By Kirk Ross
Staff Writer
CHAPEL HILL — With just a short discussion of stipulations and a few tweaks requested, the Chapel Hill Planning Board on Tuesday night unanimously approved a request by the Inter-Faith Council for Social Service for a special-use permit for Community House, a transitional shelter for homeless men.
The board, at a meeting at Town Hall, heard presentations on plans for the two-story 16,250-square-foot building, proposed for a 1.8-acre university-owned parcel near the intersection of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. and Homestead Road. The university has provided the town with a 50-year lease on the property at virtually no cost.
The plans for Community House include a dormitory with beds for 20 residents and smaller rooms to be shared by either two or four men, with a total of 32 beds.
The IFC also is requesting that a downstairs meeting area be useable for emergency shelter for up to 17 men.
At the meeting, IFC executive director Chris Moran repeatedly stressed the differences between the existing shelter and kitchen in the old town municipal building at 100 West Rosemary St. and the new location. The IFC is working on a separate proposal to relocate all of its kitchen and food programs in a new building in downtown Carrboro.
“The whole idea of this project is to end homelessness 52 people at a time,†Moran told the board.
The program, he said, is based on IFC’s Project Homestart, a 14-year-old program for homeless women and families in a cluster of housing on Homestead Road near the Southern Human Services Center. The program requires increasing levels of responsibility on the part of the participants.
“We’re not proposing an emergency shelter,†Moran said. Discussions are under way among local congregations, he said, to develop an emergency shelter program. The cot space for 17 men downstairs would be used until that program is fully in place.
A health care clinic for the residents would be located at the new building and staffed from a corps of volunteers.
Moran listed several areas of concern raised by neighbors of the proposed facility and pledged to develop a “good neighbor plan,†including a community-watch program in conjunction with the neighbors and local law enforcement.
In answer to one frequently raised concern, Moran said that sex offenders would not, by law, be allowed at the shelter because it is too close to a nearby preschool.
He said that in a recent meeting with Chapel Hill Police Chief Chris Blue, he was advised that police would likely add patrols to the area and be vigilant about individuals trying to use the park overnight.
Several IFC officials and supporters spoke in favor of the proposal, including Pastor Richard Edens of United Church, which is adjacent to the shelter site and would share driveway access to Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. Edens noted that when IFC first opened, it was located on Cameron Avenue next to his church. His congregation, he said, is a strong supporter of the new project.
“We welcome them as a neighbor again,†he said.
Speaking against the proposal was Mark Peters, who has helped organize opposition.
Peters asked the planning board to hold off making a decision because residents have not had enough time to review all the paperwork associated with the new project, including a nearly 100-page review and analysis by the town’s planning staff. He distributed a number of stipulations that he and others had drafted for the board to consider.
Prior to the vote, several board members acknowledged residents’ fears about the shelter.
“I think a lot of the opposition is based on fear of the unknown,†board member George Cianciolo said. “I think the basis of the fear is unfounded, but I think the fear is real.â€
Planning Board Chair Michael Collins said much of what Peters and others are asking is out of the purview of the board. The board held a separate vote to send Peters’ request and comments to the town council, which is expected to open a public hearing on the matter in late March.
Afterward, Peters said he was disappointed that action was taken so quickly. The board had 35 days to make the decision, he said, and could have given neighbors more time to look over the materials and offer their comments.
The shelter proposal now moves on to the town’s Transportation Board, which will review it on Jan. 13.