Heather Wright/The Independent

There will be a new child care centre in the Petrolia by 2026.

Lambton County councillors have given the green light to design a $5.9 million, 5,385 square foot building to house a 49-space child care centre on the grounds of Lambton Meadowview Villa. The county would look for a non-profit child care operator to provide the service at the building.

In a report to council, Kim Godlin, manager of childrens’ services says the Petrolia area has been “historically underserved and serves as a hub for many small rural communities within Lambton
County.”

Godlin says Petrolia’s population is projected to increase 20 per cent in the next ten years, with the number of children to age four higher than the rest of the county “pointing to the fact that many young families are choosing to live there.”

Godlin says there are 300 children waiting for a child care spot in Petrolia and to met provincial targets for child care access, the town would need an additional 120 spaces.

The Canada Wide Early Learning and Child Care program would provide about $2.3 million for the construction of the building, Godlin says, with the county using $1.6 million from reserves and taking a loan for the remaining $1.9 million.

Petrolia Mayor Brad Loosley is pleased the county is moving ahead calling it “a “it’s “a step in the right direction…We need it, and I’m really pleased at the location.”

Petrolia faced pressure from the Petrolia Child Care Advocacy Group last year. The coalition of parents pressed both the town and the county to provide more child care spaces which would play a “critical role…enabling all aspects of a thriving community.”

Kate Wager is one of the representatives of the group. She was surprised to hear of the plan to build more child care spaces at Lambton Meadowview. While Wager says there needed, there is still a problem attracting early childhood educators to work in day cares.

“Generations (Day Care operating at Meadowview now) is not operating at full capacity,” she says. “We have the spaces. We’ve had spaces the whole time. We don’t have people working in the spaces.”

Wager says day care operators are still having a hard time recruiting and retaining employees because early childhood education is “not treated as a respectable career…If they’re not going to make the positions respected and give them a livable wage, you are not going to fill them.”

She added the last time the county had a request for proposals to operate a non-profit day care, the operators did not bid on the project.

County council approved the design, engineering and construction of the new facility Wednesday. If all goes smoothly, officials expect the building to be ready in December 2026.