The Chapel Hill Town Council decided to hold another public hearing on a proposed site for a men’s homeless shelter after more than 45 residents signed up to speak at Monday night’s meeting.

Council members decided the special use permit application for the Inter-Faith Council for Social Service’s Community House Men’s Shelter needed more public input and details from the IFC before the application could come before the council for a vote.

“There’s a lot of work that needs to be done between now and when we vote,” said council member Laurin Easthom.

The council specifically asked for more details about the IFC’s “good neighbor plan,” which includes strategies for minimizing the impact on the surrounding neighborhood.

At the meeting, a team, including IFC Executive Director Chris Moran, the architect and engineer involved with the project and a real estate appraisal expert, presented evidence that the council should approve the application.

“We want to remind everyone who is here that hunger and homelessness and poverty are interlinked all the time,” Moran said.

The land used for the proposed 16,250-square-foot, 52-bed facility at 1315 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. would be leased to the IFC from the University for $1 a year and would provide a 16-bed increase from the 100 W. Rosemary St. location.

The new facility would be a transitional shelter, although the shelter would offer cots on an emergency basis. Men who stay at the shelter would have to apply and participate in a program to help them achieve independence.

A group of residents of the neighborhoods nearest to the proposed site also prepared a presentation in opposition to the application.

The residents reiterated concerns made at previous hearings, like the site’s being one-fifth of a square mile from other transitional housing facilities and adjacent to pre-schools, public recreational space and neighborhoods.

Some residents also questioned the effect of the shelter on property values, as well as plans for homeless sex offenders, who would not be permitted to live at the shelter because of its location near schools.

Following their presentation, community members independently spoke. Residents on both sides of the argument said they are surprised at the controversy’s length.

“I never thought I’d actually be here because I didn’t think it would get this far,” said Tim CoyneSmith, a North Hills resident who has been a vocal opponent of the shelter’s relocation.

The search for a new location for the homeless shelter began about 25 years ago, when the town provided the Old Municipal Building to IFC as a temporary emergency shelter for men, women and children.

After multiple efforts to find a new location, UNC offered the proposed site near Homestead Road in 2008.

The council will hold another public hearing on the issue May 9.

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