Council Lifts Ban on Day-Care Sites in Industrial Areas : Child care: The action clears the way for a new facility at economic development corporation’s business park. It would have room for about 100 children of workers.

CITY OF COMMERCE —  Day-care centers, which had been confined to a third of the city, will be allowed in industrial areas to give working parents more child-care options, the City Council decided recently.

Before the council vote, child-care centers were allowed only in residential and commercial areas. In fact, just two day-care centers are located in Commerce, although tens of thousands of workers descend on the city each day to work at about 1,500 businesses.

The decision allows The East Los Angeles Community Union, an economic development corporation known as TELACU, to open a child-care center at its business park. It is expected to be operating by January, president David Lizarraga said.

“The whole idea is to provide for the people who live and work in the community,” he said. The new facility will care for about 100 children.

A study conducted in Commerce and surrounding cities in May, 1990, by the Weingart Foundation, and the East Los Angeles YMCA showed that 95% of the child-care needs in the community were not being met.

“We found that there is a huge demand for these types of facilities,” said Bob Zarrilli, Commerce senior planner.

Business managers have discovered that offering day care near work helps keep employees happy and productive, Zarrilli said.

The new ordinance stems from TELACU’s request several months ago to open a day-care center. The request was denied because TELACU and the two-dozen businesses in the park are located in a light-industrial zone, where leather products, women’s clothing and art supplies are manufactured.

Property Manager Rick del Rio said a child-care facility is needed to serve the large number of workers in the business park who have small children. And no heavy-industrial manufacturing--which might be hazardous to young children--is done in the area, he said.

“We knew there was a need, but we just could not permit it, “ said Zarrilli, who suggested that the City Council allow child care in light-manufacturing areas. He said the city will inspect proposed sites to ensure they are safe for children.

“The council wanted to send a positive message to the business community and to encourage them to offer day care to their employees,” Zarrilli said. “We’d like to see several more open here.”

The TELACU center also will serve residents who live in the area but work outside Commerce, del Rio said.

Already-existing day-care centers are the local YMCA child-care facility and Childtime, which is located in the Trammell Crow/Commerce Business Center. Many of the children at the centers are brought into the city each morning by people who work there, said Anna Sauceda, Weingart/East Los Angeles YMCA executive director. The Weingart Foundation is a nonprofit organization that lobbies for children’s issues.

Both Commerce facilities are full and have long waiting lists, officials said.

“Most parents who have children would rather have them closer to work than closer to home,” del Rio said. “It is a need that has been overlooked in the past.”

Elaine Kasten, a 32-year-old mother who works full time at Trammel Crow and takes her 2-year-old daughter, Lauren, to Childtime, agreed.

“It was really important to me that she was close by during the day,” the Torrance resident said. “I couldn’t imagine getting a phone call in the middle of the day and having to drive 45 minutes to get to her if there was an emergency.”

Kasten said most of the other parents who work in the business park take their children to the center and “feel a great peace of mind” knowing their children are nearby.

“Plus, I can go over and see her any time of the day,” Kasten said.

The TELACU facility will be a joint venture with the YMCA, with additional funding from the Weingart Foundation.