Daycare in works, town deer & home occupation

Saratoga Mayor Ed Glode met with Elizabeth Ridgeway, owner of Tomorrow’s Promise in Rawlins, on Friday to get the ball rolling on a daycare center in Saratoga. So far, a group has been assembled with specific tasks assigned to get the daycare implemented “sooner than later,” Glode said.

Glode is interested to see what kind of revenue is possible in a town like Saratoga, and would like to see this accomplished by private enterprise. Currently, in order to keep the daycare private, the group is looking into combining a daycare with the Saratoga Care Center. The idea of merging the nursing home with childcare was brought up by Nancy Jansa at the Saratoga Town Council meeting on Oct. 6. Jansa said she had seen the combined facilities in Steamboat Springs, Colo., with impressive results.

According to Glode, this is not likely a permanent solution but an idea for a possible incubator while a separate facility is located. Right now, the project is operating without government funding, though the team is talking to the Wyoming Business Council to see if there are grant options for start-up businesses. Glode said the group is working to determine possible revenue streams and plans to work with preschool organizations like ExCel and Head Start.

Despite complaints from citizens about deer in the town, Glode said there are no plans for an ordinance prohibiting people from feeding deer in town.

“The analogy I’ve come up with after stewing on this for the last week is water restrictions,” Glode said. “The most water we ever used in town was when we had water restrictions in 2007. It reminds every single person to go water their yard.” Glode said that an ordinance would just move deer feeding to a different area, adding that the rule would be hard to enforce. “They’ve been trying to do it at the state level for a long time. The debate is very dynamic on it, because some people want the deer out but a lot of people in Wyoming love deer and want the deer in. So to get a consensus on deer feeding of any kind would be impossible in my book,” said Glode.

According to Glode, he has been talking to Biff Burton about what some are calling a pest issue with deer in town, trying to determine the best diagnosis of the problem and find a proper solution.

Regarding the ordinances discussed at the Oct. 6 town hall meeting and the discussion regarding the fence ordinance, Glode says the mission is efficiency. The major change in the fencing states that the front fence could be 48 inches, matching the size of board one would buy for a fence, according to Glode.

“Essentially it is a variance process,” Glode said. “This is $25 (for a variance permit) and it stops at the planning commission as it sits now.” The old process cost $50 and had to go before the council if one opted for the variance process.

The home occupation ordinance may be subject to some rewording in coming weeks. “One of the best comments I heard is you shouldn’t list not-permitted uses,” Glode said of the home occupancy ordinance. “How long do you want this ordinance to be?”