Guidelines for Planning Childcare Centers and Introduction to Playground Design with Regard to Public Agency Review

October 2, 2009
Prepared by CAPSLO Staff and Consultant

1030 Southwood Drive San Luis Obispo, California 93401 805 544-4355 Fax 805 544-4275

Table of Contents

1. Introduction 2. Land Use Compatibility 3. Development Standards 4. Governmental Agencies 5. Agency Review Checklist 6. Miscellaneous Agency Requirements 7. Summary 8. Introduction to Playground Design

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1. Introduction As in any building project, the planning for a childcare center must include considerations for compliance with various governmental requirements. Every community is regulated by a local jurisdiction either an incorporated city or a county. Local jurisdictions adopt various standards, policies, restrictions, codes, and/or ordinances to regulate the development of buildings and facilities in their communities. Typical agencies within the local jurisdiction that may be involved in the planning of a childcare center include the following:

Planning Department Building Department Public Works Department Fire Department Police Department County Health Department

A childcare center project may also be subject to discretionary agency review, depending on location, site characteristics, or project size. Typical discretionary review bodies can include the following: Administrative Hearing Officer or Zoning Officer Planning Commission Architectural Review Commission or Design Review Board Cultural Heritage Committee or Historical Board Airport Land Use Commission (if near an airport) City Council or Board of Supervisors The discretionary review process will include public hearings, which provide an opportunity for members of the public to make comments for or against a specific proposed project. Many, or all of these review agencies must be considered when planning for a childcare center, whether a brand new facility, remodeled facility, or moving a childcare center into an existing building. Additionally, if development of the childcare center is funded by a federal program, review by the US Department of Health & Human Services will be required.

2. Land Use Compatibility All communities have in place a General Plan and Zoning Ordinance to regulate the use of land, and to assure that the development of buildings and facilities are compatible with their neighbors. The General Plan is a statement of desired land use within various areas of a community (city or county). The Zoning Ordinance sets forth specific locations or zones where certain types of projects are allowed or not allowed. These locations can be found on the Zoning Map for each jurisdiction. A childcare center project will be an allowed use in certain zones, and will not be allowed in other zones. Or, a childcare center may be allowed in some zones, but only with special permission and with conditions applied to the use. In these cases a use permit may be required to allow the childcare center in the specific zone. A use permit will typically require a discretionary review process and public hearing to allow neighbors and members of the public to comment. 3. Development Standards Specific standards and requirements about a building or facilitys physical characteristics will apply to all projects, and will be different for the various zones in a community. For instance, the yard setbacks for a commercial zone will be less than in a residential zone, and the maximum allowable building height may be greater in a downtown retail /commercial zone than in a rural or agricultural zone. Development standards for a childcare center project will include the following: Yard Setbacks (street yard, side yards, and rear yard) Maximum Lot Coverage Building Height Required Parking Landscaping Signage Exterior Lighting (on buildings, in parking lots, and site lighting) 4. Governmental Agencies A description of the various typical local governmental agencies, which will be encountered during the planning & building process are as follows: Planning Department Responsible for regulating land use in a community, through application and enforcement of the General Plan and Zoning Ordinance. Review proposed projects for compliance with the community Development Standards.

Conduct review of potential environmental impacts of proposed projects as required by the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Prepare reports about proposed projects and make recommendations to discretionary review bodies. Building Department Responsible for assuring that proposed projects are in compliance with the California Building Code (2007 CBC), and other applicable codes. Issue Building Permits and make inspections of construction work in progress. Issue Certificates of Occupancy at completion of construction work. Public Works Department Responsible for regulating development of, and maintaining public infrastructure, including roads, streets, curb/gutter/sidewalks, street lighting, storm drain systems, water lines, sewer lines, water treatment facilities, sewage treatment facilities, and similar structures or systems. Issue Encroachment Permits for construction work in the public right-ofway (driveways, curb/gutters/sidewalks, utility lines for water, gas, electrical, cable, telephone, etc) Regulate storm water management for run-off from proposed projects. Fire Department Review and approve proposed projects for compliance with requirements for Fire Alarm Systems, Fire Suppression Systems, accessibility of Emergency Personnel, Proximity to Fire Hydrants, and similar requirements. Conduct inspections of existing buildings and facilities for compliance with requirements regarding exiting, storage of combustible materials, and provision of fire extinguishers. Police Department Review and approve proposed projects for compliance with requirements for security provisions & features, including exterior lighting, visual access to building & grounds, door and window hardware, and fencing.

