Another excellent article by Nancy Shields. Pay close attention to
Board President Keith Zyla's line of questioning towards the end of
the article.
Zoners balk at plan for homeless in Asbury Park
Shelter numbers draw concern
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 05/16/07
BY NANCY SHIELDS
COASTAL MONMOUTH BUREAU
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ASBURY PARK The hearings were intended to be brief as city zoners
once again consider a proposal for a Morristown-based gospel mission
to run a 40-bed homeless shelter for men on Memorial Drive.
But that goal apparently grew elusive once the Zoning Board of
Adjustment heard that the shelter could cycle up to 972 homeless men
onto city streets, often from elsewhere in the state.
Friday night's hearing dredged up concerns of what happened in the
1970s and 1980s, when state agencies and hospitals, boarding-home
operators and politicians filled up Asbury Park's boarding homes with
thousands of mentally ill patients.
"I can't verify (972) are the numbers," Anthony Nuccio, the city's
director of social services, testified Friday. "But if those are
actual numbers, it would be staggering to the city. . . . It would
negatively impact the quality of life in the city and have a negative
effect on the client."
The Zoning Board subpoenaed Nuccio after getting conflicting numbers
on how many homeless men Asbury Park actually has.
Market Street Mission, the applicant that wants to expand its
longtime Morristown operation to the Shore, cited a Monmouth County
Social Services report in May 2005 that showed 352 homeless people,
with 116 of them saying Asbury Park was their most recent residence.
Nuccio said the city is tracking a far smaller number of homeless
20 to 25 individuals from Asbury Park and Neptune, who may be in
boarding homes and not homeless at one time. In addition, there are
transient homeless who are sent to the city by other towns and
organizations, often because of the city's reputation over the years
as a place for the homeless, Nuccio said.
It is that image the city has been working on changing in recent
years, and which the residents who filed suit to stop the shelter
from opening believe is unfair to their city.
Members of Stand Up For Asbury have said the city has a right to be
on an equal par with its wealthier neighbors when it comes to the
homeless and quality-of-life issues for the city's existing residents.
"Are you aware of any boarding houses built in Deal? Spring Lake?
Manahawkin? Sea Girt?" Zoning Board President Keith Zyla asked.
Nuccio did not name one.
Listing Asbury Park's large number of churches, its AIDS Center, its
methadone clinic and CheckMate, Zyla asked: "Are you aware of any
other municipality that has that amount of services?"
"There are none," Nuccio said.
"And, Deal could better handle this monetarily (than Asbury)?" Zyla
asked.
Today's chronic homeless in the city are no longer the mentally ill
but more likely to be people with alcohol or drug addiction, Nuccio
said.
The city has taken a tougher stand in dealing with the homeless in
recent years, offering shelter but having clients take steps to get
help.
Opponents to Market Street Mission's plans cite that of a total of 40
beds, 10 would be used by men accepted into the mission's
rehabilitation program, which lasts six to 12 months. Three of the
beds would be for staff members, and 27 would be for men needing a
place to sleep.
The Zoning Board initially turned down the proposal in 2005.
Market Street Mission appealed that vote, and Superior Court Judge
Alexander Lehrer found that the board had to reconsider the proposal
in light of its beneficial use.
It was during that reconsideration that the board last year approved
the shelter with restrictions that could help the city regulate it.
When residents and neighbors learned of that approval, they appealed
the board's favorable ruling.
Lehrer is overseeing the case. All parties agreed to have the zoners
hear additional testimony of a narrow scope executive director
David Scott's previous testimony about Market Street being
a "blessing" to Morristown.
The scope has widened, particularly after zoners heard testimony that
the shelter would be regional in nature.
Once the hearings end, the board is expected to vote one way or the
other before the case goes back to Lehrer.
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