use” in areas zoned for residential use.
“No one is opposed to early childhood education,” Green said as the discussion began on his amendment, a point that almost every councilmember would reiterate in their remarks.
“This was a legitimate policy disagreement,” Councilmember JP Morrell said. “Not a game of politics.”
If permitted “by right,” child care centers would be able to open in a residential neighborhood without a lengthy review. The City Planning Commission and Councilmembers Helena Moreno and JP Morrell championed this approach, arguing that “conditional use” permits posed a barrier of both time and money to the opening of new child care centers, which already operate on thin financial margins.
“The problem I have with the amendment is I really think it undoes what we’re trying to do,” Moreno said. “This measure should be about how quickly we can get some of these centers built and how quickly we can support these business owners, many of whom are Black business owners.”
A “conditional use” permit requires applicants to go through a multi-step process even before applications are heard by the planning commission. After informing the commission of their intent to seek a permit, they must solicit neighborhood input. The proposed permit then must be advertised publicly and undergo a review by planning commission staff. That’s followed by a commission vote and, finally, a council vote.
Explaining the amendment, King noted that his district includes New Orleans’ West Bank, most of which is zoned for low-density suburban housing. He said he felt his constituents should have a say in the matter.
“When I realized that Algiers is one of the most affected areas, I had some hesitation in taking away the ability of neighbors and residents to determine how their neighborhood will look,” King said to Verite News. “But I think we all realize that the process should be sped up and we can take out the red tape in the permitting process.”
But critics of the amendment say that the lengthy “conditional use” process could pose challenges to owners of child care centers, especially those with fewer financial resources.
“Requiring a conditional use per property is a tremendous amount of money,” Morrell said, noting that it typically requires small business owners to hire architects or attorneys to walk them through the process. “That could add two, three, four thousand dollars to a process when people are operating on the margins with daycare facilities.”
Notably absent from the City Council debate were child care center owners and employees, though one aspiring early childhood center owner did show up to express her support. Malkina Darlene Coates, who lives in New Orleans East, said she has tried on multiple occasions to open up a child care center, but the process had been too lengthy and difficult.
She wanted the council to keep in mind that New Orleans East, in particular, needs more child care centers, adding that many New Orleans East families have to drive across town for child care.
“New Orleans East is going to have a lot of growth and with that brings families and children,” Coates said. “And we already have a shortage of seats in New Orleans East.”
Though Coates initially expressed skepticism to the “conditional use” requirement proposed by Thomas, Green, and King, she said the debate changed her mind.
“I do want my neighbors’ support in saying, ‘Yes, Ms. Coates is a wonderful person, and we want her to be able to teach our children,’” Coates said. New Orleans East, like Algiers, has many neighborhoods that are zoned residential. Thomas, one of the councilmembers behind the amendment, represents most of New Orleans East.
The council voted 5-2 to adopt the amendment, with Morrell and Moreno voting against it. However, councilmembers voted unanimously to advance the amended measure. The proposed changes now go to the City Attorney’s Office to be written into an ordinance. The council must vote to approve that ordinance at a later meeting before it can be formally codified into the city’s zoning laws.
Silence from councilmembers after ceasefire activists again appear at meeting
Advocates for a ceasefire in Israel’s war in Gaza once again appeared in the council chamber this week, following a similar protest at the last regular City Council meeting early this month.
They’re calling for councilmembers to meet with members of their coalition and sponsor a resolution supporting a ceasefire.
“Our community has spoken loudly with thousands of petition signatures and consistent marches, urging the City Council to address this issue,” Hak’m Murad said in public remarks before the council dais. “We have emailed, called, and showed up to your offices.”
Activists supporting ceasefire resolutions have appeared before local governing bodies around the country, with more than 100 agreeing to pass them, NPR reported this week. Others have been reluctant to take up the measures, saying they fall beyond the purview of local governance. The New Orleans City Council has yet to consider such a resolution, or even offer one up for consideration.
Activists did thank Councilmember Harris for meeting with them. But they say that no other councilmembers have agreed to meet with them or support a resolution calling for a ceasefire.
As part of their approach, the activists choose to all comment on an early item on the City Council’s agenda, then tie that issue into Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza, which has resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of Palestinians and left more than 1 million others displaced with little access to food or clean water, leading many human rights experts to accuse the country of committing genocide, charges that the Israeli government stridently denies.
The group that appeared before the council on Thursday gave their comments in response to an agenda item focusing on a Health Department report on the clean-up of homeless encampments.
“When I see this agenda item, I am reminded of the thorough record-keeping the Gazan Health Ministry has been doing to show people that genocide is happening,” one member of the group said.
Activists also brought in labor and criminal justice activists, including Felix Allen, who attempted to organize a union at a local Lowe’s store, an organizer from Southern Solidarity, and Emily Posner, general counsel at Voice of the Experienced, a criminal justice reform organization.
Councilmembers did not respond to the activists at the meeting.
Though the City Council is not involved in matters of foreign policy, there is precedent for it wading into international issues. In the 1980s, City Council passed an ordinance opposing apartheid-era South Africa. In 2022, Councilmembers Moreno, Morrell, and Harris expressed support for Ukraine after Russia invaded the Eastern European country. At the time, Moreno said the Ukrainian flag would be displayed in the council chambers in a show of solidarity.
The council has even weighed in on the Israel-Palestine conflict in the past. In early 2018, the New Orleans City Council passed a resolution to review and consider divestment from corporations whose practices consistently violate human rights, drawing international headlines.
The resolution did not explicitly name Israel or Israeli companies, but it was crafted with support from the New Orleans Palestinian Solidarity Committee, which is part of the campaign to boycott, divest from, and sanction Israel for its occupation of Gaza and the West Bank. After backlash from the Jewish Federation of Greater New Orleans, the Anti-Defamation League, then-Mayor Mitch Landrieu and U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy, the council withdrew the resolution, claiming that they did not know of the connection to the BDS movement.
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