A new business that will offer before- and after-school daycare is slated to open this fall in an old church building at 1405 W. Main St. in Festus.
Ford and Bobbi Taylor of Festus own the business, called Unlimited Fun Outpost, along with other family members. The same contingent also owns the Brain Station, a daycare in Crystal City.
Ford Taylor said he refers to the daycare they’re working to open as UFO.
“Our goal is to be open at some point in mid-September,” he said. “We don’t have a ton of work to get ready. I’m anticipating licensing for 80 children. We will only enroll ages 5 through 12 for UFO.”
The Brain Station enrolls children from 24 months to 12 years. It opened in August 2012.
Taylor said UFO will operate from 6-9 a.m. and from 3-6 p.m. Mondays through Fridays.
“During 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., we’ll just be open for (office) business,” Ford Taylor said. “We’ll give tours of the facility.”
Bobbi Taylor, a former kindergarten teacher, will operate the daycare, and including her, six people will work there.
Ford Taylor said UFO will help fill a need for families whose school-age youngsters need daycare before and after school hours.
“During the pandemic, many daycares closed,” he said. “This is an attempt to give the children a place to go. We’ll be open snow days and other days there is no school.”
He said UFO will provide amusement and education for the children enrolled there.
“It’s definitely a combination of fun and academics,” he said. “There will be some arcade games for children to play for completing their homework.
The Taylors are renting the facility for UFO.
Rezoning approved
The Festus City Council voted 7-1 on June 27 to approve the Taylors’s request to rezone the former church property from R-1 residential to B-1 business, paving the way for the daycare to open there.
Ward 2 Councilman Brian Wehner cast the only no vote, saying he, like some of the property’s neighbors, was concerned about increased traffic in the area near the intersection of Main Street and Collins Drive.
“The overriding thing is the safety of the kids in the daycare,” Wehner said. “It’s a horrible intersection that’s had 17 accidents in the last five years. The speeding is bad, and with the new developments to the west, the speeding has increased. Traffic is only going to get worse as Festus grows.”
Wehner also noted that the Festus R-6 School District is growing, which will mean more traffic in the area.
“There will be parents dropping off and picking up students at the daycare,” he said. “I think it’s going to be a traffic nightmare. It’s dangerous to try to go west from Collins to Main Street.”
Wehner said he is not against some kind of business operating out of the building on West Main Street, though.
“If the owner said it was anything but a daycare, I could support it,” he said.
City Administrator Greg Camp said the other seven council members agreed with a Festus Planning and Zoning recommendation to allow the Taylors’ rezoning request.
“I think the consensus was, especially in light of the closing of Wee Care preschool (in December 2021),” Camp said.