County Health Department Review of commercial kitchen design and construction. For childcare center projects funded by federal programs or grants, the following national agencies will be involved in the review of the proposed project.

Division of Engineering Services Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA), US Department of Health & Human Services. Review and approve proposed childcare projects for compliance with national standards, including the Life Safety Code, NFPA 101, 2006 Edition, Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Architectural Barrier Act Accessibility Guidelines (ADAAG) July 23, 2004, and Head Start Design Guide 2005, Second Edition. 5. Agency Review Checklist A check list of steps to be taken in the planning of a childcare center project with regard to the Public Agency Review process is as follows: Planning Department A. First Step Meet with local Planning Department for review of proposed childcare center location and compliance with land use designation & development standards. If project is allowed in zone, proceed with project plans and design. If allowed with special permission, prepare appropriate applications and documents to proceed with discretionary review. Discretionary review may require preparation of preliminary design or layout of the project for granting of use permits or variances. Further discretionary review may include architectural design (for neighborhood compatibility and consistency with community design guidelines, if applicable), historical or cultural review if in a historic district, or if project includes alterations to a historic building, landscape design, and signage design. The discretionary review process can take from 1 month to 4 months. Various fees will be charged by the Planning Department for the discretionary review process, and vary by jurisdiction.

B.

C.

D.

Building Department A. After acquisition of discretionary approvals and completion of construction drawings & specifications, submit to Building Department for code compliance review. Typically a Plan Check Fee will be charged at this point.

B.

Building Department will route construction documents to other local agencies, such as Public Works, Fire Department, Police Department, and other applicable departments / agencies for review and comments. This process will take between 2 weeks to 2 months, depending on jurisdiction. Building and other departments will return construction documents with comments. Respond to comments, revise construction documents as appropriate, and re-submit to Building Department. This process will take between 1 week to 1 month. Building Department will either return the documents with additional comments or will issue the Building Permit. The Building Permit must be picked up by the owner or the contractor of record. The Building permit Fee will be charged at this time. The contractor will typically be required to obtain a business license in the local jurisdiction and provide evidence of workers compensation insurance. Federal Project Review. If funded by a federal program or grant, submit construction documents to Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA) for review and approval. This review process should be started at the same time that the Building Department review process is started. This federal review process may take up to 3 months, especially if revised construction documents are required to answer or resolve any agency questions or concerns. Building Inspections. During the construction process, the contractor will arrange for all appropriate inspections from applicable agencies. Certificate of Occupancy Upon substantial completion of construction, and final approval from applicable agencies, the Building Department will issue the

C.

D.

E.

F.

G.

H.

Certificate of Occupancy, allowing the building or facility to be occupied for its intended use. I. Final Inspection Upon 100% completion of the project, the Building Department will complete the final inspection.

6. Miscellaneous Agency Requirements Depending on project location, and individual jurisdiction, other requirements for project review may become applicable, as follows: Archaeology Studies If the project location is in an area of known historic or cultural significance, archaeology studies may be required by the local jurisdiction as part of the review of potential environmental impacts. Hazardous Material Studies If the project location is in an area of known contamination, hazardous materials studies may be required, including soil analysis, ground water analysis, and borings. Traffic Studies If the proposed project, and its location relative to streets and intersections, might have a significant impact on traffic and vehicle movements, a traffic study may be required. This requirement could come from the local jurisdiction or from CalTrans. 7. Summary The development of a childcare center project requires coordination with many different agencies and processes for review, approval, and construction. The key to a successful navigation through these many agencies is a methodical approach, which starts with the first step contacting the local jurisdiction Planning Department. This department will typically layout a roadmap of routes through the hoops and hurdles of the plan review process as it is applied by their jurisdiction. Other jurisdictions may become involved at the local, state, and national level. These guidelines provide a basic description of the process that will lead to the completion of a successful project.

