FALL RIVER -- The daycare proposed for a church-turned-medical-office building in the Highlands on Rock Street was back before the Fall River Zoning Board of Appeals on Thursday, April 16. This time, to appeal the ZBA's November 2025 denial.
After an hourlong discussion, the appeal was rejected by the board, who support Building Commissioner and Director of Inspectional Services Glenn Hathaway's opinion that the daycare could not operate at 551 Rock St. by right.
Little Hands Scholars Inc. has repeatedly sought a special permit to waive parking requirements and to erect a sign indicating a proposed new use for the former orthodontic practice. The Rock Street building was historically known as the First Church of Christ Scientists, circa 1956.
"We never argued that the use was a problem," ZBA Chairman Joseph Pereira said. "It was strictly a parking situation."
In November 2025, the board denied parking relief for 20 on-street parking spaces and relief to erect a sign for the 68-child and 19-employee daycare in the heart of the Highlands.
Petitioner Paula Jesus said in April that only four of her staff drive themselves to work, with the others taking public transit or ridesharing.
Why is there a debate about parking at 551 Rock St.?
The matter has made the rounds of the city board since a Sept. 18 meeting before being tabled. The matter was finally heard, and later denied, at the Nov. 20 meeting.
Jesus's attorney Richard E. Burke challenged the November denial last week by reviving an argument made by Jesus's previous attorney, David M. Assad, saying, "The important thing is that this building when it was a church and when it was medical offices, it never had any parking."
Parking ordinances were not incorporated into the city's zoning bylaws until 2019.
Burke said his office filed an appeal of the ZBA's denial of the special permit to Land Court, leaving open the possibility of a judicial resolution.
According to Burke's review of city ordinances, "this childcare facility should be allowed to open," because a waiver of parking requirements can be submitted alongside a change of use for a property that was already grandfathered into local bylaws.
Burke added "it's not reasonable to require on-site parking for an exempt use childcare facility, when you're not even going to require it for professional offices."
The ZBA's deliberation cites a letter submitted by Hathaway that recounted a recommendation from the city's real estate attorney Matthew Thomas that a special permit would, indeed, need to be granted for the project to move forward, and that the daycare could not move into the property at 551 Rock St. as a matter of right.
Hathaway blocked a certificate of occupancy unless a special permit could be obtained by the zoning board.
A scaled-down petition could've been a better fit
At the April meeting, Director of City Planning and Engineering Daniel Aguiar pushed back on Burke's argument that the petition was "reasonable."
The use is exempt, Aguiar said. "The structure is not exempt," he warned.
Thomas, whose remarks followed Aguiar's, took hold of the "particulars" of a case. Just because one variance is granted for a property like the one on Rock Street, does not guarantee another can be granted for the same property under different conditions.
"Those specifics need to be looked at every single time," Thomas said.
An earlier argument before the zoning board by Jesus's first attorney was that no city zoning should be applied because of a Massachusetts law, often called the Dover Amendment, that "exempts" local zoning discretion over the use of land or structures for education or religion.
In April, Burke added he did not believe the applicants would be eligible for state licensing when it came to off-street parking for childcare, due to limitations of space on the property that would bring vehicles in too close proximity to children's playground areas.
Letters from neighborhood slam petition, side with Hathaway
Abutters and neighbors -- including those who have returned and spoken at multiple meetings the daycare has come up for discussion -- added their voices to a chorus in support of Hathaway's decision to apply local zoning bylaws that would bar the daycare from moving to the Highlands.
Two letters from the public were added to the record.
A unanimous vote from the zoning board struck the appeal down with no public deliberation from board members.