Couple proposes new daycare in Lockport behind Panda Express

Business owner Chris Grahn brought a proposal to the Lockport City Council Committee of the Whole for a daycare center he hopes to open in the Rose Lockport Center south of 159th Street along Farrell Road.

Grahn and his wife Kelly Harper would be the owners and operators of Kiddie Academy, which already has a location in Lemont.

The proposed facility would occupy lot 5, unit 2 of the development, behind Panda Express at 16000 Farrell Road.

Kiddie Academy would occupy a 10,485 square-foot building with a 6,155 square-foot, fenced outdoor playground, and a parking lot with 27 parking spaces for staff and parents doing quick drop-offs and pick-ups.

Grahn estimates that the location would employ about 30 people and accommodate approximately 150 students at different times throughout the week, based on the proposal he laid out to the Lockport City Council Committee of the Whole on Wednesday.

Despite the plans receiving unanimous approval from the Planning and zoning Commission on Feb. 11 and the suggestion that the business would serve as a good sound barrier between the Clover Ridge subdivision and the commercial development, some of City Council members questioned if the building had adequate parking and expressed concern about traffic flow into the parking lot.

“It seems like there’s going to be so much traffic,” Alderwoman Christina Bergbower said. “Are we going to need to put in a stop light now or at some future point?”

Grahn said that the current set up in the development would be sufficient, noting “there is no real specific rush period any more since COVID.”

“We’re going to be open all day from 6:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. and people come in and out all day,” he said. “Everyone’s schedule is so flexible. Peak traffic is in the 7:30 to 8:30 timeframe in the morning, but you’ll see much more traffic at a drive-thru for a breakfast or lunch rush than you’ll ever see at a childcare facility.”

Grahn estimated the number of families dropping children off throughout the day at between 80 and 90, and called it a “drop in the bucket” compared to the several hundred cars that can pass through a food drive-through in the same period.

Grahn also said that limited parking did not pose a risk since most parents drop their kids off and are in and out of the building in a matter of minutes, and many families carpool.

While Kiddie Academy does not contract with a bus service, Grahn noted that it could be possible for buses from the local elementary school districts to add the daycare center as a stop on their routes in order to pick up and drop off students using before- and after-school care.

Grahn said the Lemont Kiddie Academy location works closely with local school districts to coordinate bus drop offs and limit the amount of bus traffic coming in and out of the center while providing parents with an alternative service to school-provided after school programs.

“Our center is meant to augment and assist with after and before school programs, not pull away from them,” he said.

The Committee ultimately voted to move the approval of the final development plan to the consent agenda for the next City Council meeting on March 19.