6. 26-1383 Public Hearing for a Conditional Use Permit to establish a daycare/preschool in the Neighborhood Residential (NR) zone at 4057 N. Mayfair Road, Laci Robbins, applicant
Statement of Support for Compel Early Learning Academy Preschool
I am pleased to offer my support for Compel Early Learning Academy Preschool and its desire to establish a high-quality early learning program within our community.
Compel Early Learning Academy is being developed with an important purpose: to provide young children with a strong educational foundation that prepares them for success in kindergarten, elementary school, and beyond.
While preschool programs provide care and supervision for young children, the purpose of a quality early learning academy extends well beyond childcare. Compel Early Learning Academy is intended to provide an intentional educational environment where children develop early literacy, language, mathematics, problem-solving, social-emotional, communication, and school-readiness skills.
This distinction is especially important at a time when many children are entering school without the foundational skills they need to be successful. Across our educational system, there is growing concern about students who are not demonstrating expected proficiency in reading, mathematics, and other essential areas of learning. Addressing these challenges should not begin after children have already fallen behind. It should begin early.
Early childhood is where the educational foundation is built.
Children need opportunities to develop vocabulary, recognize letters and sounds, understand numbers and quantities, listen and communicate effectively, follow directions, solve problems, work with others, and develop the confidence to see themselves as capable learners. These skills do not simply appear when a child enters kindergarten. They must be intentionally developed and nurtured.
Compel Early Learning Academy Preschool can provide that foundation.
The Academy represents an opportunity to create a neighborhood educational resource where children can learn in a structured, nurturing, developmentally appropriate environment. It also provides an opportunity to strengthen families by helping parents understand how to support their children's learning and development at home.
A strong community is not defined only by its homes and businesses. It is also defined by the opportunities it creates for its children and families. Quality educational programs can become valuable community assets when they operate responsibly, respect their neighbors, maintain appropriate standards, and remain committed to the families and children they serve.
We recognize that whenever a new program enters a neighborhood, residents may have reasonable questions about traffic, parking, noise, safety, hours of operation, and the use of the property. Those concerns should be heard and addressed through responsible planning and clear operating procedures. At the same time, those operational questions should be considered alongside the significant educational benefit that a strong early learning program can bring to a community.
This is an opportunity to invest in children before academic difficulties become academic deficits.
If we want children to become proficient readers, successful mathematics students, confident learners, and productive members of our community, we must be willing to build those foundations early.
Compel Early Learning Academy Preschool seeks to do exactly that—provide children with a strong beginning, partner with families, and establish an educational environment where young learners can develop the knowledge, skills, confidence, and readiness they need for future success.
For these reasons, I support Compel Early Learning Academy Preschool and its efforts to become a positive educational resource for children and families within our community.
When we strengthen the educational foundation of our youngest children, we strengthen the future of the entire community.
D. Rose Coppins, Ed.D.
Educator
September 29, 2026
Hello my name is Angela Robbins I am a strong supporter of Compel Early Learning Academy. We can provide a nurturing place to learn and develop and build our children while strengthening our families. We can’t say enough about the importance of providing a safe, and nurturing environment while also giving our children a faith base foundation. So many parents want, and need this for their children. We can do this now we are ready, Give our children what they need and want, Compel Early learning academy.
My name is Dr. Laci C. Robbins, and I am writing in support of the conditional use permit for Compel Early Learning Academy (CELA) at 4057 North Mayfair Road.
As CELA’s founder, we desire to restore an educational resource back to this community.
CELA is a private, faith-based preschool focused on early childhood education for children ages three to five. Our program centers on purposeful, play-based learning that develops early literacy, mathematical thinking, language, creativity, physical development, and social-emotional skills. We want children to enter kindergarten with confidence, curiosity, and experience learning alongside others.
Outdoor learning is one part of a preschool day that also includes classroom instruction, stories, small-group activities, creative exploration, and quiet experiences.
This property served children through a school and early childhood program before Compel Family Life Center, under the direction of Redemption Lutheran Church, who formerly occupied the building. That history provides relevant context for this proposal.
