Child care deserts persist in Pierce County. This city hopes to attract more
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Lakewood approved zoning changes to expand child care centers across the city.
- Center for American Progress data shows 63% of Washingtonians live in child care deserts.
- New state law forces local zoning to allow centers; officials aim to remove barriers.
The city of Lakewood has approved an ordinance to allow more child care centers to be built in city limits.
The vote on Dec. 15 comes as 63% of Washingtonians live in a child care desert, which is defined as a census area where there are more than 50 children under the age of 5 living with “either no child care providers or so few options that there are more than three times as many children as licensed child care slots,” according to policy institute the Center for American Progress.
In Lakewood, there are child care deserts in the neighborhoods of Tillicum, Woodbrook, Springbrook, Lakeview as well as nearby Joint Base Lewis-McChord, said Angie Silva, the city’s planning and public works assistant director. An online interactive map shows where there are lower concentrations of child care centers, using data analyzed by the policy institute Center for American Progress.
Silva said she did not have a list of how many child care centers currently exist in Lakewood, but according to the CAP map there are 28 licensed child care providers in city limits. Lakewood’s zoning changes would allow centers in nearly every zone in the city, she said.
The changes come following a new state law that requires cities and towns to allow child care centers and the conversion of existing buildings for use as child care centers in all zones except industrial zones and open space zones.
“We hope that by removing barriers, the goal is to increase that [child care] availability for a variety of families and communities within the city,” Silva told The News Tribune on Thursday.
Silva said she was only aware of one instance in the last two years when zoning did not allow a child daycare facility to operate, but “that person found another way … to move forward.”
She noted that child care challenges “are one of the biggest issues facing JBLM” families as well.
