Decatur, GA—Smarties Academy is seeking to increase its enrollment from 148 to 178 students. At its April 9 meeting, the Decatur Planning Commission recommended denial of the request.

Since Smarties has a conditional use permit and zoning conditions that include the enrollment cap, the owners have to come before the city to increase the enrollment or make other changes to the property.

The request to modify the zoning conditions and conditional use permit to set the enrollment at 178 students will go before the city commission on Monday, April 15. The planning commission recommended the denial of the modification of zoning conditions and the conditional use permit with votes of 6-1. Friedlander cast the opposing vote.

Smarties Academy has operated out of the church at 465 Clairemont Ave. since 2012. The property was previously developed as a church campus for The Common Table, formerly the Lutheran Church of The Messiah. Common Table ended its ministry at the end of 2021.

The planning commission and residents raised some concerns about a lack of trust in the discussion, given the number of times the Smarties owner, Bogumila Kabot, has been before the city since 2022.

In March 2022, the daycare requested a zoning change from low-density residential and single-family residential to institutional. The daycare has also requested a conditional use permit to operate the daycare, as it became the primary use of that facility. The Decatur City Commission approved the conditional use permit on March 21, 2022, with the condition that the enrollment was capped at 148 students.

Last year, Smarties sought to increase its enrollment to 255 and construct an additional building on its property. Smarties Academy appeared before the planning commission in May 2023, and commissioners unanimously rejected the proposed changes to Smarties Academy’s conditional use permit and comprehensive site development plan. The plan faced significant opposition from residents.

Due to the pushback from residents, Smarties withdrew its application and the city commission accepted the withdrawal at the May 25, 2023, meeting. Smarties Academy was not proposing any construction of new buildings on Tuesday night.

This new request is only to increase the enrollment to 178 students.

“This modest increase in student enrollment will allow Smarties to offer more flexible programming year-round and will have little to no impact on surrounding properties,” the application from Smarties says. “Importantly, no building additions are proposed in connection with this requested student enrollment increase.”

Smarties Academy has a license from Bright from the Start, and the license cap is 190 students. The daycare has a waitlist of over 500 potential students.

Residents in attendance on April 9 raised concerns about the traffic and congestion in the area during school drop-off and pick-up.

Smarties Academy’s application says that “the addition of 30 students will not materially impact traffic patterns in this area.” But residents said the traffic is already an issue and worried that there could be more congestion in the area and in the neighborhood if the enrollment is expanded. Residents were also concerned about being more of a commercial use in a residential area.

“The proposed increase in student enrollment will not result in the excessive or burdensome use of existing streets, transportation facilities, utilities, or schools,” the application says. “The Property provides adequate parking and parents park and escort their children into the school; thus, traffic does queue or back up into the public right-of-way.”

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