TIFTON — The City of Tifton is closing in on new zoning regulations for daycares and other child care facilities.

Hoping to bar such establishments from popping up in residential areas, city council discussed an amendment to their land development code redefining which zoning classifications the daycare facilities could be located in at their Feb. 5 meeting.

City government has been working to curtail the allowance of daycares, kindergartens, and other such businesses within residential zoning districts for some time, having established a moratorium near the end of last year to better examine the issue.

Crystal Gaillard, planning and zoning director, explained at the meeting that during that time, city staff examined current regulations for daycares, nurseries, and kindergartens, determining that they had been permitted in every zoning save for Heavy Industrial.

The proposed amendment, she stated, would instead limit the establishments to Suburban Agriculture, Multiple Residential, Residential Professional, Neighborhood Commercial, General Business, and Wholesale Light Industrial, restricting them from being zoned in Commercial Downtown and all Single-Family Residential districts.

This amendment would also add family child care learning homes to the table of uses alongside daycares and other similar establishments, placing it in the same classifications.

Gaillard reported that the Planning and Zoning Commission reviewed the amendment Jan. 8, recommending approval of the adjustments with no voices of approval or opposition at that time.

City council elected to discuss the item further at their next meeting later this month.