Family center is thriving

WEST BURBANK — Three years after opening its doors amid traffic, parking and noise concerns, the Mary Alice O’Connor Family Center maintains a waiting list in the hundreds and has registered no formal complaints, officials said.

The family and child-care center at 401 N. Buena Vista St. offers all-day care to 100 children ranging from infants to 5-year-olds, exceeding its capacity by 10 children because some attend fewer than five days a week, according to the latest enrollment figures.

The waiting list stretches about 2 1/2 years for the newly accredited center, Assistant Director Heidi Gonzalez said.

“If you’re even expecting to have a baby, get on the wait list,” Gonzalez said.

Some 20% of those slots are dedicated to low- and moderate-income families, with annual profits to the Burbank Housing Corp. reinvested to subsidize tuition or increase the level, said Maribel Leyland, senior redevelopment project manager.

The housing corporation manages the property under a long-term lease and contracts with Children’s Creative Learning Centers to run programs.

Despite initial concerns, the only informal complaint came from a neighbor who took issue with children singing, said Judith Arandes, executive director of the nonprofit housing corporation. And parking and traffic concerns were minimized by the center’s relatively staggered pick-up and drop-off times. “Neighbors, contrary to what some people predicted, have been wonderful,” Arandes said.

“I think we have met a huge need in this community, and I think we’ve done it with the highest-quality child care that can be provided.”

Along with its 55-year lease agreement with the city, some in the community took issue with the $370,000 in forgivable city loans — a sum with no repayment obligations as long as conditions are met — to cover start-up costs.

The housing corporation, which has a similar arrangement for a child-care center on Ontario Street, generated profits of roughly $50,000 last year from the two centers.

That’s after losing $22,000 in 2008, according to city records.

Low-income families, including those whose tuitions are subsidized by state and county vouchers, pay $624 per month, Leyland said. Regular tuition rates range from $900 to $1,238.

“The idea is to fine-tune it so that we have enough for capital reserves, while increasing accessibility to lower-income families,” Arandes said.