Board says 40-bed project is too big for city Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 10/17/07 ASBURY PARK — The Zoning Board of Adjustment Tuesday night voted to close down a 40-bed homeless shelter, saying it is too big for a city of 17,000 and that the rescue mission could cycle up to 1,000 homeless men a year from all over the state through the shelter with no program to help them. The zoners unanimously rejected the Jersey Shore Rescue Mission's plans in their entirety — 37 beds at night, a soup kitchen, a retail car sales and a house of worship on Memorial Drive near Asbury Avenue. The mission needed variances from the board to operate in a light industrial zone. Most of the seven board members who voted have been silent through months of hearings but all agreed that plans by David Scott, director of the Market Street Mission in Morristown, to expand his operations on a grand scale for Asbury Park is detrimental to a city with an average of 25 homeless people which the city can take care of. "The size of your operation is too big for what we need," said member Pamela Lamberton. She said the program's counselors are inadequate and to approve the mission's application would require placing so many conditions on the approval that it would redesign the program. "And that is not my job," Lamberton said. "Homelessness is the direct result of a larger problem — the economy and jobs," said board co-Chairman Russell Lewis. "I want this building to be used for jobs. "I see this mission creating a large number of people going out in the street, untrained, looking for work, and we don't have the work to give them," Lewis said. Since February, the board has heard testimony each month to weigh the shelter's inherently beneficial use against the detrimental effect to the city. The case started two-and-a-half years ago when the board heard testimony and rejected the shelter. The mission appealed to then-Superior Court Judge Alexander Lehrer, who ruled the board did not consider that the mission is an inherently beneficial use. The board then approved the mission with a number of conditions. A group of residents learned about that approval last year, formed Stand Up For Asbury, and filed a lawsuit. Lehrer sent the matter back to the zoners to weigh the beneficial use versus the detrimental effect. Brendan Judge, attorney for the mission, said his client will appeal the zoners' decision. Ronald S. Gasiorowski, representing the objectors, said he's confident the court will rule in the group's favor. He said he'll seek to have the facility, which had opened in recent months, closed. Of the 40 beds at the shelter, 27 are for men who can stay up to 10 days but must leave the facility during the day. Ten beds are for men who go into the mission's alcohol and drug recovery program which can run from six to nine months. Three beds are for staff. "We don't need to be a regional center for the homeless," said the Rev. David Parreott, a board member. "It's really not fair to keep dumping on Asbury Park," said board Chairman Keith Zyla. Zyla said the mission did not give him enough information on "what happens to 27 people turned out to the street every day." He said the mission affects both the quality of life in the nearby neighborhoods and the city's police and social workers. He said Asbury Park has a tremendous amount of social and religious organizations categorized as beneficial uses. "Why are Spring Lake, Rumson and Deal not doing their fair share?" Zyla asked. "Why are these people (Jersey Shore Rescue Mission) not going to other municipalities and saying "Why aren't you putting these in your town?' Why are you not going to other cities and telling those cities they need to help? Look at these other municipalities surrounding this city. They're so wealthy . . . ." Board members Dave Williams, Carol Jones and Lorraine Jones expressed similar concerns as their colleagues in voting to deny the operation of the shelter. Most of the support for the mission appeared to be people who minister to the poor and the homeless, or whose religious beliefs are strongly rooted in helping the poor. But the zoning board heard testimony from city officials and residents of an Asbury Park that has grown stronger with a new middle class demanding that the city approve appropriate programs and no longer be treated any different than its neighbors. _Click here: APP.COM - Asbury Park zoners vote to close homeless shelter | Asbury Park Press Online_ (http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071017/NEWS01/710170400/1004)
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