After more than three years of contentious debate, the Chapel Hill Town Council approved a special-use permit Monday night that will allow for the expansion of a local homeless shelter.
The Inter-Faith Council for Social Service’s Community House men’s shelter will move from its 100 W. Rosemary St. location to 1315 Martin Luther Kind Jr. Blvd. and will offer 52 permanent beds and 17 emergency cots in a two-story building.
IFC Executive Director Chris Moran said the organization will now go through a zoning compliance permit process for the $3.5 million to $4 million project that will take about four months.
“There’s a lot of detailed work that we have to do, but the hardest parts are behind us,” he said. “The project sounds more believable than it did before the council’s approval, so it’s easier for funders to respond.”
But the shelter’s move was not met with unanimous approval.
Residents of the neighboring Homestead Park community have opposed the move since it was first announced in 2008, citing safety, over-concentration of services and the possibility of the shelter housing sex offenders as their key concerns.
Neighboring resident Lisa Ostrom said she doesn’t think any of the community’s concerns have been addressed.
“There are no conditions in the special-use permit to provide any neighborhood protection,” she said. “This means that the applicant has promised to do some things and we have to take it on faith that they will make good on a 50-year promise.”
Council members Matt Czajkowski and Laurin Easthom voted against the approval at Monday night’s meeting with these concerns in mind.