Plymouth Township trustees voted 5-2 to slash outdoor play space requirements for child care centers, hoping to lure more daycares to commercial strips like Ann Arbor Road amid a punishing regional shortage of licensed child care. The zoning change replaces a requirement of 500 square feet of outdoor play area per child with a flat 3,000-square-foot minimum for any new center, regardless of how many kids it serves. Trustees Mark Clinton and Sandy Groth cast the two dissenting votes.
Under the old rules, a child care center licensed for 20 children needed 10,000 square feet of outdoor play space, and a center serving 50 kids needed a sprawling 25,000 square feet — figures township officials said scared off developers before they ever broke ground. As reported by MLive.com, Michigan itself only requires a minimum of 1,200 square feet of outdoor play space for centers operating three or more continuous hours a day, and state licensing officials can require more depending on enrollment, but there is no statewide per-child formula. Plymouth Township's new 3,000-square-foot floor is still more than double that state minimum.
Township attorney Liz Hart said the previous requirement was significantly more restrictive than both state standards and those of surrounding communities, according to the same MLive report. Nearby communities generally follow the state standard or something closer to 100 to 150 square feet per child, the outlet noted. Hart said the amendment strikes an appropriate balance while still preserving substantial outdoor space for kids.
A Regional Shortage Driving the Vote
The push to loosen zoning comes as Wayne County grapples with a severe child care crunch. A 2024 study by Public Policy Associates and IFF found licensed child care capacity in the county can serve only 21% of children under 13, with 89% of zip codes classified as infant and toddler child care deserts. Township leaders have framed the zoning change as one lever to help close that gap by making it easier for centers to open along corridors like Ann Arbor Road.
The financial stakes for families are steep. One parent told MLive that child care costs are higher than a mortgage, paying a little more than $3,000 a month — roughly $36,000 a year — for care. Those figures track with statewide data from the Michigan League for Public Policy, which found average center-based child care in Metro Detroit runs $683 to $894 per month per child — a burden federal guidelines say should not exceed 7% of household income to be considered affordable. Michigan has since launched the Tri-Share Child Care program, which splits costs equally among employers, eligible employees, and the state, though it is a separate initiative from the zoning fight in Plymouth Township.
Concerns Over Safety and the Commercial Corridor
Not everyone welcomed the change. Residents raised concerns about reducing required outdoor space along the heavily traveled Ann Arbor Road corridor, questioning whether smaller play areas could create safety issues for young children. Opponents also argued the township should prioritize protecting the corridor's role as a commercial area rather than opening it further to child care development.
The zoning change applies townshipwide in any zoning district where child care centers are already permitted, and it does not change where centers are allowed to operate — it only adjusts the outdoor space math. It also does not eliminate the township's special land use review process; proposed centers must still go before the planning commission, which can weigh traffic impact, landscaping, screening, and compatibility with surrounding commercial properties, per zoning guidance detailed by Ann Arbor SPARK. The planning commission had recommended the broader township amendment unanimously, while a narrower Ann Arbor Road corridor amendment passed that body by a closer 4-3 vote.
Trustees were clear they were voting on township-wide zoning standards rather than any single child care project. Still, the vote carries real-world relevance for at least one site: a Primrose daycare had been considered for the former Rite Aid property near Main Street and Ann Arbor Road in Plymouth, though any development there would go through the City of Plymouth's own separate approval process rather than the township's.
A Board Already in Turmoil
The zoning vote landed in the middle of an extraordinary stretch of turnover on the township board. Trustee Mark Clinton, who voted against the amendments, resigned from the board a week after the vote, citing concerns about township leadership and the process used to fill the seat vacated by former trustee Jen Buckley. Buckley had resigned in July after moving outside township boundaries, and the board voted 5-1 to immediately appoint former planning commissioner William Ickes to fill the vacancy on July 21 without a public application process, according to the Plymouth Voice.
Clinton's exit made him the third Plymouth Township official to resign in 2026, as reported by WXYZ-TV. With Buckley and former Clerk Jerry Vorva having already stepped down earlier in the year, and Treasurer Bob Doroshewitz's departure also planned, the township was on track to have four of its seven board seats filled by appointees rather than elected officials by the end of 2026. Before leaving office in May, Vorva had also filed a lawsuit against Trustee John Stewart alleging a hostile work environment and threatening behavior during board meetings, according to the Associated Newspapers.
Taken together, the zoning vote and the resignations paint a picture of a township government trying to solve a pressing local problem — the scarcity of affordable, accessible child care — while its own leadership ranks are in flux. For families like the one paying $3,000 a month, the hope is that easier zoning rules translate into more options closer to home. For Clinton and other departed officials, the fight over how that decision got made was reportedly just as significant as the decision itself.
