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97 Whitney Ave.: Daycare center coming soon?
A former private school for gifted students may see second life as a Whitney Avenue daycare center — if the city’s zoning board approves a plan pitched by an Orange-based Hebrew day school.
Zoning commissioners heard that pitch on Tuesday during the latest regular monthly meeting of the Board of Zoning Appeals, which was held online via Zoom.
Local attorney Ben Trachten made that zoning relief request on behalf of his client, New Haven Hebrew Day School, Inc.
The applicant has applied for a special exception to allow for a child daycare center for up to 24 children at 97 Whitney Ave. in a residential-office-zoned stretch on the downtown-East Rock border. The daycare center has also applied for a special exception to permit one off-street parking space where three are required.
“There is a shortage of daycare in the city,” Trachten said on Tuesday. “That’s why the applicant is branching out so far into this neighborhood.”
The applicant also owns Southern Connecticut Hebrew Academy, a K‑12 Jewish day school in Orange.
The Whitney Avenue office space in question, meanwhile, is the former home of FlexSchool, which recently closed and which describes itself on its website as “a private school designed specifically to help gifted and twice-exceptional (2e) students achieve their academic potential.”
Trachten said his client is looking to provide daycare services for children aged three months through four years old. The center would operate between 7:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. and would have a designated drop-off area behind the building.
The commissioners did not comment on or vote on the application Tuesday. Instead, they referred the matter to the City Plan Commission for further review, as is the case with all parking-relief requests, and will likely take it back up for a final vote next month.