LEWISTON — The Planning Board was slated to take up a conditional use permit application Monday for the proposed homeless shelter at 104 Park St.
Through a $3.7 million state grant, Lewiston Housing plans a 37-bed, low-barrier shelter at its building on Park Street, the former home of the Sun Journal. In order to move forward, it will require a conditional use permit from the Planning Board, as well as a new shelter license granted by the City Council.
From well before the public process began, there was concern from multiple fronts regarding the shelter, including at City Hall and from at least one Planning Board member. In emails obtained by the Sun Journal, staff said they are skeptical that the new shelter will be successful following the previous emergency shelter at the Calvary United Methodist Church, and that it could negatively impact the downtown business district and Choice Neighborhoods revitalization plan.
The day-to-day operation will be managed by Community Concepts, with additional services provided by Lewiston Housing and the Immigrant Resource Center, the same team behind the Calvary shelter, which operated through the winter with funding from Androscoggin County government.
According to a Planning Board memo, the shelter, dubbed the Lewiston Unhoused Response Center, will begin with 25 beds, increasing to 37 over time. There are no proposed changes to the building footprint and building exterior other than lighting and an existing outdoor courtyard will be enclosed with the use of vegetation and used for outdoor seating, the memo states.
Homeless shelters are permitted in the zone with a conditional use permit, part of the city’s new shelter ordinance and overlay zone approved after extensive debate last year.
The memo also includes a comment on the application from the Lewiston Police Department, which states, “A 37-bed low-barrier homeless shelter would have a dramatic effect on the neighborhood and undermine the quality-of-life issues we have been trying to address.”
Lewiston Housing’s application states that the shelter “will operate in accordance with Community Concepts policies and procedures, which are intended to protect both the health and safety of the shelter guests and shelter staff, as well as the peace and quiet of the surrounding neighborhood.”
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