NORMAL -- A Main Street Rogy's day care center and several proposed parking changes were recommended by the Normal Planning Commission on Thursday.

The proposed day care center would be built on a now empty lot at 1110 S. Main St. and primarily serve children whose parents work at Illinois State University, Illinois Wesleyan University or BroMenn Regional Medical Center.

The center also would partner with the universities for programs.

Don Adams, an engineer with the Farnsworth Group, said the center would serve 180 children and have about 37 employees. If ultimately approved by the City Council at its Sept. 21 meeting, construction would begin immediately and the facility would open by next July, he said.

The commission recommended a house at 708 Harris St. be rezoned from residential to business to accommodate the plan. The house and one at 1104 S. Main St. would be razed.

Besides parking at the 1110 S. Main site, the center also would have a lot on the southeast corner of Harris and Main streets for employees.

Town planner Mercy Davison said privacy fences, greenspace and other forms of screening would shield nearby residences. No neighbors spoke at the public hearing.

Parking changes

The commission also agreed with all but one of the parking changes proposed by town staff.

The changes include allowing 8-foot parking spaces in lots with aisles at least 25-feet wide; basing parking requirements for churches on 1 space per three seats in the sanctuary rather than the current gross floor area; and adopting a new calculation method - one parking space per 200 square feet - to determine parking for strip commercial centers.

Commission members were split 3-3 on a proposal to change guidelines used to determine parking needs in the parking impact zone around the ISU campus. Currently one space is required per bedroom. The proposal would drop that to .75 spaces per bedroom.

Some members thought the requirement should remain the same or a study should be done to determine the actual need.