The Pembina Valley Childcare Centres Inc. is waiting to open a new location in an empty wing in the Boundary Trails Place in Morden.

Funding is available for the new centre, but the architects and engineers involved in the project have to give their stamp of approval to the plans and drawings before construction can begin. Earlier this year, the plan was to have the new centre, PVCC's third in the Pembina Valley, open this fall. However, due to the delays, March 2017 seems more likely.

"The big hold up was over the mechanical drawings," said PVCC director, Shauna Richards.

"There's a huge wait list for our families. I feel the frustration from the families that are on our wait list; I feel quite terrible that they're having to wait so very, very long."

The total number of children awaiting childcare placement in Manitoba was 15,078 as of June 30. The new location will hold up to 52 pre-school aged children.

Boundary Trails Place will have to undergo further developments to accommodate the new child care centre. An extended parking lot is being planned that will allow parents to drop off and pick up their kids in a safer thoroughfare than the existing parking lot.

"There's so many regulations, and so many hoops to jump through," said Boundary Trails building manager, Bill Potter.

"With something like a daycare, which is classed the same as a nursing home, you have clients in there can't get out on their own if there's ever a fire," said Potter, "There [are] pretty stringent rules and that slows the plans up."

Also, any commercial project requires engineers and architects to sign off on plans and that hampers the process considerably. There are two architectural firms involved in the new Morden day care, and those firms have sent out their plans and drawings to three other engineering firms. Each of these five firms needs to approve the plans for the project.

Despite all the red tape, Richards hopes the centre will be open for business in March 2017.