After a proposed location for a homeless shelter fell through earlier this year, the Saratoga Springs City Council has approved a zoning amendment that they hope will make a permanent low-barrier shelter a reality.
After Mayor Ron Kim’s Task Force on Homelessness last month recommended a location for a low-barrier shelter, the city council came together Tuesday to consider a buffer between a homeless shelter and schools.
The amendment to the city’s Unified Development Ordinance zoning plan requires that “all homeless shelters shall be located a minimum of one thousand feet from the grounds of any Educational Facility – Primary or Secondary.”
Following a public hearing on the amendment, councilors discussed the local law in detail. Democratic Commissioner of Public Safety James Montagnino questioned the viability of a buffer zone more than three football fields long.
“It's ruling out significant chunks of the city that I don't think we should do on, well for lack of a better word, would be an ‘arbitrary’ thousand-foot basis,” said Montagnino.
The Task Force’s primary recommendation for a low-barrier shelter is a site two miles east of the downtown core on Lake Avenue, but the city council has not yet decided on a final location.
While Saratoga Springs residents presented their arguments both for and against the buffer Tuesday, Commissioner of Public Works Jason Golub said he would vote in favor of the local law in order to move the project forward.
“We were able to find five or six suitable locations, potentially suitable locations, while also maintaining the thousand-foot buffer. I think my biggest concern with not having it — and this may sound counterintuitive — is that I want us to have a homeless shelter. And every time we come up with a homeless shelter that is too close to a school, or too close to certain neighborhoods, we have a one-year fight, we have a five-year fight. And you know, what we don't have is a homeless shelter,” said Golub.
A proposed downtown shelter fell through in February amid staunch opposition to the location from parents of students at a neighboring Catholic school.
A temporary shelter is currently operating on Adelphi Street, in a commercial corridor. Commissioner of Accounts Dillon Moran said the shelter has already benefitted local residents experiencing homelessness familiar to him.
“I've seen a dramatic change in the faces of those people in the attitudes and what I can tell about the psychology of those people, they're starting to see hope,” said Moran.
Mayor Ron Kim acknowledged the challenges with the Task Force’s recommended site on Lake Avenue, including concerns over distance, but pushed for the buffer amendment.
“To find one, a permanent shelter is a great challenge. We're going to have it but I think putting this ordinance in place will help guide our efforts. If it's not Lake Avenue, if it's not one of the sites that the task force recommended because of the other impossibilities, well, we'll get there,” said Kim. “But this, I think, is a prudent effort to make sure that as we get there, we keep in mind the vulnerable populations and I'm talking about homeless people. I'm also talking about children.”
The Task Force has not yet submitted its final report. Kim said he requested it be turned in next month.
“This isn't just one of the things they did — they recommended the site. They did recommend an RFP for us to consider. They recommended us financing options. So there's a lot of story to tell. But we're just waiting ’til September because we're all focused on other issues right now,” said Kim.
The argument from his fellow councilors to move the zoning amendment forward to make a path for the shelter swayed Commissioner Montagnino, who was initially skeptical.
“I came here this evening with the intention on voting no. But after hearing the arguments from the public, and particularly the arguments here from my fellow council members, I will be voting yes,” said Montagnino.
The local law passed unanimously.