Introduction to Playground Design

by CAPSO and Facilities Manager

Want to design the perfect playground? Designing playgrounds for childcare centers can be fun and tricky at the same time. On one hand, there are liability issues. On the other, center directors and specialists within your organization are eager to try out the latest trends, equipment and alternative pedagogy touted at the latest seminars. How do you give everyone what they want? You cant. Below, please find food for thought when designing your playground. Basic Things to Consider Drainage should be discussed before w go any further because not only is this mentioned ad nauseum in the Certified Playground Safety Inspector classes, its also a test question on the final exam. Classes and literature say that drainage is the most important thing to take into consideration when designing a playground. Why? Because if your drainage is properly designed and installed, you can greatly reduce slips, trips, falls, expensive to repair sub-base compaction failures under rubber surfacing (also known as pour-in-place, or PIP surfacing), the presence of mold in your wood chips and many other problems.

SOMEBODY forgot about drainage!

Required signage on equipment.

Signage is another must for any playground. Basically, you need to post signage near the entries to each playground that states what age group the playground is intended for. The CPSC publishes a playground safety guide that should be consulted often for excellent advice when designing, maintaining and looking up information regarding nationally accepted standards on playgrounds. For your free downloadable copy of the Public Playground Safety Handbook, go to www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/pubs/325.pdf. In this book, you will find all the information needed on the subject of signage. One last note on signage- to

avoid litigation its best to make sure the playground equipment age appropriateness sticker (required to be on all commercially designed equipment) matches the age group listed on your playground signage. CPSC and ASTM are the two main groups that playground owners, operators, designers, architects and Certified Playgrounds Safety Inspectors (hereafter referred to as CPSIs) refer to. Publications from these two organizations are the most commonly referred to documents in a court of law. The CPSC handbook sets the standard for all things playground and ASTM, or the American Society of Testing Materials, establishes the testing criteria and acceptable testing results associated with all things playground. For example, ASTM F-1292 discusses Standard Specification for Impact Attenuation of Surface Systems Under and Around Play Equipment. By understanding this standard, you will be equipped to match the appropriate impact attenuating surfacing, or IAS (commonly referred to as soft fall material because its soft and you fall onto it), to the proper fall height (distance between the highest designated play surface and the top of the soft fall material) of your playground equipment. Upon further investigation into the various IAS options, you will learn where certain types of IAS such as sand, pea gravel, pour-in-place or ASTM-compliant wood chips (much different than landscape wood chips) are and are not appropriate. Soft fall material is not designed for comfort nor is it designed to prevent broken bones! It is only designed to prevent death and serious head injuries when installed in accordance with ASTM standards. Its important to remember this when center staff complain that the wood chips are sharp and they heard you installed the cheapest grade of wood chips available. This happens often because people are misinformed. The fact of the matter is wood chips arent manufactured or marketed as low, medium or high quality. Wood chips for playgrounds are specially designed to meet ASTM compliance be passing through filtering screens and meeting other specific criteria. The size of the chips and type of wood vary by availability to the mill and what type(s) of processing equipment the mill uses. In addition, some agencies prefer redwood chips while others prefer pine. While redwood costs more than pine, it is not necessarily better. Every different type of wood chip type and size has its own advantages and disadvantages such as impact attenuation, availability, expected life, rot and mold resistance, cost, etc. Regardless of the costs involved, you can rest assured that the children will have the correct impact attenuation needs addressed provided the wood chips are ASTM compliant. When you think about it, can you imagine how expensive your wood chips would be if they ran through machinery that sanded and smoothed out each individual piece? Such equipment does not exist and its a good presumption that it probably never will because its not cost-effective to explore the matter. As a general rule of thumb CPSC and ASTM highly recommend that at least nine inches of wood chips be present at all times. Twelve is best. More may be required depending on the fall height of the equipment.

