JIM BRIDGE, spokesman for the 62 Pleasant Hill Coalition, a neighborhood group made up of residents who live near the proposed new Tedford Housing Resource Center, spoke in favor of the Brunswick Town Council adopting an emergency moratorium on Monday night.
Brunswick councilors have halted Tedford Housing’s plans for a new shelter project.
The council voted unanimously Monday to adopt an emergency moratorium for the development of any new shelters.
The action stems from Tedford’s wish to construct a new resource center at the corner of Baribeau Drive and Pleasant Hill Road. The project would allow the nonprofit to combine two shelters and administrative offices at one location, while also providing more emergency beds.
According to Town Manager John Eldridge, Tedford officials met with town planning staff about the proposed project.
“In the course of those discussions, it became clear in looking at the zoning ordinance that what they had proposed — at least a portion of that — is not a permitted use in any zone in Brunswick,” Eldridge said. “Considering that we have facilities that Tedford owns and operates in town, it was a little bit surprising.”
The proposed dormitory-style units clearly isn’t a permitted use in town, he said, though it is a use that currently takes place within existing Tedford shelters.
“With all the time, energy and money that we put into the (zoning ordinance rewrite), how did we overlook this?” asked Councilor Jane Millett.
“I think that’s a fair question,” Eldridge said. “I don’t know whether there was consideration that it might be considered some other type of use that might fit.”
The emergency moratorium will only last 50 days — unless the town proceeds with a six-month moratorium process. A public hearing on a longer moratorium will be April 17.
Councilor James Mason said the moratorium shouldn’t aim to halt the development of a shelter.
“We have a homeless population,” he said. “It is growing. We have agencies and nonprofits who are coming in to help fill a need that this community has, and I want to make sure that this is not an end-around to try to prevent that.”
Six months should be adequate to address the zoning issues, he said.
The moratorium discussion also drew more than two dozen residents who live near the site of the proposed resource center. Many are members of the 62 Pleasant Hill Coalition.
The neighborhood group’s spokesman, Jim Bridge of Pasture Way, spoke in favor of the moratorium and involvement of stakeholders to develop the zoning ordinance amendments regulating shelters.
“What we’d like to see is a holistic approach toward Brunswick’s homeless and others in need of emergency and transitory shelters,” he said. “It’s critical that to ensure that we get the best solution for them.”
Tedford board member Kevin Bunker told the council that the organization has undergone a very deliberate process in developing its project and looked at many sites, and followed direction from the town.
“I think really what we need out of this process is some clarity so we can do what we need to do,” Bunker said. “I don’t want anyone here tonight to think we intended for this to be an adversarial process.”
Tedford’s current facilities have outlived their usefulness, and the nonprofit turns away 80 percent of adults and families seeking shelter.
“This initiative is not just about buildings,” said Andree Appel, president of the Tedford Housing board. “It is about the people in our community who have no place to turn when life events cause them to lose their housing and their homes. It is about connecting those people with services, enabling them to find housing just as quickly as possible and giving them the tools to be successful and not experience homelessness again.”
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