CELA would offer families an additional local educational option, support parents who need dependable care while working, and make purposeful use of an existing community facility. Its value lies in helping young children learn, build friendships, practice kindness, and develop the foundations for future success.
We believe a well-managed preschool and a peaceful residential neighborhood can coexist. I respectfully ask the Council to support CELA’s conditional use permit, with reasonable conditions addressing the actual operation, so we can serve children and families.
Respectfully,
Dr. Laci C. Robbins
Founder, Compel Early Learning Academy
Learn. Grow. Lead.
I own the property across the alley from the proposed day care center at the church. I do not support the day care center, as I am concerned that the business will have a negative impact on my quality of life and the value of my (and my neighbors') property. Years ago there was a day care center at the church, and the noise and disruption caused by the operation were unacceptable. I am concerned that there will be increased traffic in the alley due to deliveries of food and supplies and garbage collection, drop-off and pick-up of children, and noise from the children in the outdoor spaces, which reflect off the brick wall and into my home. Would you like to have 50 children 20 feet from your back yard?
In the past when the current operators of this church installed an industrial light pointed at my property, I asked them to find a light that did not illuminate my entire yard, as the light shines in my eyes when I exit my house and creates dangerous shadows, and they said they would help, but then ignored all of my subsequent emails and phone calls and left the light shining on my house and yard. This neighborhood already has many challenges, with the traffic from Walgreens’ drive through, the semi trucks, panel trucks, beverage trucks, and garbage collection in the alley, strangers cutting through and dropping garbage, robberies of the Walgreens, robberies of individuals (me). We do not need additional congestion, noise, traffic and people who do not care about the residents of this neighborhood treating the area and the residents like they are not important. This is a residential neighborhood, not a commercial business neighborhood. For the past hour someone has been running a gas-powered leaf blower on the church property. Where am I supposed to go when the noise is unbearable in my home? Who will buy my property when they see 50 screaming children 20 feet from my back yard? Please reconsider this proposal and deny the request for a day care center at 4057 Mayfair Road, so my neighbors and I can live in peace. Thank you.
Statement of Support for Compel Early Learning Academy Preschool
I am pleased to offer my support for Compel Early Learning Academy Preschool and its desire to establish a high-quality early learning program within our community.
Compel Early Learning Academy is being developed with an important purpose: to provide young children with a strong educational foundation that prepares them for success in kindergarten, elementary school, and beyond.
While preschool programs provide care and supervision for young children, the purpose of a quality early learning academy extends well beyond childcare. Compel Early Learning Academy is intended to provide an intentional educational environment where children develop early literacy, language, mathematics, problem-solving, social-emotional, communication, and school-readiness skills.
This distinction is especially important at a time when many children are entering school without the foundational skills they need to be successful. Across our educational system, there is growing concern about students who are not demonstrating expected proficiency in reading, mathematics, and other essential areas of learning. Addressing these challenges should not begin after children have already fallen behind. It should begin early.
Early childhood is where the educational foundation is built.
Children need opportunities to develop vocabulary, recognize letters and sounds, understand numbers and quantities, listen and communicate effectively, follow directions, solve problems, work with others, and develop the confidence to see themselves as capable learners. These skills do not simply appear when a child enters kindergarten. They must be intentionally developed and nurtured.
Compel Early Learning Academy Preschool can provide that foundation.
The Academy represents an opportunity to create a neighborhood educational resource where children can learn in a structured, nurturing, developmentally appropriate environment. It also provides an opportunity to strengthen families by helping parents understand how to support their children's learning and development at home.
A strong community is not defined only by its homes and businesses. It is also defined by the opportunities it creates for its children and families. Quality educational programs can become valuable community assets when they operate responsibly, respect their neighbors, maintain appropriate standards, and remain committed to the families and children they serve.
We recognize that whenever a new program enters a neighborhood, residents may have reasonable questions about traffic, parking, noise, safety, hours of operation, and the use of the property. Those concerns should be heard and addressed through responsible planning and clear operating procedures. At the same time, those operational questions should be considered alongside the significant educational benefit that a strong early learning program can bring to a community.
