ASBURY PARK As city zoners reconsider their 2006 approval for a 40-bed
gospel
rescue homeless shelter, one of the emerging issues is that the shelter will
draw in
homeless men from many towns or counties and not just the city's homeless.
"It was clearly told to the zoning board that this mission was for Asbury
Park," Keith Zyla,
chairman of the Zoning Board of Adjustment, said at a hearing Tuesday night.
"Do you think now that it is a regional facility, the impact will be more
difficult to
mitigate?" Zyla asked a witness, planner John Chadwick, of Kendall Park.
"I think the board has to decide if Asbury Park should be a regional center for
the
homeless, and people suffering from drug abuse and alcoholism in conjunction
with where
it's proposed (to operate)," Chadwick said.
Plans by Market Street Mission of Morristown to open the shelter on Memorial
Drive
between Asbury and Sewall avenues have been held up after a group of residents
organized and filed suit last year to stop it.
The zoning board had initially turned the shelter down in 2005. Market Street
appealed,
and Superior Court Judge Alexander D. Lehrer found there was a beneficial use
the zoners
had to consider.
Lehrer sent it back, and the city zoners approved the 40-bed shelter for men
the second
time around in 2006. The new group, "Stand Up For Asbury," organized and filed
an
appeal. This time, Lehrer and the parties involved agreed to have the city
zoners look at
limited aspects in the case that focused on how the mission benefits a city.
The next hearing is scheduled for 7 p.m. April 24. The new shelter had opened
for a short
time this year but fire officials determined men were sleeping in the
second-floor
dormitory with no sprinkler system and ordered that dormitory closed.
The faith-based Market Street Mission has operated in Morristown for 117 years,
and in an
earlier hearing, it was determined that the state Department of Human Services
had
notified the Morristown facility Feb. 22 to end its alcohol and drug counseling
because it is
not licensed to do that.
The new facility in Asbury Park, to be called the Jersey Shore Rescue Mission,
also is to
provide alcohol and drug counseling on an ongoing basis to 10 people who will
live there
for six months to a year.
Another 27 beds are to be used for men on a temporary basis for no more than a
10-night
stretch. Those men will be released to the streets during the day, which
prompted
questions from zoners Tuesday night on how that would impact nearby residents
and
services for those people. The other three beds in the facility are for staff
members.
At both an earlier hearing and again Monday, testimony appeared to substantiate
that the
shelter would be regional in nature, and not just for Asbury Park's homeless
men.
And the latest hearing focused in part on whether the Market Street Mission, as
it operates
in Morristown, has a "Don't ask, don't tell" policy that can sometimes keep
police out of
the loop of what is going on.
Morristown Police Chief Pete Demnitz testified Tuesday that David Scott, Market
Street's
director, is a "good guy" and "very decent" person.
He said the shelter benefits police because they can take homeless men there.
But he said
sometimes police feel the mission is not being truthful about the people who
are staying
there.
The chief, himself, went to Scott, after arresting a man wanted for murder who
was staying
at the mission. He told Scott that the mission had to do a better job screening
clients and
that there was a perception that the mission had a "don't ask, don't tell"
policy."
Demnitz said the mission is located in a downtown area just off the town green
where
there are many popular bars, some residential row houses, and high end
development
under way across the street.
But his testimony also showed that the Morristown mission is not located near
schools
while the Asbury mission would be within a few or several blocks of two
elementary
schools and a middle school.
Residents opposed to the Asbury shelter have cited concerns about a lack of
screening of
clients and the mission bringing hundreds of additional homeless to the city.
Both gay and straight residents have blasted Scott for saying the mission
considers gay
people to have a "sexual addiction."
For its part, Market Street has garnered fervent support from a group of area
ministers
who cite the great need to help the homeless.
--- In AsburyPark@yahoogroups.com, "wernerapnj" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> --- In AsburyPark@yahoogroups.com, "paulvail1964" <vailpj@> wrote:
> >
> > One last reminder. The zoning board reconvenes tonight to
> reconsider
> > the variances issued to the Market Street Mission. Supporters of
> Stand
> > Up For Asbury are urged to attend.
> >
> > Tuesday, March 20th 2007 7:00 p.m. Asbury Park City Hall
>
>======================================================
============
>
> Well OK, so what transpired? With all the hype about this I'd have
> expected someone to post a report about the meeting.
>
> ??????
>
> Werner
>
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