The KinderCare daycare on Goldenrod Road near Winter Park is protected by several walls and barriers.
However, it wasn’t always this way.
- Orange County approved ordinance tied to 2014 KinderCare crash
- Requires new day care centers built on busy roads to install barriers
- Ordinance sets up grant program to help new centers
"What’s the cost of a child? What’s the cost of a death, of an injury?" said Orange County Fire Rescue Chief Otto Drozd.
"When we’re talking $10,000 to $35,000 and we’re not impacting existing buildings, what we’re doing is encouraging them through grant dollars," Drozd continued.
In April 2014, 4-year-old Lily Quintus was killed and a dozen others were hurt when a hit-and-run driver named Robert Corchado caused another vehicle to crash into the busy KinderCare Day Care.
Corchado was convicted and sentenced to 40 years in prison for the deadly crash.
Two years later, county commissioners unanimously voted to approve the Lily Quintus Ordinance Tuesday afternoon.
“[It creates] a state of greater safety for our children, so I think we’re going in the right direction," said Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs during the public meeting.
"But I, like my colleagues here, have concerns about whether we’ve fully thought through the mechanism," Jacobs added.
The Mayor’s Task Force studied the issue, creating a new ordinance requiring certain new day care centers near busy roads to have protective barriers in place before they open.
It’s expected to cost between $10,000 and $35,000 to comply with the new rules.
Existing daycares are exempt unless they renovate.
“To me if we can save just one, then it’s worth any cost that we will incur," Drozd said.
County staff has set aside $200,000 in a grant program to help privately-owned day cares.
Each day care is eligible to receive up to $10,000 to pay for the protective barriers.
The day care crash barrier ordinance goes into effect June 1.