Students at Open Air Village played with rocks and other “loose parts” in the school’s outdoor classroom area in 2024. (Photo by Lauren "Chuck" Shows)
Planning Commission approves in-home childcare program
- Published: April 20, 2026
Council chambers were packed with about 50 local residents on Tuesday, April 14, for the most recent regular Planning Commission meeting, when the group considered an application submitted by a local childhood education program to operate out of a home in a quiet neighborhood.
Specifically, Yellow Springs-based Open Air Village — an outdoor-based program, equal parts daycare and preschool — sought approval to headquarter and run the business at 1333 President Street.
After two and a half hours of discussion, by a unanimous vote of 5–0, Planning Commission members ultimately approved those in-home childcare plans.
Now, Open Air Village is permitted to host up to 12 children at any given time, operating Monday through Friday, 8 a.m.–5 p.m. Plans include a regimented drop-off and pick-up schedule, with no more than four cars coming and going from the residence in 20-minute windows in hour-long time slots at the beginning, middle and end of the day.
Additionally, per Planning Commission’s conditions for approval, no parking is permitted on the street and Open Air Village staffers must obtain a certificate of occupancy as well as Village approval for the installation of any signage.
All these operational logistics are consistent with the Village zoning code, particularly those outlined for R-A, or low-density residential districts, such as the President Street neighborhood.
Open Air Village was established in 2020, and is presently located on Antioch College’s campus, where children learn in an outdoor classroom. Beginning this summer, operations will be relocated. (Submitted photo)
Open Air Village has been around Yellow Springs since its founding in 2020 by local residents Nicole and Bryan Gay. It was first established in the former Children’s Montessori Cooperative space inside the Sontag-Fels building on Antioch College’s campus. Anticipating the eventual demolition of Sontag, Antioch moved Open Air to another, albeit temporary, campus space in McGregor Hall late last summer.
As previously reported in the News, the Gays’ solution came from a “For Lease” sign in front of the President Street house — the former home of the late George and Toshiko Asakawa, which sits on roughly an acre and has a large U-shaped driveway, as well as a finished basement.
According to the Gays’ plans submitted to Planning Commission, the only changes they intend to make to the home are to the basement to accommodate the infrequent and/or off-season indoor activities for the children under their supervision. A portion of the first floor will be used as a multi-use space for dining and parent group meetings.
All other activities will be in the backyard — in open air.
Nicole Gay read to students of Open Air Village on a grassy area of the Antioch College farm recently. Gay started the school 2020 and remained open for in-person learning during the pandemic by frequently exploring the out-of-doors. (Submitted photo)
“Since opening, our work has been grounded in nurturing children to feel confident in themselves,” Nicole Gay told Planning Commissioners on Tuesday. “That is to learn self regulation, to resolve conflict and to build meaningful connection with the natural world. Our children aren’t behind screens. They’re not being drilled with numbers and letters, but they’re creating, becoming artists, leaders and small and capable versions of their future selves.”
It’s that outdoor-centric philosophy that drew the greatest concern from several neighbors who attended the meeting or wrote letters in opposition.
“I know what recess sounds like,” Marsha Sutherland, a former Mills Lawn teacher, said. “My patio is 30 feet from where these children will be playing. Gone will be the quiet morning cup of coffee. Gone will be the peaceful afternoons of gardening. And when I have to sell my house, I’ll have to explain I’m right next to an outdoor daycare with eight hours of yelling, screaming preschoolers.”
All told, 14 letters in opposition to Open Air’s plans were submitted to Planning Commission ahead of Tuesday’s meeting — most of which echoed Sutherland’s concerns over noise and property values, and which also articulated trepidation over traffic, pedestrian safety and liberal interpretations of the zoning code.
Support for Open Air Village’s plans, however, far outnumbered the opposition. Just short of 50 letters in favor of bringing operations to the President Street home were submitted to Planning Commission. A sizable portion of those who spoke at the meeting were current or former parents of children enrolled in Open Air.
“A lot of what I’ve heard [from opponents] is people reacting to what they’re afraid this could become, not what is being asked for right now,” villager and Open Air parent Jason Laveck said.
Regarding the fears of noise, Nicole Gay said she and her husband have every intention to mitigate any potential ruckus.
Villager Caryn Fox Diamond played the ukulele for Open Air Village students on the Antioch campus in 2021. (Submitted photo)
“Our children laugh — and we hope that’s not offensive to hear,” she said. “Sometimes they cry — and we comfort them through that. But the notion that they’re going to be outside screaming all day, running wild, going over fences and going into fish ponds is all just untrue.”
As additional balm to the detractors, Gay said that this home-based location is, in their best case scenario, a temporary situation.
“We hope this is a short-term solution for us,” she said. “If given the chance, we hope to be able to grow and save and one day, build a permanent space. But right now, that’s just not where we’re at.”
Over the course of the meeting, Planning Commissioners went back and forth in their attempts to address neighbor concerns — particularly over noise. Potential stipulations of having the Gays build fencing, plant foliage or take any meaningful steps to create a sound barrier between them and their neighbors were all options proposed, but were all rescinded in favor of the Gays’ reassurances to mindfully operate the childcare program.
“I have empathy for both sides,” Planning Commission Chair Susan Stiles conceded. “This was a very difficult decision for all of us.”
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