Ortiz EduCare inspires preschoolers to ‘learn, play and grow’
Ortiz EduCare, a proposed preschool for children three to five years old, to be located at 1160 Grant Street in Birmingham, received unanimous recommendations for special land use permit and final site plan review at the Birmingham Planning Board meeting on Wednesday, June 8.
Ortiz EduCare is to be located in a three-tenant center at the corner of Grant and Lincoln. The center also houses a laundromat and a dry cleaner, and is next to St. James Park. Birmingham Planner Brooks Cowan said there is parking on the site in front and in back of the center, with 29 total parking spots. The city requires four parking spots for the child care center.
The new pre-school, which is proposed to be 1,950 square feet, is to be owned and operated by Amy Ortiz of Birmingham, a former preschool teacher for over 20 years with Birmingham Public Schools and the current owner and operator of a licensed home-based child care center in Birmingham, according to her, Patrick Howe.
“It is Amy's lifelong dream to open her own preschool in her hometown,” he wrote in an applicant letter. “Ortiz Educare would provide a safe, loving, nurturing environment for children three to five years old. It's mission is LEARN – PLAY – GROW, where students are encouraged to be creative, to be brave, and be curious.”
Howe said there would be up to 16 students at a time at Ortiz EduCare, with some attending half-days and others full days.