Choosing Equipment Choosing equipment can be a fun experience. Its also time to think about risk management before you get too far into the process. Kids need to be challenged, but not to the point where they can be seriously hurt. This is a good time to make sure youre choosing age appropriate equipment. Does your center cater to 2-5 year olds, 5-12 year olds, or a mix of the two age groups? Its easy to get caught up in the pressure of trying to please everyone by choosing a composite play structure (play structure that is compromised of more than one play station or element) intended for ages 2-12, but dont let that happen. There are very drastic psychomotor and anthropometric differences between the two age groups- and giving a 2 year old the same challenges you would give to a twelve year old is irresponsible at best. The two year old doesnt have the life experience that a twelve year old has. There are risks, where a person knows of the dangers associated with the task at hand, and there are hazards, where there are unknown (and most often, unnecessary) dangers that can lead to serious injury or death. What is a risk to a twelve year old is a hazard to a two year old! Most childcare centers have at least one age appropriate composite play structure on the premises. If the age groups vary outside of the normal preschool two to five year old range, its always best to have a dedicated playground for each respective age group. If this isnt possible, it is possible and practical to purchase a 2-12 year old play structure that has elements geared towards the lowest age groups. Work with an architect experienced in playground design. He or she will incorporate important features into he playground design such as drainage, landscape irrigation, running water to water activity locations, shade (whether from trees, fabricated shade structures or the positioning of the building in relation to the playground), fencing, etc. Your architect should also confirm that the playground has enough useable space on the playground so that your minimum of 75 square feet per child required by Community Care Licensing is met. Focus groups are a good way to determine what the teachers and various specialists within your organization would like to have. After these needs are determined, you should write your age appropriate specifications into an RFP and put it out to bid. Prior to making an award, consult a CPSI to make sure that all elements listed in the proposals you received are in fact age appropriate. Keep in mind the plethora of charts and anthropometric requirements that all this equipment must meet in order to remain age appropriate. On average, allow a week or two for the CPSI to review your proposals, as he or she will no doubt have to reference a number of ASTM requirements and the CPSC handbook. Obtain building permits through the local Building and Planning Department. Never, ever, ever install a piece of equipment without a permit if one is required. If you get away without obtaining a required permit the next person to hold your position will curse you when your company is fined for not obtaining permits. If

the equipment has to be removed in addition to the fines, your successor will really be unhappy. Its very difficult to smooth things out with regulatory agencies without some sort of time consuming repercussion after your predecessor quintessentially thumbed his nose at them! In most cases, permits are not required for play structures, but they almost always are for shade structures. Require permitting as part of your RFP. If permits arent required, you should receive a statement from the vendor stating so. In case the building department says otherwise, you will have covered yourself and will have recourse in getting the contractor to obtain one. Some childcare centers are located on public school grounds. These sites may or may not be under DSA (Division of State Architect) jurisdiction. If it is under DSA jurisdiction, your life just got much harder, the permit and fees budget just went up exponentially and the timeframe of your project just got pushed back at least six to nine months due to unavoidable red tape such as inspections from independent third parties and other bureaucratic channels your permitting endeavors will have to go through.

Other Items to Consider Fencing is a must. It should be a minimum of 48 high and wrap around the entire perimeter of the playground (unless buildings can safely act as a barrier) with no head entrapments or entanglement hazards. The sharp point of chain link fencing (the most commonly used fencing material for playgrounds) should be pointing down and poking into the ground. If installed incorrectly, the sharp points will pose a health and safety issue and the installer should flip it over before you pay him for the job. Heat and shade go hand in hand and should be a primary focus of the architect and CPSI working on the playground. Large trees can provide a large amount of shade (especially coral trees). So do prefabricated shade structures with specially designed shade cloth that is fire resistant and often filters 98% of the suns harmful ultraviolet rays- they just cost a lot more- especially if its a DSA shade. Shade is a CPSC and ASTM F-1487 requirement- however, the amount of shade is not stipulated. The goal is to supply a good balance of shade and open space for the children to play in. Large, fast growing trees are a good alternative to a shade structure and a good way to avoid the DSA hassle. How important is shade? Look at the table below and remember that the heat measured off of the various playground surfaces was recorded in sixty-nine degree coastal weather.

