LEWISTON — City staff and elected officials will move forward with considering new regulations on homeless shelters as Mayor Carl Sheline’s ad hoc shelter committee conducts a separate effort to produce recommendations on the subject.
During a City Council workshop Tuesday, City Administrator Heather Hunter attempted to find a compromise between officials on the council who debated whether to move forward on drafting an ordinance before the shelter committee has completed its work.
Hunter said she expects staff to begin looking at potential ordinance language with feedback from councilors, while the committee continues its work to formulate recommendations. She said all information will be shared with the committee and she’s hopeful that when all parties meet in July, there will be collaboration and elements that everyone can agree on.
The potential ordinance language will likely focus on issues like requiring a permit, license and fee, a citywide shelter bed capacity, required buffers from public spaces and more. The council passed a controversial 180-day moratorium in April after a group of local advocates came forward with a plan for a 24-hour “transitional resource center.”
Sheline, as well as Councilor Scott Harriman, urged the council to wait until the shelter committee has completed its work to begin building an ordinance, but the councilors who had supported the moratorium said they were concerned about getting an ordinance in place prior to the moratorium expiring in September.
“We made a pledge to move forward,” Councilor Rick Lachapelle said.
Lachapelle told Sheline that if he’d like more time, the council could extend the moratorium, but said “it’s one or the other.”
Councilors Lee Clement and Robert McCarthy agreed with Lachapelle, arguing that the two processes could yield more information and perspectives on the issue.
“I don’t think we can get too much info on this,” Clement said.
Several times during the workshop, officials referred to Portland and the costs associated with housing homeless and refugee families. Hunter used a previous Portland ordinance on shelters as a backdrop for discussions. That ordinance has since been rescinded.
“I don’t want to see us head in that same direction,” Clement said.
Sheline said the “concurrent processes are a waste of time,” adding that the council should defer to the “experts on the committee.” He said the reasoning of the moratorium was to make the “best decision possible,” and said that decision shouldn’t be made before the council receives the committee’s report.
When Lachapelle suggested the council could extend the moratorium if Sheline wanted more time, Sheline said the council should simply hear from the committee in July “and then go from there.”
Hunter said any ordinance will require the proper public notice and two readings. She said the votes would likely be scheduled to take place prior to the expiration of the moratorium.
Councilor Stephanie Gelinas said Tuesday that the July 19 meeting with the committee will be important, and that the preliminary questions posed to elected officials were “great,” but “frankly, none of us are experts on this. Other groups will have more experience in putting this together.”
Harriman said he’s concerned for potential ordinance language requiring large buffers from public spaces, stating that a 1,000-foot buffer from schools and parks in Lewiston would essentially eliminate all of the downtown area.
The shelter committee is holding the second “listening session” at 5 p.m. Monday at the Lewiston Public Library, 200 Lisbon St.
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