A well-known daycare is looking to expand in Windsor.
A report will go forward to the city’s Development and Heritage Standing Committee on Monday afternoon from Delta Chi Early Childhood Centres, who are looking to expand into the Walkerville area.
The daycare company has applied to the city to rezone the land to permit a child care centre at 1785 Turner Road - just off Walker Road.
Delta Chi is looking to retrofit the existing building, which is currently vacant, to accommodate a child care centre that will include an outdoor play area and 29 parking spaces.
Six classrooms and teaching areas are being proposed.
Cheryl Sprague, President and CEO of Delta Chi Early Childhood Centres, says they’re really excited about this new opportunity.
“Dillon Consulting we’ve hired to do our rezoning application, but it will be child care centre, licensed for 88 children. We’ll have 18 full-time staff in there, and the age ranges will be birth to six years old.”
She says the Walkerville area was identified as a priority neighbourhood for child care, specifically for the $10 a day program.
“The City of Windsor has designated priority neighbourhoods where we can develop child care centres, and those neighbourhoods are areas that are in need of child care based on surveys and results that the city’s social services department has done to indicate that those neighbourhoods need additional child care.”
Sprague says waitlists for child care are already booking into 2028.
“The need for extra child care spaces is really high; we have huge waiting lists at Delta Chi, and I’m sure other operators do as well. So, the need is really there, and the City of Windsor planning department, the social services department, they’ve all been outstanding in helping us move this forward.”
If approved, Sprague is hoping to open the new centre in November. This would be Delta Chi’s 13th location.
The proposed daycare has been awarded funding through the Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care federal-provincial funding program; however, the funding is time-limited. The funding is only available until December 2026, requiring all construction and licensing approvals to be completed within that timeframe.
The committee meets at 4:30 p.m.