This is an opportunity to invest in children before academic difficulties become academic deficits.
If we want children to become proficient readers, successful mathematics students, confident learners, and productive members of our community, we must be willing to build those foundations early.
Compel Early Learning Academy Preschool seeks to do exactly that—provide children with a strong beginning, partner with families, and establish an educational environment where young learners can develop the knowledge, skills, confidence, and readiness they need for future success.
For these reasons, I support Compel Early Learning Academy Preschool and its efforts to become a positive educational resource for children and families within our community.
When we strengthen the educational foundation of our youngest children, we strengthen the future of the entire community.
D. Rose Coppins, Ed.D.
Educator
September 29, 2026
Hello my name is Angela Robbins I am a strong supporter of Compel Early Learning Academy. We can provide a nurturing place to learn and develop and build our children while strengthening our families. We can’t say enough about the importance of providing a safe, and nurturing environment while also giving our children a faith base foundation. So many parents want, and need this for their children. We can do this now we are ready, Give our children what they need and want, Compel Early learning academy.
Dear Mayor and Members of the Common Council:
My name is Dr. Laci C. Robbins, and I am writing in support of the conditional use permit for Compel Early Learning Academy (CELA) at 4057 North Mayfair Road.
As CELA’s founder, we desire to restore an educational resource back to this community.
CELA is a private, faith-based preschool focused on early childhood education for children ages three to five. Our program centers on purposeful, play-based learning that develops early literacy, mathematical thinking, language, creativity, physical development, and social-emotional skills. We want children to enter kindergarten with confidence, curiosity, and experience learning alongside others.
Outdoor learning is one part of a preschool day that also includes classroom instruction, stories, small-group activities, creative exploration, and quiet experiences.
This property served children through a school and early childhood program before Compel Family Life Center, under the direction of Redemption Lutheran Church, who formerly occupied the building. That history provides relevant context for this proposal.
CELA would offer families an additional local educational option, support parents who need dependable care while working, and make purposeful use of an existing community facility. Its value lies in helping young children learn, build friendships, practice kindness, and develop the foundations for future success.
We believe a well-managed preschool and a peaceful residential neighborhood can coexist. I respectfully ask the Council to support CELA’s conditional use permit, with reasonable conditions addressing the actual operation, so we can serve children and families.
Respectfully,
Dr. Laci C. Robbins
Founder, Compel Early Learning Academy
Learn. Grow. Lead.
I own the property across the alley from the proposed day care center at the church. I do not support the day care center, as I am concerned that the business will have a negative impact on my quality of life and the value of my (and my neighbors') property. Years ago there was a day care center at the church, and the noise and disruption caused by the operation were unacceptable. I am concerned that there will be increased traffic in the alley due to deliveries of food and supplies and garbage collection, drop-off and pick-up of children, and noise from the children in the outdoor spaces, which reflect off the brick wall and into my home. Would you like to have 50 children 20 feet from your back yard?
In the past when the current operators of this church installed an industrial light pointed at my property, I asked them to find a light that did not illuminate my entire yard, as the light shines in my eyes when I exit my house and creates dangerous shadows, and they said they would help, but then ignored all of my subsequent emails and phone calls and left the light shining on my house and yard. This neighborhood already has many challenges, with the traffic from Walgreens’ drive through, the semi trucks, panel trucks, beverage trucks, and garbage collection in the alley, strangers cutting through and dropping garbage, robberies of the Walgreens, robberies of individuals (me). We do not need additional congestion, noise, traffic and people who do not care about the residents of this neighborhood treating the area and the residents like they are not important. This is a residential neighborhood, not a commercial business neighborhood. For the past hour someone has been running a gas-powered leaf blower on the church property. Where am I supposed to go when the noise is unbearable in my home? Who will buy my property when they see 50 screaming children 20 feet from my back yard? Please reconsider this proposal and deny the request for a day care center at 4057 Mayfair Road, so my neighbors and I can live in peace. Thank you.