A rural Powell daycare has received the county government’s blessing to take on a few more children.

Melissa and Michael Ehrmantraut — who own Lil’ Britches Daycare — recently received a special use permit from Park County commissioners that will allow them to watch up to 15 children at their Lane 9 home.

Melissa Ehrmantraut has been running the state-licensed daycare for four years, caring for up to 10 children from eight families. But, as she explained in an application to the county, the demand for her services are growing.

“... My clients are young families who are still having children and I need to be able to accommodate them,” Ehrmantraut wrote. Plus, she said her husband wants to become a partner in the business and help watch the additional children.

The only complication to expanding Lil’ Britches is that caring for more than 11 kids (who aren’t your own) makes it a “day care center” under Park County’s zoning regulations. That kind of “minor institutional use” requires a special use permit, which, in turn, requires public hearings and public notices.

However, that proved to be a formality, as no neighbors voiced any objections during the county’s approval process.

According to a staff report composed by assistant planner Kim Dillivan, no changes in noise, visual impacts, traffic or air quality are expected.

“The children will be laughing and playing as children will do outside, but the applicants foresee no negative impacts on the neighborhood or neighbors from the children,” Dillivan wrote.

The Ehrmantrauts did approach their neighbors last year and obtained written permission to run a daycare in the subdivision. Prior to that, “almost no one [in the neighborhood] knew they were operating a daycare,” Dillivan said at the commission’s Sept. 17 meeting.

Commission Chairman Jake Fulkerson said he hoped more permit applicants would be similarly proactive in addressing covenant issues.

“Going that extra mile to get the neighbors involved goes a long way,” he said, also noting with pleasure that Lil’ Britches was, “another example of businesses expanding in Park County.”

In addition to getting a permit from the county, the Ehrmantrauts have also been working with the Wyoming Department of Family Services to obtain a new license for their expanded daycare.