The Troup County Commission appears likely to approve a day-care business in Young Acres subdivision, but the board first wants the neighborhood to get together and talk about it.

Sandy Wright has been keeping children at her home at 420 Ginger Circle for the past three years after she got laid off at the William Carter plant in Hogansville. Her husband, Robby, was laid off at Interface Flooring in March and now the day care is their only source of income.

Wright found out she couldn’t be in the day-care business without a special-use permit and business license from the county. She already had a state license to care for up to six children, but Wright said the state hadn’t told her she would need a business license.

After a sign about the special-use permit was posted on the property, 41 people in the neighborhood signed a petition against the business, saying it would be “detrimental to the quality of life and the value of property in the neighborhood.”

“”We’re a very quiet neighborhood and we just don’t need extra traffic in our neighborhood,” said Frankie Hadden of 418 Ginger Circle. “… I have nothing against the family at all. We just don’t want any change in our neighborhood.”

The Planning Commission voted unanimously against the special-use permit, but a person who attended the hearing Thursday said the Planning Commission thought the Wrights wanted the property rezoned to commercial for a day-care center for up to 18 children.

One petition-signer, Charles Barnes of 411 Ginger Circle, said he was misled into believing the same thing and “I’d love to have a meeting, just to clear the air.”

Commission Chairman Ricky Wolfe said the county needs to do a better job of encouraging neighbors to communicate with each other because “if they had, we probably wouldn’t be here today.”

“For the life of me, I can’t see folks complaining about this,” Commissioner Richard English said. “They’re not bothering the neighborhood one way or another. When human beings get to the point where they don’t understand this, we’re in deeper trouble than I thought we were.”

English said people who are willing to care for children should be praised and “I pray for them and bless them.”

Joel Martin can be reached at jmartin@lagrangenews. com or (706) 884-7311, Ext. 235.