An appeal of Vancouver’s proposed day center for the homeless is once again moving forward.
When it was discovered last month that parts of emails were missing from the record, the Vancouver City Council voted unanimously to send the application back to Hearings Examiner Sharon Rice. The city attorney’s office moved to add the full versions of about 10 emails to the record. Late Thursday, Rice granted the city’s motion, allowing the day center appeal to move forward.
Next, the city council will hear and decide on the appeals 6:30 p.m. March 26 at city hall. The Maplewood and Rose Village neighborhoods both filed appeals in January arguing that Rice failed to consider all arguments made during the review process.
Rose Village resident Eric Lambert brought this up again in his response to the city’s motion. He asked that certain arguments be reconsidered; he said in his response that the proposal was improperly filed as a Class III facility and should be a Class II facility because it’s likely to serve more than 74 people per day due to its size and because a food pantry will open nearby. He also said the “city provided no empirical evidence that the center would not ‘be significantly detrimental to the health, safety, or general welfare of persons residing or working in the neighborhood.'”
Day center time line
Oct. 30: City announces intention to purchase former state Fish and Wildlife building at 2018 Grand Blvd. for a homeless day center.
Nov. 3-Dec. 4: During 30-day public comment period, city holds two public open houses.
Dec. 19: Public hearing draws large crowd.
Jan. 4: Hearings examiner approves day center.
Jan. 8: City Council approves purchase of building.
Jan. 17: Maplewood and Rose Village neighborhoods file appeal to city council.
Feb. 26: Appeal hearing delayed due to error in filing sent to hearings examiner.
March 15: Hearings examiner grants city’s motion to add missing email text to the record.
March 26: Appeal to be heard at 6:30 p.m. at City Hall, 415 W. Sixth St.
Rice said in her ruling: “Given that the omitted portions of the opposing comments contained concerns that were otherwise included in testimony and written comments in the record, and that these concerns were fully considered, there would be no benefit to reopening the hearings examiner proceeding. Instead, the most fair and expeditious outcome would be to grant the city’s motion to augment the record with complete comments previously omitted and allow the appeal before city council to proceed.”
Portland resident Rich Baranzano, who owns property along East Fourth Plain Boulevard and was among the 36 people who signed the appeal, commented on Rice’s findings by email. “The continued findings that the proposed day center will not serve more than 74 people per day is analogous to declaring that the flow rate of the Willamette River is greater than that of the Columbia River,” he wrote.
The day center cannot move forward until the appeal process is complete. By the time it comes before city council later this month, 81 days will have lapsed since the day center was originally approved by Rice.
The city already closed on the $4.3 million purchase of the 26,578-square-foot former state Fish and Wildlife building at 2018 Grand Blvd. City officials plan to use part of the building to house a new day center for the homeless that would replace the current day center operated by Share at Friends of the Carpenter in west Vancouver.
Vancouver Housing Authority’s board of directors voted last month to increase its annual financial contribution to the day center from $30,000 to $100,000. The new facility will cost approximately $200,000 more per year to operate over the current location, which costs about $300,000 annually.
