By Brad Dountz
brad.dountz@salisburypost.com

SALISBURY — On Tuesday night, the Salisbury City Council approved of a special use permit to allow the operation of a commercial child care center. The center plans on operating 24 hours a day to help cater to parents who have non-traditional work hours.

The center will be located at 529 West Innes St. and is expected to be open by the first of next year. The site of the center already has an existing building there, but minor renovations will be made to it before it opens. This includes constructing a fenced in playground.

“Just looking at the way the city is going, a lot of parents are having to take different hours and work more shifts. COVID took a toll on a lot of families, so we’re trying to re-coup a lot of income. So just having that person or facility to take your children in, I felt like that would help parents,” said Stephanie Roebuck-Austin, the person who is opening the center.

Council member David Post feels confident that the center will be a success, even if the size of the building had him asking questions.

“I was concerned with how small it is. I’ve been in that building and I think those rooms are maybe best case 10’x10′. I don’t know how many kids you can have in a room, you fill up four classrooms and that’s 20-25 kids if it’s packed. I think there’s going to be incredible demand for it. I think they’re going to outgrow it before they actually open the doors,” Post said.

Roebuck-Austin said their next steps is to recruit families for their “drop-in care” option, where the center will watch over children for four hours intervals and to acquire a license.