• Stouffville’s new childcare centre near the Clippers Sports Complex is expected to open in early April.
  • The facility uses modular units and is expected to serve approximately 80 children.
  • Country Casa Montessori and Daycare holds a 10-year operating contract, with the Town projecting revenue to offset project costs.
  • Licensing approval from York Region is expected shortly, with registration planned to start in March.
  • Limited Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care funding means the new site will launch with market-rate spaces rather than subsidized rates.
  • Regional demand for affordable childcare remains high, with long wait times and thousands of additional spaces still needed.
  • The Town is also awaiting Provincial guidance on new daycare safety barriers following a fatal incident in Richmond Hill last year.

 

While Town officials had hoped a new childcare centre beside the Clippers Sports Complex would open in September 2025, Stouffville says local operator Country Casa Montessori and Daycare will welcome its first families to the new location in early April.

The project utilized nine modular units, similar to school portables, acquired in 2024 from a development site in Mississauga. Designs had to be adapted for the new location, and weather-related complications contributed to delays in securing a hydro connection.

Further challenges emerged during foundation work. The Weldon Road property was once home to Stouffville’s public works yard, and crews encountered buried asphalt while drilling to install helical piles. Additional remediation was required to ensure the ground could properly support the structure.

Country Casa secured a 10-year operating contract in November 2024. The Town expects more than $1.6 million in revenue over that period, an amount officials say will offset all upfront project costs.

While the modular units themselves were not purchased by the Town, Stouffville covered transportation, installation, and servicing. Although those costs have not been made public, Commissioner of Community Services Rob Braid said the work was completed within budget.

An inspection has been completed, and the operating licence is expected from York Region in the coming days. Additional spaces are needed to help address Stouffville’s unmet demand for childcare services, an issue that has surfaced in past Council discussions.

“This new facility will add meaningful space for growing families, and it reflects a municipal/private partnership that is responding to community demand,” Country Casa founder and CEO Rocco Priore said in a conversation with Bullet Point News. “This is a tangible expansion of childcare capacity in Stouffville, and we’re looking forward to welcoming our first families this spring.”

Initial Town Staff estimates projected 82 new childcare spaces, but the final design facilitated licensing for up to 91 children. The new location will maintain occupancy closer to 80, Priore said, which is necessary to accommodate how children move through age-based groups.

“We can’t fill every spot within every age cohort. If you max out a group and a younger child ages into that group, there won’t be space available,” Priore said. “We will eventually care for around 80 kids.”

Registration is expected to open in March, with plans to gradually expand operations as applications and staffing allow. One significant challenge facing local childcare providers is the slow expansion of the Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care (CWELCC) program, launched in 2022 to subsidize operators and reduce costs for families.

Approximately 90% of existing childcare providers in York Region have joined the program, including Country Casa at its Highway 48 location. However, limited access to additional CWELCC funding has constrained expansion in Stouffville, where operators adding capacity can offer only market-rate spaces. Those costs can be prohibitive for families and could dampen demand for the new centre.

The situation frustrates Priore, who said projected wait times for CWELCC-supported spaces at his existing location have stretched to nearly seven years. “At that point, we stopped the wait list. By the time a space opens up, those kids have aged out,” he explained. “No one is going to wait more than two years.”

Existing CWELCC spaces provide care at $22 per day, with a national goal of eventually reaching $10 per day. The program is funded by the Canadian government, which has committed $13.2 billion to Ontario through 2028. The Province then administers the funding and delegates local oversight to Service System Managers such as York Region under the Child Care and Early Years Act.

Additional money allocated to the Region between 2022 and 2026 supports 5,197 new spaces, a figure that falls “below the 7,372 spaces needed to create consistent access to affordable child care across the Region,” a September 2025 Regional Staff report explains.

“If these were CWELCC spaces, I would fill this centre in 30 days,” Priore said of the new Stouffville facility. “There are non-CWELCC centres that are closing down because they can’t find enough people willing to pay the full cost and can’t afford their rent. People are put in a really bad spot.”

The Region says roughly 60% of new CWELCC spaces are expected to go to nonprofit providers, and allocations are directed to priority growth areas that do not currently include Stouffville.

“The Province requires Service System Managers to develop growth plans that prioritize access to new child care spaces for low-income, Francophone, Indigenous, Black, and other racialized and newcomer communities, and children with special needs in underserved neighbourhoods,” the regional report states.

Priority areas are updated using factors such as child population data, the location and availability of childcare spaces, demographic trends tied to provincially identified groups, and land-use considerations, the report adds. Regional Staff also highlighted their advocacy efforts urging the Government of Ontario to provide additional funding to expand access.

The Town is also awaiting Provincial direction on new safety barrier requirements for childcare centres. The policy review follows the death of Liam Riazati after a vehicle drove into the Richmond Hill daycare he attended last year.

Ontario has since introduced a $20 million funding program in Riazati’s name to support temporary concrete barriers while permanent standards are developed. Additional details, including how municipalities and childcare centres will be expected to respond and participate, are anticipated in the near future.