Construction crews have broken ground on a new early education and childcare center along Kenneth Road in West Manchester Township, bringing York County its first Learning Experience location. The center will serve children ages 6 weeks to 6 years and is expected to open next summer. Linlo Properties and Keller Contracting are leading the build on what has been a vacant lot for decades.
The project is the result of a plan quietly working through township approvals for months. As reported by FOX43, the development will add new jobs and give area parents a trusted local option for early education. The Learning Experience already operates centers in Mechanicsburg, Hershey, and Carlisle, but this will be its first foothold in York County.
According to West Manchester Township's Planning Commission minutes from February, the proposal splits a 3.2-acre lot that had sat empty since the 1980s into two parcels: one for a 10,000-square-foot daycare building, the other for a separate 6,000-square-foot office building. The daycare plan calls for an associated parking lot, an outdoor fenced play area divided between toddlers and young children, and a stormwater management facility. The minutes describe it as a daycare facility.
Traffic Concerns Shaped the Approval Process
Getting to this point required the township to work through access and traffic questions. The same minutes note that commissioners discussed vehicle stacking, turning left out of the site, and other access and traffic questions tied to the site's design as part of the Planning Commission's review.
The township's engineer also recommended that the Board of Supervisors consider a financial-security estimate of $873,810 for the project, a figure meant to guarantee completion of the required infrastructure. The plan was conditionally approved and recorded following a Board of Supervisors meeting on March 26, documented in the township's own subdivision and land development timeline.
A Local Answer to a Regional Shortage
Emily Gates, speaking to FOX43 about the new center, said having an accredited, trusted place where children benefit from more than being watched means a lot. That sentiment lands against a backdrop of real strain on York County's childcare system. More than 20% of the county's providers have closed since 2020, according to the York County Economic Alliance as cited by Spotlight PA.
Childcare programs were operating at an average of 85% capacity, while more than 50 centers had closed in the last three years. A 2024 report from the York County Community Foundation found that in the past year, 28% of early childhood programs served fewer children, 22% closed classrooms permanently or temporarily, and 15% reduced their operating hours, with staffing issues cited as the primary driver in each case.
Those staffing pressures are easing only slightly. Programs that received the Community Foundation's 2024 educator awards reported 117 teaching vacancies, down from 120 the year before and 149 in 2022. Meanwhile, demand for slots remains intense; Spotlight PA's reporting noted that when Jack & Jill Nursery in York opened a new infant room, it already had seven babies waiting for space.
Efforts to Expand Access Continue
County-backed initiatives have been chipping away at the gap. Spotlight PA reports that providers supported by York County's ECHO initiative added 854 new openings in its first year, part of a broader push that aims to double the number of children from low-income families enrolled in high-quality early childhood education by 2027. A 2024 Pennsylvania Chamber report found that 81% of employers surveyed said they had moderate or significant recruitment and retention issues tied to child care, underscoring why new capacity like the Kenneth Road project matters beyond the families who will use it directly.
The Kenneth Road center is planned to open next summer, with no official opening date confirmed beyond the timeline cited in the FOX43 report. Whether the remaining turn-lane analyses and staff comments noted in the township's planning minutes have since been resolved has not been publicly updated.
