Two Vancouver neighborhood associations are appealing the city’s purchase of the former state Fish and Wildlife building for use as a day center for the homeless.
Vancouver approved the purchase of 2.53 acres at 2018 Grand Blvd. for $4.3 million Jan. 8.
The site use was approved just a few days prior by hearing examiner Sharon Rice.
That decision was not without backlash. Neighbors from the surrounding area spoke at a heated public meeting Dec. 19 before the land use was approved and again in January before the city council finalized the purchase agreement. The deal will close Wednesday.
Groups representing the Maplewood and Rose Village neighborhoods filed an appeal signed by 36 residents and business owners last week. The appeal alleges that the city’s application was improperly filed and that the hearing examiner failed to consider arguments made by representatives during the public hearing process.
The appeal states that the building should be classified as a Class I or Class II facility, not a Class III as stated on the city’s application. It also argues that the city has not been transparent in its plans for the building; the city is purchasing a 25,000-square-foot building with specific plans outlined for only 5,000 square feet.
“It clearly would not make sense to buy such a large building if only a service center were contemplated,” the appeal reads. “Thus, the required application should encompass its full intended use. This will avoid the city using the service center as a Trojan horse to establish a shelter without public input.”
The city council anticipated an appeal and is tentatively planning a hearing on the matter Feb. 26.
“We were very clear with the council that there is a possibility of appeal, and they proceeded anyway,” said City Manager Eric Holmes.
The appeal will be reviewed by the city council as part of a closed record appeal, meaning only arguments based on facts introduced during the hearing process will be considered.
Among other allegations, the appeal states that the neighborhood already carries a “disproportionate share of the harm.”
“Residents find discarded needles and beer cans in the immediate area nearly every day,” the appeal reads. “People are sleeping in cars, searching through dumpsters, aggressively panhandling and openly using drugs. The notion that locating another homeless facility in this already high-crime area will not increase crime defies common experience and common sense. Build it, and they will come. Don’t make a struggling neighborhood worse.”
The appeal asks the city to look elsewhere for a daycenter site.
“With the problems already existing in the area, it would cause undue burden on the community, and there are other locations that would serve the homeless population without putting it in a residential, single home area,” according to a press release from Cynthia Powers, Maplewood Neighborhood Association chair. “These local residents acknowledge the problem and need for services but question the city’s decision regarding hastily relocating an existing shelter to create a homeless mecca that will further burden the community.”
City Attorney Bronson Potter said the city contacted 18 other property owners before settling on this site.
“We just want to be heard,” said Rich Baranzano, who owns the Fourth Plain Plaza shopping center and has been an outspoken opponent of the city’s decision.
Finally, the neighborhood associations’ appeal states that it would be irresponsible for the city to close the deal without an opinion from the city attorney as to the city’s legal risk associated with the purchase.
Potter said at the public hearing Jan. 8 that he believes the city satisfied the permit criteria.