surface (ambient air temperature 69 degrees) ambient temperature metal galvanized railing metal galvanized railing- spot with paint primer non-skid deck surface in sun non-skid deck surface in shade asphalt metal door T1-11 modular siding glass window panel metal window frame cement footing- bottom of ramp rubber pour in place (blue and black) blue plastic slide rubberized deck on composite play structure picnic table- green plastic top picnic table- laminated wood top plastic rooftop- dramatic play house shade structure- vertical post- ground level shade structure- vertical post- 72" from ground level

degrees F 69 89 79 148.5 83 122 107 91 115 107 106 144 134 95 122 113 108 85 74.5

Licensing must approve the final layout of your playground. Before any contracts are signed, make sure you have written approval from your licensing representative. In addition, any time there are changes to the playground such as adding a piece of permanently installed equipment, licensing must approve and the new addition must be formally audited by a CPSI. Installation of play equipment should be done by a qualified professional that wont violate any manufacturers warranties. You want to make sure that the company you purchase the equipment from installs it or subcontracts it out so that the liability chain isnt broken. Never modify any equipment without the written approval of the original manufacturer or else you will be considered the manufacturer in a court of law. Remember the liability chain in everything you do in playgrounds! Part of the project for installation should include a report from the winning bidder stating that the equipment and installation is age appropriate for the age groups that the center provides service to and meets all applicable CPSC and ASTM guidelines and standards. In addition, they should provide an audit report from an independent CPSI stating to the same effect. After this original in depth audit, less stringent but frequent maintenance inspections should be performed and documented by the playground operator. For more detailed information regarding maintenance and inspections, consult the CPSC handbook. Documentation is important for any playground. It is highly recommended that all owners manuals, reports, audits, findings, maintenance checklists and other

documents be placed into a single binder for easy reference. Maintenance schedules and checklists vary depending on frequency of use, staffing needs, budgets and other factors unique to each organization. Taking the CPSI class is highly recommended for obtaining such knowledge. Safety zones, now referred to as use zones by the CPSI are required around each piece of equipment. In most cases the use zone is six feet. For exceptions, please check ASTM F-1487 and the CPSC handbook. Some use zones can be shared with others, depending on what type of equipment is involved. Applications for In-Home Childcare These same guidelines apply for playgrounds in the in-home childcare setting as well. Your licensing representative can help you ensure compliance with any areas youre having trouble with. The major exception to setting up a playground in this environment is the actual equipment itself. There are affordable play structures available at retail outlets such as Costco and Toys R Us- however, they are not made for the sheer amount of high traffic that they would be subjected to in an in-home childcare setting. This is a case where you will have to play risk manager and determine how liable you want to be and decide whether or not you want to take the plunge and purchase a commercial piece of equipment and be less liable than you would with something made for infrequent, non-commercial home use. Affordable sources of shade include trees and EZUps. Play equipment doesnt have to be big and elaborate- there are many natural environmental play ideas that can be researched online (or through your local universitys architectural department) that are low cost, educational, safe and most of all, fun. Sources for Continued Education and Recommended Reading
For more information regarding CPSI certification and further education on playgrounds, go to www.nrpa.org. Playground Safety Is No Accident CPSC Handbook for Public Playground Safety ASTM F-2373 Standard Consumer Safety Performance Specification for Public Use Play Equipment for Children 6 Months through 23 Months. ASTM F-1487 Standard Consumer Safety Performance Specification for Playground Equipment for Public Use. ASTM F-1292 Standard Specification for Impact Attenuation of Surface Systems Under and Around Playground Equipment

Note the new play structure- just installed and passed an internal audit by the agencys CPSI. The shade cloth protects the children from heat and harmful UV rays. Soft fall material meets all ASTM requirements. There are defined borders. Use zones meet or exceed all minimum requirements. Although it has been raining, little water has made its way into the wood chips. Chain link fencing has had vertical slats inserted for aesthetics, sound abatement and to create a more private setting.