A majority of the Shawano Common Council on Wednesday felt there were still too many unanswered questions to grant a conditional use permit that would have allowed a local nonprofit group to operate an emergency homeless shelter.
Shawano Area Matthew 25 had been looking to lease a vacant building at 213 E. Green Bay St. for the shelter. The building is owned by Shawano Municipal Utilities.
“There’s no doubt in my mind and hopefully anyone else’s that poverty is all around us in our area,” said Muffy Culhane, board president of SAM 25.
The Shawano Plan Commission last week recommended approval of the permit, but the commission’s recommendation came with several conditions, including a review of the shelter’s admission policies and procedures once they are drafted.
Some city officials Wednesday balked at approving the permit without those policies and procedures already drafted.
“I would feel more comfortable knowing what the policies are and the procedures that you have,” Alderman Bob Kurkiewicz said. “It’s a very noble cause, no question about it, but am I ready to make a decision? No. The amount of information you’re able to give right now isn’t totally put together.”
Though the policies are expected to include a zero tolerance for drug use, Kurkiewicz wondered whether that would apply to prescription medication.
He said he was also bothered by the building’s lack of shower facilities.
“I’d like to see provisions for a shower,” he said.
Culhane said it was hoped shower facilities could be provided elsewhere.
Kurkiewicz also questioned who would provide supervision and said he hoped it would not be the group’s typical volunteers.
“I’d like to have your volunteers be 6-4 and 240 pounds,” he said.
Alderman Fred Ponschok said he was concerned about the size of the building and whether it could accommodate what the group has planned.
He also questioned the urgency of approving the permit now.
Culhane said the group wanted to get the shelter into operation before winter.
“We’re trying to move quickly because the last two winters have been beastly cold,” she said.
Deb Noffke, owner of the neighboring Radio Shack, told the council she was concerned about transient homeless who could be attracted to Shawano because of the shelter.
“It’s a noble goal to try to take care of people that have been down on their luck, but I don’t think this group is prepared to deal with the true homeless, the transients, where this is a form of life. It’s a chosen form of life,” she said. “We don’t necessarily have that here now because we don’t have a shelter. Build it and you will.”
Noffke said she also had numerous questions that had not been answered by the group.
“What are you going to do to police those people during the time you’re closed? Where do you expect them to go?” she said. “What are you thinking, looking at a building that has no bathing facilities, no cooking facilities, run by volunteers? I know you mean well, but I don’t need transient homeless people right next door.”
Alderwoman Rhonda Strebel spoke in favor of the shelter, suggesting the council was overstepping itself to request as much information as was being asked.
“I don’t know that it’s the job of the planning committee or all of us to ask them to have a business plan,” she said.
Strebel said the planning commission, of which she is a member, had already added conditions that were intended to address some of the concerns raised.
Strebel and council President Woody Davis voted in favor of the conditional use permit.
Council members Kurkiewicz, Ponschok, Sandy Steinke and John Hoeffs voted against.
The group was encouraged to return in another month or two with another conditional use permit request that addresses the questions city officials raised Wednesday.
SAM 25 formed in 2013 with goals that included establishing an emergency homeless shelter and a free or low-cost clinic, both of which would be offered at the site.
The group’s plan calls for providing overnight shelter and sustenance to the homeless between 5 p.m. and 8 a.m., and health care for the uninsured on weekdays and possibly Saturday mornings.
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